Last updated: September 12, 2023

What Are Shortfill E Liquids?

Shortfill E Liquids (or Shake & Vape) are large bottles of 0mg (nicotine free) vape juice with space in the bottle to add your own Nicotine Shots. Shortfills are named as such simply because the bottle isn’t filled to the top (they’re ‘filled short’), so a 60ml bottle will have 50ml of E Liquid and 10ml of space. The term ‘Shake and Vape’ relates to the need to shake the bottle after adding the nicotine to ensure it mixes correctly. Shortfills have become increasingly popular since their inception mainly because vapers can buy much more E Liquid for a much lower price. So instead of spending £4.99 on a 10ml bottle, you can get a 100ml bottle for as little as £9.99 (saving you a total of £39.91 overall).

The History of Shortfill E Liquids

In 2017, the TPD (Tobacco Products Directive) introduced new regulations for any Vape Kit or E Liquid that contains nicotine in the UK/EU. This included restrictions on bottles that contain nicotine, limiting their size to a maximum of 10ml. This is also the reason the largest Vape Tanks we can have in the UK/EU only hold a maximum of 2ml of E Liquid. 

While the ‘safety’ reasons behind these restrictions don’t make the most sense, the biggest concern to manufacturers and vapers alike was how this would affect the price. As with everything, the more you buy, the cheaper you get it for. But being limited to 10ml bottles didn’t leave much room for savings. To get around this, and ensure vapers can buy as much E Liquid as they need without spending a fortune, manufacturers began creating Shortfills.

Since Shortfills don’t contain nicotine, they can be sold in any size bottles without breaking TPD regulations. And since Nic Shots are only sold in 10ml bottles, they don’t break the rules either. Due to the massive savings, decanting a Nic Shot into a Shotfill E Liquid became the standard way for vapers to buy E Liquid in large quantities.

What Sizes Do Shortfills Come In?

The bottle sizes of Shortfill E Liquids can be confusing since they come with space in the bottle to add your own Nic Shots. For example, a 50ml Shortfill bottle will actually have 60ml of E Liquid if a Nic Shot is added.

Unlike most retailers, we stock our Shortfills with this in mind so you can easily understand how much E Liquid you’ll be left with once you’ve added your Nic Shots. Our product pages show clearly how much E Liquid you’re purchasing, not the size of the bottle it comes in.

When you select one of our Shortfill E Liquids you can choose 3 nicotine strengths; 0mg, 3mg and 6mg. Our nicotine free E Liquid is available in 10ml, 50ml or 100ml bottles. Want 3mg? No problem. Pick either a 60ml or 120ml bottle and we’ll send you the E Liquid (and the right amount of Nic Shots for free). Prefer 6mg? We’ll pack a special 80ml bottle of concentrated E Liquid just for you (with 4 free Nic Shots for the perfect consistency).

What Are Nic Shots?

Nic Shots are flavourless 10ml bottles of E Liquid that contain high concentrations of nicotine. While these E Liquids can be vaped on their own, they’re designed to be added to 0mg (nicotine free) Shortfills only. Vaping Nic Shots on their own however would be totally fine since they’re just flavourless E Liquids.

Using a Nic Shot is extremely straightforward, the only thing you need to ensure is the Nic Shot mix is the same as the E Liquid you’re using it with. For example, if your Shortfill is made from 70% VG and 30% PG, your Nic Shot should also be made with the same ratio. We stock 70/30 Nic Shots, 50/50 Nic Shots, 70/30 Nic Salt Shots and 50/50 Nic Salt Shots so you can always match the perfect shot with your perfect mix.

How Much Nicotine do I add?

This depends entirely on how much nicotine you need, and how big your Shortfill bottle is. The maximum strength you can have with a Shortfill bottle is 6mg, this is because Shortfills are concentrated (they taste stronger than usual) so adding the Nic Shots dilutes the flavour to the perfect strength. While you can add as many Nic Shots as you like, the bottles are made with a specific amount of free space to ensure the flavour isn’t too diluted.

Nic Shots are sold in 10ml bottles at 18mg nicotine strength. Mixing one Nic Shot with a 50ml Shortfill will leave you with 60ml of E Liquid at 3mg strength. If you have a 100ml Shortfill, adding 2 Nic Shots will make 120ml of E Liquid at 3mg strength. If you wanted 6mg strength, you could grab an 80ml bottle and add 4 Nic Shots. This would leave you with 120ml of E Liquid at 6mg strength.

Still a little confused? We understand! It can take a little while to get your head around but in the meantime, our handy guide should help you through the process.

How do I add Nic Shots to a Shortfill?

Adding Nic Shots to a Shortfill bottle is extremely straightforward. Simply follow our visual guide below:

nic shot guide

Are Shortfills Right For Me?

Shortfills are ideal for vapers who use 6mg nicotine strength or below. While you can add more nicotine to a Shortfill to increase the dosage past 6mg, each Nic Shot added after the first one will dilute the taste of the E Liquid. This is why the bottles have a predetermined amount of empty space, this ensures you don’t add too much to your Shortfill and ruin the flavour.

Shortfills were primarily designed for DTL (Direct To Lung) vapers due to their High VG content. Here at Vapoholic we thought everyone deserves to be able to save money though, so if you’re an MTL (Mouth To Lung) vaper, we’ve created a range of 50/50 Shorfills, which are ideal for your style of vaping. It’s not only Sub Ohm vapers that should be able to enjoy the benefits of Shortfills.

The Cons of Shortfills?

There aren’t many cons to buying Shortfills, but it depends on the type of vaper you are. As stated above, the maximum dosage of nicotine you can have with a Shortfill E Liquid is around 6mg. If you’re used to vaping higher concentrations of nicotine, our 10ml E Liquid Range is full of delicious flavours in 10mg or 20mg strengths.

As stated above, most Shortfills are either 70/30 or (with some manufacturers like us) you can get a 50/50 mix. While this covers most bases, there are some vapers who prefer an 80/20 mix (80% PG / 20% VG). If this is you, we’d recommend giving our 50/50 mix a go. It’ll still work in your device and will be much smoother than your usual E Liquid.

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