All About Shortfill Eliquids

An Introduction – All about Shortfill Eliquids

Prior to 2017

Prior to Eliquid becoming regulated in 2017 under the EU Tobacco Products Directive (TPD) eliquids could be sold in any size, from 10ml to 1000ml for example and could contain any strength Nicotine. The TPD make the rules stricter to sell eliquid and specified lots of new regulations including

• A maximum size of Eliquid Bottles to be sold in 10ml
• All Tanks had to have a maximum size capacity of 2ml
• A maximum of 20mg strength Nicotine in any eliquid

In order to sell eliquids in sizes bigger than the small 10ml bottles, manufactures began producing a liquid called Shortfills to get around the Regulations.

What exactly is a Shortfill Eliquid?

A Shortfill bottle contains all of the components of an Eliquid (Vegetable Glycerine, Propylene Glycol and Flavour Concentrate) but without Nicotine. It is argued, that the liquid is not an eliquid until the Nicotine is added. There have so far been no legal challenges to this. There is likely to be challenges to this in the future as it can also be argued that the above componants actually make a 0mg Nicotine eliquid.

Shortfills are usually sold in 50ml or 100ml bottle sizes, although there are several larger sizes. We will stick with the 50ml and 100ml sizes as it is simple to work out the Nicotine required. The 50ml Liquid comes in a 60ml bottle, leaving a 10ml gap (shortfill) at the top of the bottle. The100ml Liquid comes in a 120ml bottle, leaving a 20ml gap (Shortfill) at the top of the bottle.

How to use a Shortfill?

A Shortfill Eliquid is very easy to use. Simply add your Nicotine ( AKA Nic Shot) and shake the bottle well. Once this Nicotine is added, it then becomes an eliquid and can be vaped. However, for dessert and custard flavours, it is best to leave these for a week or two so that the flavour can infuse properly. Fruit flavours are normally ready to vape at this point but will also always taste better if left.

How much Nicotine do i to use?

Generally speaking, Shortfills are designed for people who vape at 3mg Nicotine Strength. You are able to use a Shortfill with a higher Nicotine strength but you will need to source Nicotine at 72mg strength. This strength is not available in UK Shops. You will then need to do special dilution calculations. We will assume that you vape at the desired 3mg so we dont complicate things. There are lots of eliquid mixing calculators online which you can use if you do proceed with 72mg eliquid.

If you are going for 50ml or 100ml Shortfills, you need to use 18mg strength, 10ml Nicotine Shots.

So, if you buy a 50ml size Shortfill, you would add 1 x 18mg 10ml Nic Shot to the bottle, making 60ml of Eliquid.

So, if you buy a 100ml size Shortfill, you would add 2 x 18mg 10ml Nic Shots to the bottle, making 120ml of Eliquid

The 18mg Nic Shots are diluted down to 3mg once added to the Shortfill bottle.

What about VG / PG Ratios on a Shortfill?

A Shortfill will generally come in 2 Ratio’s, VG/PG 70/30 or VG/PG 50/50. There are other variants available. Remember, VG (Vegetable Glycerine) produces the Vapour Clouds and PG (Propylene Glycol) poduces the throat hit. For big vapour clouds use the VG/PG 70/30 or 80/20, for a balanced Cloud production and flavour, use 50/50.

Where can I buy quality Shortfills?

Here at The Vaping Shop we specialise in Shortfills. We have 100’s of flavours available. Please feel free to browse our collections. Any 50ml Shortfill comes with a Nicotine Shot FREE and 100ml Shortfill comes with 2 Nicotine Shots FREE so you dont need to order these seperately.