How Many Nic Shots Do I Need? Mixing Charts for Every Shortfill

Two 18mg nic shots in a 100ml shortfill gives you 3mg. One shot in a 50ml gives you 3mg as well. That is the answer most people are after, and if that is you, the job is done. If you want a different strength, a different bottle size, or you are wondering why nobody will sell you a 20mg shortfill, the charts below cover every combination, and our e-liquid mixing calculator will do the sums for you.

One unit note before the charts, because the two numbers on a nic shot mean different things: every nic shot is a 10ml bottle, and the mg number is its strength. So an "18mg shot" is 10ml of unflavoured liquid at 18mg of nicotine per millilitre - the 10ml is how much, the 18mg is how strong.

How many nic shots: the quick answer

Shortfill bottles are sized for exactly this. The empty space at the top of a 50ml bottle takes one 10ml shot, and a 100ml bottle takes two. Fill the gap, shake hard for thirty seconds, and you have a 3mg juice. If you are new to shortfills and want the full background first, our shortfill guide explains how the whole system works.

The full 18mg nic shot mixing chart

The important thing to understand is that the bottle sets your limit. A 50ml shortfill comes in a 60ml bottle, so there is room for one shot and no more. A 100ml comes in a 120ml bottle with room for two. You cannot squeeze extra shots in, which means the chart is simpler than most people expect.

So with the bottle as it comes, 3mg is the strongest a shortfill goes, and skipping the shots gives you 0mg. The only way past that is mixing in a separate, bigger bottle of your own - two 18mg shots with 50ml of juice comes out at just over 5mg, which some retail charts loosely call a 6mg mix. It works, but it is extra faff and extra kit, and at that point most vapers are better served by a ready-made stronger liquid.

The 20mg nic salt shot chart

Nic salt shots fit the same bottles the same way but come in at 20mg rather than 18mg, and the salt formulation is smoother on the inhale at the same strength. Our nic salts guide covers the difference in full.

Why you cannot make a 20mg shortfill

This is the question our customers ask more than any other when it comes to nic shot numbers, so here is the honest answer. It is not possible. An 18mg shot can never take a mix above 18mg no matter how many you pour in, and the bottle itself caps a shortfill at 3mg with freebase shots or 3.3mg with salt shots. This is because there is only room for the shots it was designed to take. Even decanting into a bigger bottle of your own only gets you to just over 5mg before the unflavoured shots start drowning the flavour.

If you want 20mg, the right product is a ready-made 10ml nic salt. It is mixed to that strength at the factory, is smoother than a freebase mix would be at 20mg, and it costs from £1.99 a bottle. Our nic salt strengths guide will help you pick between 10mg and 20mg.

How we worked the nic shot numbers out

Every figure in these charts comes from the same simple sum. A 10ml shot at 18mg per ml carries 180mg of nicotine in total. Divide the total nicotine by the final volume of the mix and you get the true strength. Two shots in a 100ml shortfill is 360mg of nicotine in 120ml of liquid, which is 3mg per ml.

That is the whole formula, and it is the same one behind our mixing calculator. If you would rather never think about it again, the calculator takes your bottle size, your shot strength and your target, telling you exactly what to pour. You will find it with the rest of our tools on the calculators hub.

Nic shots and the October 2026 vape tax

From 1 October 2026 the Vaping Products Duty adds 22p per ml to every e-liquid sold in the UK, nicotine or not, with VAT charged on top of the duty. Nic shots and shortfills are hit harder than anything else because the tax is charged on volume.

Retailers can keep selling stock bought before the duty at current prices until 1 April 2027, so there is a real window to buy ahead. 0mg shortfills store well because nicotine is the ingredient that degrades and there is none in the bottle. To see exactly what the duty adds to your own order, run it through our nic shot tax calculator, and our vape duty guide covers the full picture.

Getting the mix right every time

A few pointers that save people a ruined bottle. First, the jargon in one line: VG and PG are the two base liquids every e-liquid is made from - VG (vegetable glycerine) is the thick one that makes the vapour, PG (propylene glycol) is the thin one that carries the flavour, and a ratio like 70/30 or 50/50 is simply the split between them, VG first. Match the VG/PG ratio of your shot to your shortfill where you can, because a thick 70/30 juice mixes best with a 70/30 shot. Shake the bottle hard for a full thirty seconds, since nicotine that has not dispersed gives you one harsh tank followed by weak ones. And add your shots before you fill your tank for the first time, because it is much harder to work out strengths once you have vaped some of the bottle.

Ready to mix your own, the shortfill e-liquids collection has every brand we carry, and the full e-liquids range covers everything else from freebase to salts.

Vaping products are for adult smokers and existing vapers only. If you do not smoke, do not vape. For free support quitting smoking altogether, visit the NHS stop smoking services.