CodeIgniter: SSL/TLS SMTP Auth Email from PHPMailer Code

i'm trying to use the codeigniter email class to write a secure smtp email; either ssl or tls (preferred). in the past, i've successfully used phpmailer with secure auth and tls. i believe it was a secure connection. tls shows up in the email header.

does codeingiters' email class support secure smtp authentication with tls?

note, this is not a gmail question. i'm trying to use it with an ms exchange server. i've confirmed the phpmailer code below functions correctly.

include_once('includes/class.phpmailer.php');
$mail = new phpmailer(true);
$mail->issmtp();
$mail->host = 'www.domain.com';

$mail->smtpauth = true;
$mail->smtpsecure = "tls";
$mail->port     = '25';
$mail->timeout  = '60';

$mail->username = 'user@domain.com';
$mail->password = 'password';

$mail->from     = 'alerts@domain.com';
$mail->fromname = 'alerts';

$mail->subject  = 'test from test email file.';
$mail->ishtml(true);
$mail->msghtml('this is just a test.');

// to
$mail->addaddress('alerts@domain.com', 'research');
$result = $mail->send();

with codeigniter i've already extended the email class (my_email.php). the class is a bit big to post here. but, here's the error i keep getting.

settings:

array(7) { 
["smtp_host"]=> string(26) "tls://www.domain.com" 
["smtp_port"]=> string(2) "25" 
["smtp_user"]=> string(17) "alerts@domain.com" 
["smtp_pass"]=> string(9) "password" 
["smtp_to_email"]=> string(26) "user@domain.com" 
["smtp_from_email"]=> string(26) "user@domain.com" 
["smtp_from_name"]=> string(24) "test from application" 
}

error message:

fsockopen(): ssl operation failed with code 1. openssl error messages: error:1408f10b:ssl routines:func(143):reason(267)

any idea what reason 267 is?