Introduction

Unless you started vaping in the last 6 months, or have been hiding under a rock for the last year, you will be aware that the vaping industry underwent some pretty big changes at the end of May ’17, which saw regulations applied to the way vaping products are made and sold, under the ‘TPD’ or Tobacco Products Directive.

Here are the main changes introduced by the TPD:

· E-cigarette tanks restricted to a capacity of 2ml
· Volume of nicotine-containing e-liquid container restricted to 10ml
· E-liquid nicotine strength restricted to 20mg/ml
· E-Liquid packaging to be child-resistant and tamper evident
· Ban certain ingredients including colourings, caffeine and taurine
· New labelling requirements and warnings
· All E-cigarettes and E-liquids to be registered with the MHRA before sale

So how has the industry reacted to these changes?

Manufacturers have adapted their product offering to comply, and we have seen some clever work-arounds on tank size, with some companies offering larger, after-market replacement glass to increase the capacity and others designed to retrofit pre-existing coils, also increasing the capacity for E-liquid.

In regards to the restriction on the bottle size of E-Liquid containing nicotine, the biggest trend we are now seeing is ‘Shortfill’ liquids and ‘nicotine shots’… so what are they all about?

Shortfill E-liquids are large, nicotine-free liquids that are supplied in a bottle with space at the top, allowing customers to add ‘nicotine shots’ to bring the overall strength, as a rule of thumb, to 3mg.

These Shortfill E-liquids are primarily high VG liquids, for use in sub-ohm tanks as these tend to be the vapers vaping around 10mls per day who will benefit from larger and better value bottles. And that is really what Shortfill E-liquids are all about, making buying larger volumes of E-liquid better value than multiples of 10mls, whilst still abiding to the rules of the TPD.

How are manufacturers still sticking to the rules of the TPD?

E-Liquids that do not contain nicotine are currently unregulated, meaning that they can be made and sold in any size and nicotine shots are supplied in 10ml bottles and at a strength of no more than 20mg, so both products are within the regulations.

How do you use Shortfill E-Liquids??

The first thing you need to do is find a Shortfill flavour that you like. We are currently stocking Dr Frost, Cloud Marshals, Naked 100 & Donut Dude. All these E-liquids come in 120ml bottles containing 100ml of juice, apart from Naked 100, which is a 60ml bottle containing 50ml of juice.

To make 120ml of 3mg E-liquid you would need 1 x 100ml Shortfill E-Liquid and 2 x 18mg Nicotine shots.

To make 60ml of 3mg E-liquid you would need 1 x 50ml Shortfill E-Liquid and 1 x 18mg Nicotine shots.

You can make 6mg E-liquid from any of these products by doubling the amount of nicotine shots mentioned above, though you may need the addition of a bigger empty bottle to hold all the juice.

What do i do with the Nicotine shots?

Open up your Shortfill E-liquid, pop the cap off of your Nicotine shots and pour them in. Pop the cap of your Shortfill E-liquid back on securely and vigorously shake the contents. Shake it as often as possible and leave it at least 24hrs for the compounds to bind. If you have the patience, leave it another 24hrs in a safe place with the cap off to ‘air-steep’ this will allow any gaseous products of mixing the chemicals to escape and your liquid will taste better. If you have the patience of a saint, leave it another 24hrs for the perfect steep time.

Nicotine shots come in PG or VG variations, which do i need?

This is a good question! We currently stock either 100% PG (Propylene Glycol) or 100% VG (Vegetable Glycerin) Nicotine shots enabling you to tweak the final VG ratio of your juice. If you want the final VG Ratio to come out as close to 70/30 as possible, use one of each (PG & VG) with your 100ml Shortfill – if you want closer to 80/20, use 2 x VG Nicotine shots, if you want closer to 60/40 use 2 x PG Nicotine shots.

At the end of the day it’s all about personal preference and trying variations to decide which is your preferred ratio. We will soon stock 70/30 Nicotine shots so that the VG ratio is unaffected by the mix.

How much will it cost me?

Our 100ml Shortfills range between £15-£25. With the addition of 2 x nicotine shots at £1 each, you will end up with 120ml of E-liquid from between £17-£27 – offering a distinct saving over the £35-£50 you would pay for 10x 10ml bottles. Yes you will have to commit to a larger volume of once flavour, but the savings are obvious.

Shortfill E-liquids look to be here to stay and there are a lot more brands available on the market, but it is their popularity with you, our customers which will determine how many brands we get in.

We hope that this offers a decent guide to buying, mixing and using Shortfills and Nicotine Shots, but as always, if you have any further questions, feel free to Email us, Call us or hit us up on Facebook for more information. We will be more than happy to hear from you.