Guide To Short Fills

Since TPD came into effect, e-liquids containing nicotine can now only be sold in 10ml bottles. Anything larger has to be nicotine free, so the way to get the best of both worlds is through short fills. The way they work is by adding a 10ml, high strength shot of nicotine (usually 18mgs) to your big bottle and shaking it for a minute like it’s your day job. The end result is a 3mg strength e-liquid. A dream for Sub Ohm vapers who chug through a lot of vape juice and don’t want to be squeezing tiny little bottles every half an hour of vaping.

Why Short Fills?

Nic-Shot Calculator

How Do I Mix A Short Fill?

Short fill bottles are set up a bit differently to the 10ml bottles. Again, due to TPD they still have the child proof lids but the dripper on the top pops out. To mix up your liquid, you open up your fresh bottle of nicotine free juice and pop off the pipette. Next, squeeze all your nicotine in from your 10ml nicotine shot bottle. Close the top of your short fill up and shake thoroughly. You want to make sure you mix the liquids up well so you get a smooth mix and no harsh flavour. Once the bubbles (and dust you’ve created) has settled, you’re ready to vape. As the nicotine itself is flavourless, you can leave the bottle with the lid off for ten minutes, seal it up and keep it somewhere dark for a few days. This helps the e-liquid to steep, allowing the flavours to develop more in the same way wine works. And who said vaping wasn’t an art form.

What Are My Options?

As far as the short fill e-liquid flavours go, the sky is just about the limit. Most brands will supply just about all of their flavours in short fills so the world is your oyster, from tobacco to fruit to desserts and everything in between. As far as the nicotine shot itself goes, you have quite a few choices there too. They usually come flavourless so they don’t conflict with your juice of choice but you can also get menthol nic shots for a cooling twist. You can also choose from different PG/VG ratios. Most come in a 70:30 VG to PG mix but if you want the nicotine without compromising on cloud production, you can also get high VG mixes with an 80:20 blend to match your flavoured juice. You also have the option now to use nicotine salt short fills. This option will still work in the same way but comes in a slightly higher strength of 20mg per shot. It’s a faster acting form of nicotine so will be felt more easily, giving you that hit faster than freebase nicotine. It’s also a smoother and more mild flavoured solution, meaning you can get that higher strength without compromising on getting the best flavour without a harsh throat hit out of your juice. If you mix it with a 50ml short fill, you’ll get a 3.3mg strength.

How Do I Get The Right Nicotine Level In A Short Fill?

This bit is super easy. If you combine a 50ml bottle with a 10ml bottle of nicotine (that’s an 18mg nicotine strength) you’ll get a 3mg strength short fill. If you have a larger bottle - say a 100ml (when you’re really ready to commit to a flavour) they’ll come with enough space for two nicotine shots meaning you pop two in for the same 3mg strength. Likewise, if you want a milder mix just put half a nicotine shot in a 50ml bottle for a 1.5mg strength.

If you want to make it stronger than 3mg, some bottles come with enough space for two nic shots. If they don’t, decant a little of your nic free liquid until you have enough space to fit two in. Bear in mind that as nicotine has no taste to it, it can dilute the flavour of your juice. To help counteract this, you can steep your juice. Just like we mentioned before, just leave the lid off for around ten minutes then once you’ve resealed it, pop your bottle in a dark place for up to a week.