Jamie GannThere are a lot of different ways to vape and all of them are more cost-effective than smoking cigarettes, even if you choose to use relatively expensive disposables. However, if you really want to save money, the best option is to use a refillable device and buy e-liquid in volumes larger than 10ml.
Unfortunately for anyone in the UK or Europe, vape liquid restrictions mean that buying 50ml or 100ml bottles involves a bit of a workaround. The easiest and potentially the cheapest workaround is buying ‘shortfill’ liquids.
- The term “Shortfill” refers to a specific way large volume e-liquid is sold in the UK and other European countries. Shortfills are sold with only around 80% of the bottle capacity filled, with the end-user adding the final 20%.
- The base e-liquid in a shortfill bottle contains PG, VG, and flavorings, but zero nicotine. Nicotine can be added at the desired strength through 10ml “nicotine shots”, which are sold separately from the base shortfill liquid.
- Shortfills were first developed around 2016. They are a way to sell e-liquid in larger volumes than was allowed under the EU Tobacco Products Directive, which limited the sale of nicotine vape liquids to 10ml bottles.
- The e-liquid created by mixing base liquid and nicotine shots is usually between 3-6mg/ml in strength. This high-volume, low-strength, and very cost-effective ejuice suits sub-ohm and budget-conscious vapers well.
What Are E-Liquid Shortfills?
Shortfills are bottles of flavored, but nicotine-free, e-liquid which have space in the bottle. This allows the end-user to add their desired amount of nicotine in the form of a 10ml nicotine “shot”. The term “shortfill” comes from the fact that the bottles are filled below (or short of) their maximum volume to allow these flavored or flavorless nicotine shots to be added. For example, a 120ml shortfill bottle will contain only 100ml of e-liquid, and a 60ml bottle will contain 50ml.
Shortfill e-liquids first emerged in the UK and European markets in late 2016, following the implementation of the EU Tobacco Products Directive (TPD). Among the rules imposed on vape brands by the TPD was a 10ml limit on the size of individual bottles of nicotine-containing e-liquid that could be sold.
Shortfills were a way to circumvent this rule and allow consumers to buy e-liquids in larger volumes more easily. Being able to buy vape juice in larger volumes often comes with significant cost savings, which ensured that shortfills quickly became (and remain) popular in the UK and Europe. This is particularly true among sub-ohm vapers, who likely go through more vape liquid each week than the average pod vaper.
One of the first e-liquid brands to introduce shortfills was Dinner Lady, the company behind some of the most popular vape juice flavors in the UK and beyond. Today, almost every major e-liquid brand that sells to the European market includes several shortfill options in their range.
Shortfills in the United States
Readers in the land of the free might wonder what on earth we’re talking about. Shortfills are largely unknown in the United States, and although American vapers can buy nicotine-free e-liquids and flavor concentrates in 100ml (or larger) bottles, they will almost always be filled to the top.
Shortfills never needed to be introduced in the U.S. because there aren’t the same 10ml limits on selling vape juice that contains nicotine. If you want a 100ml bottle of 6mg/ml strength e-liquid in America, you can buy it already premixed.
What are Nicotine Shots?
Despite the name, nicotine shots (or nic shots) don’t contain only nicotine. In fact, under TPD rules, the 10ml bottles can only contain up to 20mg/ml of nicotine, which is mixed with PG and VG just like in a normal flavored e-liquid.
Nicotine shots are available in a variety of strengths and PG/VG ratios, including 100% VG and 70/30 PG/VG. Freebase nic shots usually go up to 18mg/ml in strength, but you can also find nic salt shots up to the European maximum of 20mg/ml.
Most nicotine shots are flavorless or only contain flavor additions like “ice” and “cooling”. Because a basically flavorless mix of VG/PG with nicotine would taste bitter and generally unpleasant, there is little use for nic shots beyond DIY e-liquid mixing, such as being added to shortfills.
Can You Save Money by Switching to Shortfills?
Shortfills might be most suited to sub-ohm vapers who go through more e-liquid per day than the average. However, if you don’t mind vaping at lower nicotine strengths, the financial savings from switching to buying e-juice in larger volumes are likely to be tempting to anyone.
Cost of Buying Disposable Vapes
2ml disposable (Elf Bar, etc): Lasts 1-2 days on average
- Individual cost: £4.00 (£2.00 per ml)
- Annual cost: £1,460.00/£730.00
Cost of Buying 10ml E-Liquids
10ml nicotine e-liquid: Lasts 4-5 days on average
- Individual cost: £4.00 (£0.40 per ml)
- Annual cost: £365.00/£292.00
Cost of Buying Shortfills
100ml shortfill: Lasts up to 60 days
- Individual cost: £13.00 (£0.13 per ml) + nic shots £2.40*
- Annual cost: £83.00, including nic shots
50ml shortfill: Lasts up to 30 days
- Individual cost – £9.00 (£0.18 per ml) + nic shot £1.20
- Annual cost – £115.00, including nic shots
*Many stores provide one or two free nicotine shots with any shortfill purchased, so this extra cost isn’t always a factor.
Common Shortfill Sizes
The most common shortfill sizes, the sizes that the majority of brick-and-mortar and online vape retailers will carry, are 50ml and 100ml. However, it is possible to find shortfill liquids in almost any volume above the 10ml maximum for nicotine-containing vape liquids set by the TPD rules.
You can even find shortfill eliquids in volumes of 200ml and beyond, but they are usually referred to as “flavor concentrates” rather than shortfills and can’t be used to fill a vape directly from the bottle.
As we’ve already established, shortfills are sold with space to add one or more 10ml nic shots. When you buy a shortfill, it will be described by the amount of eliquid the bottle contains, not the amount it can hold. So a product labeled as a “100ml shortfill” will be 100ml of e-liquid in a bottle capable of holding 120ml and a “50ml shortfill” will be 50ml of liquid in a 60ml bottle.
That’s almost always explained in the product descriptions but this is particularly worth remembering if you plan to take a shortfill with you on a flight where liquids have to be separated into 100ml or smaller bottles.
Due to the way that shortfill liquids are supposed to be mixed with nicotine shots (more on that in a moment), the higher volume options will always leave room for at least 20ml of nicotine shots, and sometimes as much as 50ml. Here are a few examples:
- 30ml in a 40ml bottle (1 nic shot)
- 50ml in a 60ml bottle (1 nic shot)
- 100ml in a 120ml bottle (2 nic shots)
- 150ml in a 200ml bottle (5 nic shots)
How to use Shortfill E-Liquids
Some vapers may be put off of using shortfill e-liquids because they perceive the process of mixing their own vape juice as messy or complicated. However, while mixing nic shots into a shortfill is more complex than buying a pre-mixed e-juice off the shelf, it’s certainly not rocket science and is rarely messy.
The only part of the process that requires a little thought is calculating the strength and number of nicotine shots needed to make a finished eliquid that suits your strength requirements.
There are a few online shortfill calculators to help if you don’t want to do the math, but working it out yourself isn’t hard. You simply have to divide the total amount of nicotine in the shot by the final volume of the shortfill.
As an example, a 10ml bottle of 18mg/ml e-liquid contains 180mg of nicotine, so that would be 180 divided by 60 for a 50ml shortfill. The resulting number (3, in this case) is the mg/ml strength of the mixed liquid. Some of the most common mixes include:
- 50ml shortfill + 18mg/ml nic shot (10ml) = 3mg/ml nicotine strength
- 50ml shortfill + 2 x 18mg/ml nic shots (20ml) = 6mg/ml nicotine strength
- 100ml shortfill + 2 x 18mg/ml nic shots (20ml) = 3mg/ml nicotine strength
- 150ml shortfill + 5 x 18mg/ml nic shots (50ml) = 4.5mg/ml nicotine strength
As explained earlier, nicotine shots are basically nicotine-based PG/VG vape liquids with no flavor added and as such, they have to meet the TPD requirement of being no stronger than 20mg/ml. Because of this, shortfills might not be suited to those who prefer higher-strength vape juice. It’s very hard (indeed, almost impossible) to make 120ml of 20mg/ml juice using the shortfill method without diluting the flavor to an unrecognizable level.
After deciding the ratio of the base liquid and nic shot that you require, it is simply a case of popping off the nozzle of the shortfill bottle, squirting the shot(s) into the base eliquid, firmly replacing the nozzle and cap, and giving it a shake to mix everything together.
The Bottom Line
Shortfills are, by far, the most cost-effective way to vape if you live in the UK or most other European countries. Even when compared to pre-mixed liquids in a refillable vape, which is itself far cheaper than using disposables, shortfills could allow you to slash your e-liquid spending by around two-thirds. However, while economical, shortfills are best suited to vapers who prefer lower-strength nicotine ejuices as it is almost impossible to mix a high-nicotine-strength ejuice using the shortfill method.
Russ Ware
Robert Barnes
Versed Vaper Team
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