Nic Salts Longfills Are Better Than Shortfill E-Liquid (And It’s Not Even Close)

TL;DR: Longfill vs Shortfill E-Liquid: Why Longfills Win Every Time

You get the same great bar salt flavour, better nicotine strength options (up to 20mg), full VG/PG control, and its up to 74% cheaper per ml after the vape tax lands. If you’re on a pod kit, there’s no good reason to keep buying shortfills.

• Shortfills are pre-mixed e-liquids.
• Every ml gets taxed at £2.20 from October 2026.
• Longfills are concentrated flavour you mix yourself, so the unflavoured base you add isn’t taxed which means mega-savings when the UK’s Vaping Products Duty lands.

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If you’re still buying shortfill e-liquid in 2026, you’re paying more per ml than you need to, mixing more liquid than you need to, and it’s about to get A LOT more expensive once the new vaping tax lands in October 2026.

Shortfills made sense when they launched. The TPD bottled things up nicely (sorry), and shortfills were the clever workaround.

But the UK vaping market has moved on. Longfill bar salts exist now, and they’re better in almost every measurable way: cheaper per ml, simpler to mix, and dramatically less exposed to the incoming vape tax hit.

This article is going to show you exactly why. With actual numbers. Let’s get into it.

What’s the Difference Between a Shortfill and a Longfill?

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Let’s get the basics sorted before we go any further, because the two formats get confused constantly.

• Shortfill e-liquid is a large bottle of pre-mixed, nicotine-free flavoured e-liquid that’s filled short — leaving space for you to add a nicotine shot. A 50ml shortfill sits in a 60ml bottle; a 100ml shortfill comes in a 120ml bottle. All that flavoured base liquid is already in the bottle. You add one or two nicotine shots, shake, and vape. Simple enough — but the key thing to remember here is that the flavoured base itself takes up most of the bottle.
• Longfill e-liquid is structurally different. A longfill is typically supplied in a 60ml bottle containing just 20ml or 30ml of flavour concentrate. The rest of the space is left for you to add your own nicotine shots and base liquid (VG/PG), creating a finished e-liquid at whatever strength and ratio you want.

In other words: a shortfill is mostly pre-mixed liquid with a gap for nic. A longfill is concentrated flavour that you build into a finished juice.

That distinction sounds small. It isn’t.

The Key Differences: Side by Side

	Shortfill	Longfill
Bottle size	60ml or 120ml	60ml or 120ml
Liquid volume (pre-mix)	50ml or 100ml	20-30ml concentrate
Finished volume	60ml or 120ml	60ml or 120ml
What you add	1-2 nic shots	Nic shots + VG/PG base
Nicotine strength options	3mg or 6mg only	3mg, 6mg, 10mg, 12mg+
VG/PG control	None	Full (you choose the ratio)
Taxable volume post-Oct 2026	All of it	Concentrate + nic shots only
Cost per ml (approx. current)	£0.25-0.35/ml	£0.15-0.20/ml
Best for	Sub-ohm vapers	Pod kit and MTL vapers

Why Longfills Are Cheaper Per ml Right Now

Even before October 2026 changes anything, longfills already undercut shortfills on a per-ml basis.

Here’s why: a shortfill uses large volumes of pre-made base liquid (VG and PG) that you’re paying the brand to formulate, package, and ship.

With a longfill, you’re sourcing that unflavoured base yourself and unflavoured VG/PG base is extremely cheap. You buy the flavour and the nicotine; you supply the filler.

A 120ml Crystalize longfill works out to around £1.08 per 10ml equivalent when you factor in the nic shots included.

Compare that to standard 10ml nic salts, which run around £2.50 to £4 per 10ml bottle depending on brand and that’s before October’s vape tax makes the whole thing even more expensive.

The savings are real enough that heavy vapers switching from disposables to longfills save £600+ annually.

The October 2026 Vape Tax Changes Everything

Here’s where shortfills really start to look like a bad deal.

From 1 October 2026, the UK’s Vaping Products Duty adds £2.20 per 10ml to every e-liquid sold, nicotine-free included. With VAT, that’s £2.64 per 10ml landing on your bill.

The sting is in the format: shortfill vapers face increases of up to 147%, while prefilled pod users face roughly 7%, because the duty taxes volume, not risk.

Think about what that means for shortfill buyers specifically.

• A 50ml shortfill that currently costs £12.99 will cost around £26.19 after October.
• A 100ml shortfill currently at £15 will be around £41.40.
• A 200ml shortfill at £19 could reach £71.80.
• That’s before the nicotine shot costs, which are also taxed.

Longfills take a hit too but a much smaller one.

Here’s why.

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.

The taxable portion of a 60ml longfill is the concentrate (roughly 20-30ml) plus the nic shots you add. The base liquid you pour in yourself? Not taxed. Compare that to a 50ml shortfill, where virtually every ml of liquid in the bottle is taxable.

Format	Approx. taxable volume	Duty added (pre-VAT)	Post-tax price impact
10ml nic salt	10ml	£2.20	~+66-73%
50ml shortfill + 1 nic shot	60ml	£13.20	~+100%+
100ml shortfill + 2 nic shots	120ml	£26.40	~+147%
60ml longfill + 3 nic shots	~50ml	£11.00	~+60%
120ml longfill + 6 nic shots	~100ml	£22.00	~+60%

The savings aren’t trivial. A 120ml Crystalize longfill cuts your cost per ml to around £0.15-0.16, compared to £0.62/ml for a standard nic salt after the tax lands.

The UK Vaping Products Duty is scheduled to come into effect on 1 October 2026 at £2.20 per 10ml of e-liquid (before VAT). Rates and implementation dates are subject to government confirmation — check gov.uk for the latest guidance.

You Get More Nicotine Strength Options With Longfills

Shortfills are locked into 3mg or 6mg finished strength. That’s it. You’re limited by the single nic shot (18mg, 10ml) into the roughly 50ml base.

Longfills blow that wide open.

Because you’re working with a small volume of concentrate and adding both your nic shots and your base, you can control the final outcome far more precisely. You can buy your favourite flavour and choose the nicotine strength and VG/PG ratio that works best for you.

Crystalize bar salt longfills, for example, are designed to hit 10mg or 20mg when mixed with the included nic salt shots — that’s the sweet spot for pod kit vapers who want genuine nicotine satisfaction without a harsh throat hit. That strength simply isn’t achievable with a standard shortfill.

You Control the VG/PG Ratio

This is underrated. Shortfills come pre-mixed at a fixed ratio, usually 70/30 VG/PG for sub-ohm, which is useless in a pod kit.

With a longfill, you choose. A 50/50 VG/PG base makes a thinner liquid, which is what you want for pod kits and MTL tanks. Go 70/30 VG-heavy and you’ve got a sub-ohm juice. The concentrate stays the same; the base you add determines which devices it’ll work in.

This matters practically. If you’ve ever put a shortfill through a pod kit coil and wondered why it tastes weak or burns the wick — ratio is usually the culprit. Longfills let you get the ratio right from the start.

Fun Fact: Shortfills were a direct response to TPD rules limiting nicotine-containing e-liquid to 10ml bottles. Brands couldn’t sell bigger bottles with nicotine, so they sold nicotine-free flavoured bases with room to add it yourself. Longfills took that logic further — concentrating the flavour down even more to minimise the taxable volume. It’s UK regulatory creativity at its finest.

How to Mix a Longfill Bar Salt (It’s Easier Than You Think)

People hear “mixing” and imagine lab equipment, pipettes, and chemistry degrees. It’s not that.

Here’s the actual process for a 60ml Crystalize longfill:

1. Check the concentrate level. Your 60ml bottle has around 20-30ml of flavour concentrate inside. The rest is empty space.
2. Add your nic shots. One 10ml nic salt shot for a 3mg finished strength, two for around 6mg, three for around 10mg. The included shots with Crystalize are already calibrated to hit 10mg when you add all of them.
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 solid minutes. The concentrate needs to fully blend with the base.
5. Vape. Bar salt profiles like Crystalize are shake-and-vape. No steeping required.

Total time: five minutes, and most of that is screwing the cap back on. It genuinely is that straightforward.

Shortfills vs Longfills: Who Should Use What?

Look, shortfills aren’t without their place. If you’re a sub-ohm vaper chasing big clouds and you want a ready-made 70/30 VG juice, a shortfill still makes sense. The pre-mixed base is already calibrated for high-wattage tanks.

But for the majority of UK vapers — particularly the ones who switched from disposables and are now using pod kits — longfills are the better format. Here’s the quick version:

Choose a shortfill if:

• You’re sub-ohming at high wattage
• You want 3mg or 6mg strength and that’s all you’ll ever want
• You genuinely never want to add base liquid yourself

Choose a longfill if:

• You’re using a pod kit or MTL device
• You want 10mg+ nic salt strength
• You want to control your VG/PG ratio
• You want the cheapest possible cost per ml, especially post-October 2026
• You’re done with the disposable habit and want the most value-for-money format going
• Check out the most popular flavors right now.

The Crystalize Bar Salt Longfills Worth Trying

If you want to start with longfills, Crystalize Bar Salt Longfills are the obvious entry point. They’re UK-manufactured, designed specifically for pod kits and MTL devices, and formulated to hit the same flavour intensity as a disposable bar.

The range runs to 25+ bar salt profiles. A few worth starting with:

• Blueberry Sour Raspberry — the UK’s best-selling bar salt flavour profile, full stop. Sharp, fruity, cold finish.
• Triple Mango — layered tropical sweetness, no ice, all flavour.
• Grape & Raspberry — sweet-tart combo that’s become a fast favourite.
• Strawberry Ice — classic bar salt in the cleanest possible execution.
• Vimbull Ice — fruity energy drink flavour with a cold kick.

Available in 60ml and 120ml longfill formats — the 120ml is the better value option once you find a flavour you like, and at £0.15-0.16 per ml post-mix, it’s the cheapest way to vape quality bar salt juice in the UK.

Wrapping Up

Shortfills were a smart fix for a specific problem. Longfills are the smarter evolution of the same idea — more value per ml, better nicotine strength options, full VG/PG control, and a significantly lower exposure to the October 2026 vape tax.

If you’re a pod kit vaper, the case for shortfills is already thin. After October, it’s nearly non-existent. The maths on longfills simply works out better in every direction that matters to most UK vapers.

Start with a 60ml to find your flavour. Then move to the 120ml and stop thinking about e-liquid costs.

If you’re new to vaping and all of this feels like a lot, get my guide — 15+ years of experience in one free PDF: New Vaper’s Guide →