Shortfills are large containers of E-Liquid that are intentionally not filled to capacity, providing space for adding nicotine if desired. These are primarily used by sub-ohm and DTL (direct to lung) vapers who employ high-powered devices such as advanced vape kits, mods, and sub-ohm tanks.
Things to keep in mind include:
Size: They come in various sizes, typically ranging from 50ml to 200ml.
Compatibility: While ideal for high-powered devices, most shortfills can be mixed with PG Nic Shots in order to bring a thicker liquid (70/30) down to a much thinner (60/40) making them perfectly usable in most modern mouth-to-lung devices.
Nicotine content and options: These E-Liquids are nicotine-free but offer the option to add nicotine. For instance, a 50ml shortfill is usually sold in a 60ml bottle, leaving room for 10ml nicotine shot. Similarly, a 100ml shortfill comes in a 120ml bottle, providing space for two nicotine shots. U can normally squeeze a little bit more into each bottle, but the more nicotine you add the more you dilute the flavour.
Bottle Design: The design of shortfill bottles is such that they have extra space to accommodate the addition of nicotine shots, making them a versatile choice for vapers who prefer to customize their nicotine strength.
Cost: Shortfills are one of, if not, the cheapest ways to vape. 120ml of liquid in 10ml bottles can be as much as four times more expensive than the same liquid in a shortfill.
Why all the hassle?
Shortfills emerged as a creative solution in response to the Tobacco Products Directive (TPD) regulations, which imposed a limit on the size of nicotine-containing E-Liquid bottles. According to TPD, the maximum legal size for these bottles containing nicotine was reduced to 10ml, with a maximum strength of 20mg.
This change posed a significant inconvenience for sub-ohm vapers, who typically use high-wattage devices that consume E-Liquid more rapidly. For such users, a 10ml bottle of nicotine-containing E-Liquid might only suffice for a day's use.
To navigate these restrictions while still catering to the needs of sub-ohm vapers, the vaping industry introduced large bottles of nicotine-free E-Liquid with extra space. This approach allowed the industry to comply with TPD regulations while providing sub-ohm vapers with a practical and efficient solution to meet their higher E-Liquid consumption needs.
When and why you should start using shortfills?
If you are just getting started, we recommend that you stick to using 10mls. This is because it gives you greater freedom in how you vape on a daily basis, for example: one 100ml shortfill, is the equivalent to twelve 10ml bottles, but you’re locked into a single flavour and single strength. One of the best ways to start vaping is too experiment as much as you can with flavours and strength, to really find what works for you.
What are Longfill E liquids?
Longfills much like shortfills are a bottle containing elquid with space to add nicotine as needed, although they usually only contain flouring and around 20ml of VG and/or PG. Leaving you and entire 100ml of extra space to add nicotine. Where you can vape with shortfills without adding anything, it is not recommended that you do this with longfills.
Being a more advanced option for vapours looking to truly customize the nicotine strength and thickness of their liquid, offering a much greater variety than shortfills in both areas, they require a lot more mixing and maths to get exactly what you need. Going anywhere from 3mg all the way up to 12mg of nicotine.
These can be a great option for someone who wants the cost savings of a shortfill, but with a higher nicotine strength, as long as you’re willing to put in the effort.
