While browsing for a replacement for your favourite e-liquid flavour you might have come across our range of shortfill e-liquids. But, do you know what a shortfill e-liquid is or how it’s different from regular vape juice?
If you’re confused about these types of e-liquid, this guide can help. Read on to find out more about what is shortfill e-liquid and to see if they might suit your vaping needs.
What is Shortfill e-liquid?
Shortfill is the name given to e-liquids that come in part-filled, or shortfill, bottles. By filling the bottle partway with nicotine-free e-liquid, with a small gap at the top, there is room for vapers to add nic shots to create their own desired nicotine strength.
Shortfill e-liquid comes in larger bottle sizes than regular 10ml bottles of e-liquid that have been pre-mixed with nicotine. Generally, shortfill e-liquids come in sizes of 50ml, 100ml or 200ml, buying larger quantities of e-liquid can be more cost-effective.
Each bottle of shortfill e-liquid leaves just enough space for vapers to pour in the contents of a standard-sized nic shot bottle, mixing the nic shot with the large bottle of nicotine-free e-liquid dilutes the nicotine down to the level you’re used to in a regular e-liquid.
Why were shortfill e-liquids invented?
Shortfill e-liquids were created to solve the challenges caused by the Tobacco Product Directive when it was brought in in 2016.
The Tobacco Products Directive, or TPD, regulates the vaping industry and ensures that the products vape shops sell are safe for all vapers and made to the highest quality. The directive also covers the manufacture, presentation, and sale of all tobacco-related products including cigarettes, roll your own tobacco, and electronic cigarettes.
The biggest impact of the Tobacco Products Directive on the vaping industry was the introduction of a restriction that meant any e-liquid containing nicotine could not be sold in bottles larger than 10ml.
Prior to the introduction of the Tobacco Products Directive, lots of vapers had been used to buying 50ml bottles of their favourite e-liquids and didn’t want to have to carry around lots of smaller bottles at once to make up the difference.
Because the Tobacco Products Directive doesn’t apply to nicotine-free e-liquids, shortfill bottles were invented. This meant vape shops could sell larger bottles of e-liquid and vapers could add their own nicotine shots without breaking the rules of the Tobacco Products Directive.
How are shortfill e-liquids different from regular vape juice?
The key difference between shortfill e-liquids and regular vape juice is that with shortfill e-liquids, vapers need to mix two components together to achieve their desired nicotine content.
When you purchase a shortfill e-liquid in your chosen flavour, you’ll actually receive between one and five bottles in total. The largest bottle will be either 50ml, 100ml or 200ml and will contain the nicotine-free vape juice and won’t be filled all the way to the top.
The other bottles will be 10ml bottles of nicotine shots, or nic shots, which the vaper then needs to add to the shortfill bottle to create their desired nicotine strength. How many bottles of the nic shots you add will depend on the nicotine strength you’re used to vaping, the more bottles you add, the stronger the hit of nicotine will be.
Who are Shortfills best for?
Because you end up with a larger total amount of e-liquid, shortfill bottles are generally more cost-effective than buying multiple bottles of 10ml nicotine e-liquids and so are better for people looking to buy a lot of e-liquid for less money.
The larger bottle size of shortfill e-liquids also makes them popular with people who vape large amounts in a day and don’t want to carry around lots of 10ml bottles for refilling on the go.
But, if you vape at an extremely high nicotine level then shortfill e-liquids might not be for you. Because you mix nic shots into the shortfill bottle of nicotine-free e-liquid, you’re limited to lower strengths of nicotine.
This is because nic shots must still be sold in line with the Tobacco Products Directive. So, if you vape at any nicotine strength higher than 6mg, shortfill e-liquids might not be for you.
How to mix shortfill e-liquids
If you’re intrigued by the possibilities of shortfill e-liquids then you’re in luck, they are really simple to mix for any vaper, whether you’re a beginner or you’ve been vaping for years.
The quickest way to mix your custom nicotine strength is to simply open the larger bottle of nicotine-free e-liquid and squeeze in the nic shot that came with it and give it a good shake. And, if you’re after a stronger hit of nicotine then you might want to add a second nic shot.
Whenever you use your shortfill e-liquid to refill your vape tank, make sure to shake it thoroughly to remix the nic shot and e-liquid in case of any separation. If you want to know more about shortfill e-liquids or anything else to do with vaping, get in touch with our vape experts who will be more than happy to answer any questions you may have.
| Shortfill Bottle Size | 6mg | 3mg | 1.5mg |
| 50ml | x2 | x1 | 1/2 bottle |
| 100ml | x4 | x2 | x1 |
| 200ml | x8 | x4 | x2 |