Best Longfill E-Liquid UK: Save Up To 74% Per ml After The October Vape Tax

Here’s the thing most vapers in the UK don’t know yet: the tax applies to the volume of liquid in the bottle, not the nicotine content.

That single fact changes everything about which format is worth buying.

• Longfills are concentrated flavour bases — you add your own nic shots and unflavoured base to finish the mix.
• Less taxable liquid.
• Drastically lower cost per ml.

I’ve been testing longfill e-liquids for the past year across pod kits and sub-ohm setups, and this guide covers everything you need to know — what longfills actually are, how the tax math works out, and which brands are worth your money right now, before October hits.

What Is a Longfill E-Liquid?

A longfill is a large bottle — usually 60ml or 120ml — that comes with only a small amount of highly concentrated flavour inside.

The rest of the bottle is empty space.

• You fill that space yourself with nicotine shots and an unflavoured VG/PG base to create a finished e-liquid at your chosen strength and mix ratio.
• A typical 60ml longfill arrives with around 20ml of concentrate.
• You add one or two 10ml nic shots, top up with unflavoured base, shake for a couple of minutes, and you’re done.

Total prep time: five minutes. The result is a finished 60ml bottle of e-liquid at exactly the strength and VG/PG ratio you want.

Fun Fact: The unflavoured PG/VG base you add to a longfill is not subject to UK vape duty — because it contains no nicotine and no flavouring. That legal distinction is exactly why longfills cost so much less per ml after the October tax kicks in.

Important: Longfills are not the same as shortfills. Shortfills come with the full volume of flavoured liquid already in the bottle — leaving only a small gap for a nic shot. They use far more taxable liquid than a longfill. We’ll break the numbers down below.

Longfill vs Shortfill vs Nic Salts: The Post-Tax Cost Breakdown

This is the comparison most UK vaping sites skip, probably because the numbers make nic salts and shortfills look very expensive.

Format	Taxable Volume (Oct ’26)	Avg Post-Tax Price	Cost Per ml
Nic salt (10ml)	10ml = £2.64 duty+VAT	~£6.19	£0.62/ml
Shortfill (60ml)	60ml = £15.84 duty+VAT	~£23.19	£0.39/ml
Longfill (60ml)	~30ml = £7.92 duty+VAT	~£13.59	£0.23/ml
Longfill (120ml)	~40ml = £10.56 duty+VAT	~£17-19	£0.15-0.16/ml

• The 120ml longfill is the cheapest way to vape in the UK after October 2026. Full stop.

The math works because the flavour concentrate and nic shots are taxable, but the unflavoured base you add yourself is not. A shortfill is almost entirely taxable. A longfill uses a fraction of the taxable volume to produce the same amount of finished liquid.

The UK Vape Tax: What It Actually Means For Your Wallet

What is the UK vape duty and when does it start?

The UK vape duty comes into effect on 1 October 2026. It charges £2.20 per 10ml of e-liquid, applied to any product containing nicotine or flavouring, and with VAT on top the effective per-10ml tax burden lands at £2.64.

The rate applies to liquid volume, not nicotine strength. A 0mg nic shot costs the same in duty as an 18mg one.

Here’s how that plays out across formats:

• Prefilled pod users: Minimal impact. You’re buying 2ml pods — the duty per refill is small. Expect around a 7% price rise overall.
• Nic salt vapers (10ml): A standard 10ml bottle was around £3.49. Post-tax, expect £5.99-6.19. That’s a significant jump on a weekly habit.
• Shortfill vapers: This is where it gets painful. A 60ml shortfill currently costs around £8-12. Post-tax, the duty alone on a 60ml bottle is £15.84. The price of a 60ml shortfill could more than double.
• Longfill vapers: Your taxable volume is the concentrate plus nic shots — not the base you add yourself. A 60ml longfill uses roughly 30ml of taxable liquid. A 120ml longfill uses around 40ml. The savings are substantial.

Based on current average shortfill pricing, industry modelling suggests shortfill vapers face up to a 147% price rise. Longfill vapers face roughly 60%. The difference is the unflavoured base — and it’s not taxed.

The smartest move you can make before October 2026 is switching your main e-liquid format to longfills now. Not after prices spike — now.

How to Mix a Longfill: Step-By-Step

First time mixing? It’s easier than you think.

Here’s the exact process using a 60ml Crystalize longfill as the example.

What you need:

• Your longfill bottle (20ml concentrate pre-filled in a 60ml bottle)
• 1-2 x 10ml nic shots at 18mg/ml
• 50/50 or 70/30 unflavoured VG/PG base (available as part of the kit)

The mix:

1. Check your concentrate level. Your Crystalize 60ml has 20ml of concentrate. You’ve got 40ml of empty space to fill.
2. Add your nic shots. One 10ml shot for ~3mg finished strength. Two 10ml shots for ~6mg. Never add more than three shots into a 60ml longfill — the ratio tips out of balance.
3. Top up with base. Pour in unflavoured VG/PG base until the bottle is full. Use 50/50 for pod kits, 70/30 VG-heavy for sub-ohm setups.
4. Cap and shake. Two minutes of vigorous shaking. Do it properly — the concentrate needs to fully distribute through the base.
5. Steep (optional). Crystalize bar salt longfills are shake-and-vape. You can use them immediately. Dessert or custard profiles from other brands benefit from 12-24 hours of steeping.

Note: Steeping e-liquid is about letting flavour compounds fully integrate with the base over time. Bar salt profiles skip this because the bright, fruit-forward flavour compounds bond fast. Dessert and tobacco profiles are more complex and take longer to settle.

Pod vape users: Stay with 50/50 PG/VG. High-VG mixes are too thick to wick properly in most pod coils, and you’ll get dry hits.

The Best Longfill E-Liquids in the UK Right Now

I’ve tested these across pod kits and sub-ohm setups. Here’s what’s actually worth buying.

#1 — Crystalize Bar Salts Longfill — Best UK-Made Longfill

Crystalize is manufactured in the UK to ISO 9001 standards. That matters — not as a marketing checkbox, but because it means consistent flavour, verified ingredients, and no quality-control lottery with overseas manufacturing. No other longfill on this list can say the same.

It’s available in 60ml and 120ml formats, making it one of the only longfills on the UK market offering a genuine 120ml option post-mix. The flavour range runs to 25+ bar-salt-style profiles — including Blueberry Sour Raspberry, which is the best-selling bar salt flavour in the UK in any format right now.

What sets Crystalize apart in testing is flavour intensity. In our testing, the concentrate runs at 2-3x the strength of a standard nic salt, which means less concentrate is doing more work in your finished mix. Flavour accuracy at 3mg and 6mg is excellent across the fruit range.

There’s also a QuickMix 20ml option for vapers who want to try the longfill format before committing to a 120ml bottle. Smart entry point.

#2 — Vampire Vape Longfill — Best For Brand Loyalty

Vampire Vape has been a fixture in UK vaping since the early days. Heisenberg and Pinkman are available in longfill format, which will be a comfort to anyone who’s been vaping those flavours for years and doesn’t want to relearn their setup. UK-made, widely distributed, and with a track record that most newer brands can’t match. Safe pick if you want a known quantity.

#3 — Just Juice Longfill — Best Flavour Range

If flavour variety is what you’re after, Just Juice has one of the widest longfill ranges in the UK right now. Fruit-forward profiles dominate — the mango and lychee range in particular perform well at 50/50. Good option for vapers who like to rotate flavours regularly without committing to one brand’s core range.

#4 — Ohm Boy Longfill — Best For Vapers Moving Away From Bar Salt Flavours

Ohm Boy takes a different positioning to most longfill brands — botanical and premium rather than disposable-adjacent bar salt profiles. If you’ve been vaping Blueberry Ice and Lost Mary flavour clones and want something more considered, Ohm Boy is worth trying. The complexity in the flavour development holds up over a longer steep.

#5 — Doozy Vape Co. Longfill — Best For VG/PG Flexibility

Doozy offers longfills in both 50/50 and 70/30 VG/PG finished ratios, which is genuinely useful if you’re running a specific device type. Sub-ohm vapers who need high-VG juice often get left out of the longfill conversation — Doozy fills that gap. Wide flavour range, consistent quality.

60ml vs 120ml Longfill: Which Should You Buy?

	60ml	120ml
Best for	First-time longfill users	Regular vapers who know their flavour
Finished liquid	~60ml	~120ml
Tax saving vs nic salts	~63% per ml	~74% per ml
Risk	Low — small commitment	Medium — try the flavour first

The honest answer: buy a 60ml first. If you find a flavour you love in the Crystalize range — and based on the bar salt profiles, you probably will — move to the 120ml. The per-ml savings at 120ml are the best available in the UK market post-tax.

Which Pod Vapes Work Best With Longfills?

Longfills mixed to 50/50 PG/VG run perfectly in almost every pod kit on the market. These are the setups I’d recommend pairing with the Crystalize range specifically.

• The OXVA Xlim Pro 3 is the pick of the OXVA pod vape range for longfill use with adjustable wattage, excellent coil longevity, and flavour delivery that complements the intensity of a properly mixed bar salt longfill.
• The Vaporesso XROS 5 and Vaporesso XROS Pro 2 runs longfills beautifully at their lower wattage settings. The mesh coil setup extracts a lot from concentrated flavour profiles, and the 2ml pod capacity means you’re refilling from your longfill bottle regularly enough to notice the mix consistency.

For the full range of pod vapes UK, check the category page — most devices listed there run 50/50 juice without issue.

Wrapping Up

The October 2026 vape tax is the biggest format-shift event in UK vaping since the TPD cap on nic salt bottle sizes. Nic salts will still work. You’ll just pay a lot more for them. Shortfills are going to become genuinely expensive.

Longfills — particularly the 120ml format — are the only way to keep your current vaping habit at anywhere close to the price you’re paying now.

If you’re new to mixing and the process sounds intimidating, it’s not. Five minutes, three ingredients, shake it. That’s the whole process.

The Crystalize 60ml is the lowest-commitment way to find out if it works for you — and if you’re not mixing your own juice by October, you’re leaving real money on the table.

For everything else about vaping — device reviews, juice guides, and news on the tax as the October deadline approaches — The Atomized newsletter covers it weekly, without the fluff.