Shortfill E-Liquids: Mixing Guide & Tips
Shortfill E-Liquids
Here in Switzerland, e-liquids currently follow the same rules as in the EU. The European Tobacco Products Directive (TPD2) requires nicotine-containing e-liquids to be sold only in bottles of 10 millilitres or less. For this reason, e-liquids over 10ml—known as shortfill liquids—can only be boosted with nicotine under the following conditions.
A shortfill liquid is an e-liquid that has to be topped up with base (unflavoured e-liquid) so you can vape the finished mix at the flavour intensity intended by the manufacturer. Most vape shops offer ready-made nicotine shots, so you can hit your desired nicotine strength without doing any maths. Shortfill e-liquids can also simply be topped up with standard e-liquid base.
| Shots are typically available in 0mg, 9mg and 18mg strengths. But which one do you need to hit your target strength? And which strengths can you actually achieve with each shortfill format? |
20ml / 30ml shortfill
|
To make 0mg 1x 0mg shot |
To make 3mg 1x 9mg shot |
To make 6mg 1x 18mg shot |
40ml / 60ml shortfill
|
To make 0mg 2x 0mg shot |
To make 1.5mg 1x 0mg shot 1x 9mg shot |
To make 3mg 1x 0mg shot 1x 18mg shot |
To make 4.5mg 1x 9mg shot 1x 18mg shot |
To make 6mg 2x 18mg shot |
50ml / 60ml shortfill
|
To make 0mg 1x 0mg shot |
To make 1.5mg 1x 9mg shot |
To make 3mg 1x 18mg shot |
100ml / 120ml shortfill
|
To make 0mg 2x 0mg shot |
To make 0.75mg 1x 0mg shot 1x 9mg shot |
To make 1.5mg 1x 0mg shot 1x 18mg shot |
To make 2.25mg 1x 9mg shot 1x 18mg shot |
To make 3mg 2x 18mg shot |
Shortfill e-liquid – adding nicotine without nicotine shots?
Because ready-made nicotine shots are capped at 20 mg/ml, shortfills can often only be brought up to 3mg/ml or 6mg/ml with pre-made shots. However, you are allowed to order higher-strength nicotine bases from abroad (max. 150ml per order).
We recommend ordering a 100 mg/ml base in 100% PG. That way, you can mix almost any e-liquid to almost any strength without diluting it too much.
It also makes sense to buy half a litre of neutral base, as you’ll usually use less than 10ml / 20ml of the 100 mg/ml base and otherwise won’t reach the fill volume recommended by the manufacturer.
