Sub-Ohm Vaping: Cutting Vaping Costs with Shortfills

There are a number of ways you can cut your vaping costs and save money as a vaper. In this article, we look at how using shortfills can help you reduce your vaping bill.

There are many benefits associated with vaping. If you were a nicotine user at some point, you’ve probably happened across articles promoting vaping as a cheaper alternative to smoking.

Vaping is not cheap per se, but with the government planning to end smoking in England by the year 2030, one of the most obvious steps to help them reach that goal is to make traditional cigarettes prohibitive by hiking prices through ‘sin tax’.

That’s in addition to adopting other measures such as the 2020 UK menthol cigarette ban which sounded the death knell for menthol cigarettes which are now but a distant memory. For most menthol cigarette smokers, that either meant switching to menthol e-liquids or kicking the habit altogether.

In retrospect, as much as the move must have been disappointing for long-term menthol smokers, it’s hard to argue that this was a blessing in disguise when you factor in the effects of combustible cigarettes on human health. Sure, in an ideal world, people would have been left to make that choice on their own, but hey ho…

Reducing your vaping costs

Now, as a vaper, there are several measures you can institute to bring down your cost of vaping.

Some simple hacks we recommend include:

• buying your vape supplies online
• sourcing your e-liquid refills in bulk

In the case of the latter, the upfront costs may be higher, but it saves you a substantial sum in that you get to enjoy the quantity discount offered by most vendors when you buy in bulk. Not forgetting that you also save on shipping costs or eliminate them altogether when your purchase exceeds a certain amount.

At Vapemate, for instance, we offer free shipping for orders above £10.

Another obvious strategy you can employ to slash your vaping costs is to take advantage of vendor deals. Whether it’s e-liquid clearance sales or other product offers, this is hands down one of the best ways to trim your vaping bill.

However, our focus today is not on the above methods but rather, another ingenious hack that anyone that is conscious of their vaping budget should include in their bag of vape shopping tricks: shortfill e-liquids.

What are shortfill e-liquids?

Shortfills are e-liquids that come in a larger bottle than the regular 10ml units that are more prevalent. The name itself derives from the fact that shortfill bottles are not completely topped up. They leave an allowance for adding nicotine shots, which normally come packed in a 10ml bottle.

In case you took up vaping fairly recently, then you might have missed the big news.

The reason most e-liquid bottles come in 10ml containers is not because e-juice manufacturers want to make your life miserable by forcing you to purchase more bottles or order more frequently. Rather, it’s a regulation under the Tobacco Products Directive (TPD) that came into effect in 2016 which sought to control the once unregulated vape industry.

Among its provisions was that vape bottles containing nicotine should be capped at 10 ml as far as volume is concerned. The TPD rules are the reason your vape tank also comes in a 2ml capacity. And the reason e-liquid nicotine strengths in the UK (and the EU) also seem to have a maximum concentration of 18mg (or 20mg in the case of nicotine salts).

The logic behind these directives – according to the authorities – was to minimise the risk of nicotine poisoning in the event a child or pet ingests vape juice.

While most vapers have learned to live within the confines of these limits, it can prove a huge inconvenience when it comes to sub-ohm vaping.

Sub ohming, aka cloud vaping or direct-to-lung vaping, is a powerful form of vaping that utilises high juice quantities due to its high-performance nature, so much so that it is not unusual for vapers to run through 20 ml of juice or more in a single day.

To satisfy sub-ohm vapers, e-liquid vendors started packaging vape juice in boxes holding many small bottles. Needless to say, this is not the most ideal way to purchase e-liquid; the waste problem notwithstanding. More specifically to our post, it also means digging deeper into your back pocket.

This is why shortfill e-liquid makes sense.

Related: Mouth to Lung Vaping vs Direct to Lung Vaping

How cheap are shortfill e-liquids?

Let’s run you through some hard numbers to give you a better picture of whether shortfill e-liquids are economical or not.

In the UK, a bottle of quality standard 10ml e-juice goes for between £2.50 and £4.00.

If you are an active vaper or cloud chaser that goes through a bottle (10ml) a day, this translates to £2.50-£4.00 of e-liquid spend a day. This means 5 bottles (adding up to 50 ml) would fetch in the region of £12.50-£20.

By comparison, a standard 50 ml shortfill goes for about £8.00, give or take.

Since shortfills are nicotine-free, you will need to purchase a nicotine shot separately. The nic shots in our store go for anywhere between £1 to £3 a pop depending on the brand. Our in-house nic shots fetch at just a pound, making our bottles the most cost-effective in the market. But let’s use an average of £2 a bottle.

That brings the total cost of the shortfill and nicotine shot to £10 (£8.00 + £2.00). If you were to purchase 50 ml equivalent of standard juice (5 bottles x 10ml), that would translate to £12.50 (£2.50 x 5 bottles) using the conservative figure (as opposed to the £20).

The difference per 50 ml of e-liquid (on the lower side) therefore comes to: £12.50 - £10 = £2.50.

That’s a massive difference for only 50 ml of juice. Project that to a week, month or even an entire year and we are talking figures that could make a noticeable difference in your everyday life if you decided to channel the funds to other essential needs such as groceries.

Obviously, you might decide to shop for a deal and scoop up some 10ml bottles for much lower. However, if you’re buying from Vapemate, you also get to purchase shortfill juice for much lower.

That could be through the around-the-clock deals we offer on shortfill vape juice or the opportunity to snap up premium offerings through the multi-buy bargains we provide on shortfills.

As you can see, shortfill e liquids are an excellent way to reduce your vaping costs compared to buying premixed bottles. The environment will also thank you for it.

Other benefits of shortfill juice

The financial benefits of shortfills aside, below are additional pros of using shortfill juice:

Perfect for cloud chasing

We alluded to sub ohming earlier. Shortfills are a cloud chaser’s delight since they are tailor-made for it. These e-liquids are typically higher in VG content, which makes for excellent pairing with sub ohm tanks.

The most common VG/PG ratios for shortfill juices are 70/30 shortfills and 60/40 shortfills. The majority of vapers consider both of these ratios their “sweet spot” when they need a vape that produces a decent amount of cloud without compromising on flavour delivery.

But as you will find from the offerings in the Vapemate store, shortfills are also found in 80/20 ratios and are often the go-to buy for anyone looking for a 100% VG juice.

Lately, we have seen an introduction of 50/50 shortfill blends that break from the norm. We have discussed this in more detail below.

Less waste

Shortfill bottles are larger in size, which naturally follows that consumers will need less of them to fulfil their needs. By extension, less waste also means good news for the environment.

Convenience

As we mentioned earlier, purchasing e-liquids in bulk is one way you can save money. While that also means fewer orders to make, purchasing larger bottles in bulk introduces a whole new level of convenience to it such that it’s possible to limit your orders to just a few times in a year.

And no, you don’t need to worry about your shortfills expiring. Quite on the contrary actually. E-liquid has a decent amount of shelf life, but it also improves in taste the longer it’s stored. This process is known as e-liquid steeping, and is particularly recommended for shortfills to make them more flavourful after mixing.

More than that, shortfill juice is also more convenient in the sense that you don’t have to lug around many bottles when you find yourself on the move or away from home. This is a plus for heavy vapers. However, even beginner vapers and their intermediate counterparts don’t need to worry about running out of their favourite flavours or brands and the hassle of accessing them.

Customisation

One of the great things about vaping is the flexibility it offers. There is no right away to do it and individual preferences often enhance one’s experience by allowing for personalising your vape to your own unique needs, different from the other.

One of the ways vaping makes this possible is by allowing users to mix their own blends that appeal to their unique tastes. Fewer (if any) e-liquid types facilitate this better than shortfills. Shortfill liquids do not contain any nicotine, which makes it even easier to create your own tailored blends without compromising on flavour. And they come in a huge assortment of flavours to boot.

If you enjoy mixing your own e-juice, consider this VG e-liquid base and PG base concentrate.

Nicotine strength

Speaking of nicotine, shortfills do not have any nicotine content. The benefits of this is that it gives you the freedom to determine the exact amount of nicotine you need – either with particular flavours or at any given moment.

The 10 ml nicotine shot doesn’t necessarily have to go into the 50ml shortfill bottle. As a vaper, you have complete leeway in determining what works best for you.

The downsides of shortfills

So, if shortfills are so economical, why doesn’t everyone go for them?

Well, while your wallet will be happier, one of the biggest drawbacks associated with shortfills is that they can be a bit of an inconvenience since you have to get your hands dirty.

Not everyone wants to mix e-liquids by themselves as that means an additional step in your vape routine. On the upside, though, it’s not like you’ll be gathering a ton of vape ingredients and supplies.

Shortfills can be a hassle

The DIY mixing is nice and all, but it can also create a mess sometimes as spillage is always a possibility. In the unfortunate event you knock over a shortfill bottle in the course of the blending, you will have more than a mess to deal with: that is basically money down the drain, something that would all but negate the savings you made (never mind the frustration!).

As such, some people simply opt to buy the standard premixed bottles and avoid the hassle altogether. However, spillage accidents are not a must. It’s possible to avoid them by observing more caution, plus, it’s not like you’ll be doing the mixing every day.

Mixing challenges

When it comes to mixing shortfill juice, all you need to do is pour the 10ml nicotine shot in the 50ml shortfill bottle to get you 60 ml of nicotine-laced juice. But you might find this blanket ratio doesn’t do it for you.

If you’re into nicotine-free vaping, that should not be a problem. Otherwise, the e liquid-nicotine ratio is one you need to get right if you want better-tasting and satisfying e-liquids.

The good thing is that adding nic shots to shortfills is a pretty straightforward affair and doesn’t require any grasp of organic chemistry to pull off. There are even mixing guides on the web to walk you through the process. Check out our guide on how to mix shortfills.

Also Read: Why Vape Without Nicotine

Storage issues

Mixing aside, shortfill liquids also require proper storage. There is no issue with mixing and letting your juices sit for weeks or even months without using them. As we mentioned, e-liquid steeping is great for developing the flavour of your mixes.

The problem comes when you store your bottles incorrectly (or someone interferes with them), resulting in the quality of the juice degrading. If we are talking a large quantity of bottles, that can be a big hit, both in your pocket and the effort that went into it.

Is there a 50/50 shortfill?

50/50 shortfill is a fairly new concept. As we mentioned earlier, shortfills typically come in higher VG (vegetable glycerine) content than PG (propylene glycol). We also noted that the most common shortfill blends are 70/30 and 60/40 VG/PG shortfills, with 80/20 and 100VG being alternative options as well.

That essentially meant shortfill e liquid was largely used as a sub ohm vape, until recently when 50/50 shortfill e liquid became a thing.

50/50 shortfills are basically shortfill blends designed for use in MTL (mouth-to-lung) devices. These are regular e-cigs that utilise MTL tanks and coils above 1.0 Ohm, a standard form of vaping that is less about vapour production (as in sub ohm vaping) and more about nicotine satisfaction and throat hit.

Mouth-to-lung vaping promises a more conventional experience similar to smoking traditional cigarettes.

Unlike your typical shortfills, 50/50 shortfill blends contain equal amounts of VG and PG just like regular e-liquids (hence 50/50). This new blend of shortfills serves to broaden the appeal of shortfill e liquids across a wider segment of the vaping community – unlike before when shortfills were only restricted for use in DTL devices.

Also Read: Vaping Techniques Explained: Mouth to Lung Vaping & Direct to Lung Vaping

Conclusion

There are different ways you can reduce your costs as a vaper. One of the best strategies is to restock your supplies by opting for shortfill e-liquids over other alternatives. Shortfills can save you a substantial amount of money in the long run but that aside, they offer a plethora of other advantages.

They are excellent picks for nicotine-free vapers and they are also suited for cloud chasers since they contain higher VG content. But shortfills today are also coming in a 50/50 ratio, which makes them available to a larger pool of consumers.

More than that, shortfill juice offers more convenience and is ideal for vapers who prefer a more tailored experience. Since they come in larger bottles, the environmental impact is also minimal.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What is a shortfill vape?

A shortfill vape is a type of e-liquid that is packaged in a larger-than-normal bottle. Due to TPD restrictions, e-liquid bottles in the UK and EU countries are capped at 10 ml capacity. However, shortfills allow e-liquid manufacturers and vapers to bypass this limitation without breaking the law.

Shortfill bottles have a capacity of 60ml. They are partially filled (containing 50 ml of zero-nicotine liquid) with 10ml headroom for adding a nicotine shot.

Can you vape shortfill without nicotine?

Absolutely. One distinguishing characteristic of shortfill juice from other e-liquids is that it contains zero nicotine. This makes it perfect for users who prefer to vape without nicotine.

However, shortfills also allow for the addition of nicotine. They come in bottles that leave an allowance for adding a nicotine shot, so both nicotine and non-nicotine users are well-served.

Are shortfills good for vaping?

Shortfills are great for vaping in more ways than one. For starters, these e-liquids do not contain any nicotine, therefore they cater well to the contingent of vapers who prefer a zero nicotine experience. Secondly, shortfills present an excellent opportunity to save money since, pound for pound, they are a more cost-effective option in the long run.

Shortfill e-liquids are also perfect for cloud chasing, and the more recent 50/50 shortfills ensure users who prefer a regular vaping experience are not locked out. What’s more, these larger e-liquid bottles are a more sustainable option because they create less environmental waste.

What type of vape kit is suited for shortfills?

Modern-day shortfills are compatible with all e-cigs. Until recently, shortfill e-liquids were designed for use in direct-to-lung (DTL) tanks and e-cigs. That is due to their higher vegetable glycerine (VG) content which made shortfills ideal for sub ohm vaping.

In the last few years, though, the shortfill e-liquid segment has seen the introduction of 50/50 VG/PG shortfills. These blends are meant for use in MTL (mouth to lung) tanks and devices, which provide a more regular experience with lesser vapour than DTL vaping. This style of vaping is not much different from smoking, only that this time, there is no tobacco involved or any of the other harmful chemicals present in combustible cigarettes.

How do I add a nicotine shot to a shortfill?

Adding nicotine shots to a shortfill juice is a straightforward process. Shortfill bottles have a space reserved for nicotine shots. So what you do is simply open the shortfill bottle and pour your nicotine shot inside.

Manufacturers will usually have a guide on how to achieve the ideal nicotine strength, but if in doubt, there are tons of resources online to guide you. Once you have added your nicotine shot to the shortfill, shake the contents and give the juice some time to steep.