diff --git a/CloudFlare/cloudflare.py b/CloudFlare/cloudflare.py
index 6681bca..4808f0a 100644
--- a/CloudFlare/cloudflare.py
+++ b/CloudFlare/cloudflare.py
@@ -836,11 +836,11 @@ def __init__(self, email=None, token=None, certtoken=None, debug=False, raw=Fals
         if certtoken is None:
             certtoken = conf_certtoken
 
-        if email is '':
+        if email == '':
             email = None
-        if token is '':
+        if token == '':
             token = None
-        if certtoken is '':
+        if certtoken == '':
             certtoken = None
         self._base = self._v4base(email, token, certtoken, base_url, debug, raw, use_sessions)