Shortfill E-Liquids

What Is a Shortfill E-Liquid?

A shortfill is a bottle of nicotine-free e-liquid filled short of the top, leaving room for you to add the nicotine yourself.

UK law caps any nicotine-containing e-liquid at 10ml, so brands bottle the flavour at 0mg in a larger bottle and sell the nicotine separately as a 10ml nic shot. A 100ml shortfill arrives in a 120ml bottle with 20ml of space for two shots.

You end up with the same liquid you would have bought ready-mixed, at a fraction of the price per ml, in exchange for one shake. Our guide to shortfills and nic shots covers the background.

If you would rather buy nicotine already mixed in, the 10ml nic salt range is ready to vape out of the bottle.

Shortfill vs Regular E-Liquid

The only real difference is where the nicotine comes from. A regular 10ml bottle arrives with the nicotine already in it; a shortfill arrives at 0mg and you add it.

That single difference is why shortfills exist. The 10ml cap applies to nicotine-containing liquid, so selling the flavour at 0mg is what lets a brand put 100ml in one bottle.

Everything else is the same product. Same ingredients, same flavourings, same MHRA notification, and the finished liquid is no different from a ready-mixed bottle at the same strength and ratio.

What you gain is cost per ml and bottle choice. What you give up is the minute it takes to mix, and the fact that you cannot buy one above 3mg without decanting.

How to Mix a Shortfill, Step by Step

Mixing a shortfill takes about a minute, and the only tricky part is remembering to shake it properly.

1. Take the cap and the child-resistant insert off the shortfill bottle.
2. Empty a full 10ml nic shot into it. Repeat for each shot the bottle needs.
3. Put the cap back on and shake hard for a good 30 seconds, until the liquid looks even.
4. Vape it straight away. Dessert, custard and tobacco flavours are usually better after a few days standing.

Do not overfill. The headroom is measured for the shots the bottle takes and nothing more, so adding an extra shot means decanting some liquid off first.

Nic Shots by Bottle Size

One 18mg nic shot per 50ml of shortfill gives you 3mg in the finished bottle, which is the strength the headroom is designed around.

For 6mg you need twice the nicotine in the same volume, and the headroom will not take it. Either pour some base off before you add the extra shots, or buy a smaller bottle and mix it stronger.

For any other target strength, our nic shot mixing charts cover every bottle size at 3mg, 6mg, 10mg and 20mg, including salt shots.

Shortfill Sizes: 50ml, 100ml and 200ml

Buy the 100ml if you want choice, because it is what almost the entire range is bottled in.

In a 500-bottle sample of this collection, 438 were 100ml, 31 were 50ml and 30 were 200ml. The 50ml is where brands put limited editions and their dearer lines. The 200ml is where the value is.

What a Shortfill Costs Per ml

A 200ml shortfill is the cheapest way to buy e-liquid at around 6p per ml finished, against 8.6p for a 100ml and 17.8p for a 50ml.

Those are median prices across the range, so the bottle in front of you may be cheaper. At the budget end the sizes level out: a £4.99 100ml works out at 5.3p per ml and a £9.99 200ml at 5.3p.

The one to watch is the 50ml. At 17.8p per ml it is barely cheaper than a ready-mixed 10ml bottle, so buy one to try a flavour rather than to save money.

For how the formats compare once the duty lands, see the cheapest ways to vape after the vape tax.

Freebase Shots or Nic Salt Shots

Use a freebase shot in a high-VG shortfill and a nic salt shot in a 50/50 one.

An 18mg freebase shot keeps the throat hit that sub-ohm vapers expect and mixes cleanly into thick juice. A 20mg salt shot is smoother and suits the thinner bottles people put through pod kits.

Both are unflavoured, so neither changes the taste of the shortfill. Pick on how you want it to feel, not on what it is going into.

Which Kits Shortfills Suit

Most shortfills are made for sub-ohm tanks, because the standard 70/30 high VG blend is too thick to wick through a small coil.

If you vape a sub-ohm kit below 0.5 ohm, a 70/30 shortfill at 3mg is the standard pairing and the reason shortfills exist.

On a pod kit you want the smaller 50/50 vape juice range instead, which is thin enough to wick properly.

For concentrates you dilute yourself rather than top up, see the longfill range.

Shortfill Brands

Doozy Vape Co is the range most people come back for, with the deepest fruit and dessert line-up in stock and prices from £5.99.

Zeus Juice sits at the other end, British-made and priced accordingly, and Wick Liquor covers the bolder fruit and menthol end.

IVG and Nasty Juice are the two most asked for by name.

For dessert and custard, Dinner Lady is the one to start with. Browse the whole range by taste in the vape flavours index.

The 2026 Vape Tax and Shortfills

Nothing on this page changes price on 1 October. Stock already in the country can still be sold at pre-duty prices until 31 March 2027, and we are not repricing until the stock we hold carries the duty.

Vaping Products Duty starts on 1 October 2026 at 22p per ml, or 26.4p once VAT is added on top of it. It applies to every e-liquid, nicotine-free bases and nic shots included, and because it is charged per ml it adds more to a big bottle than a small one.

That is the case for buying the sizes and flavours you get through most while pre-duty stock lasts. It is not a reason to change what you vape.

Mixing a Shortfill Stays Legal

Shortfill plus nic shot is the one home mix the rules still allow, and HMRC names it as the example.

From 1 October 2026 the rules on mixing vaping liquids tighten, with an exception written in for liquids that have already had duty paid on them. A shortfill and a nic shot are both duty-paid products bought over the counter, so nothing about how you buy or use one changes.

Our vape tax countdown sets out what changes on 1 October and what to do before it, and how much e-liquid prices are going up and when has the breakdown by format.