A large bottle of flavoured e-liquid with no nicotine inside and deliberate space at the top for you to add your own.
The name says it all once you hear it explained. "Short" because the bottle is not full. "Fill" because you fill the rest. A 50ml shortfill comes in a 60ml bottle with 10ml of headroom. That gap fits exactly one standard nicotine shot. Pour it in, shake, and you have a full 60ml bottle of nicotine e-liquid.
Why Not Just Sell 60ml Pre-Mixed?
UK TPD regulations. Nicotine-containing e-liquid is capped at 10ml per bottle. Shortfills get around that by shipping without nicotine, so they are not bound by the 10ml limit. The nic shot is a separate 10ml product, TPD compliant on its own. You combine them at home. Legal, practical, and the standard approach for anyone who vapes at higher volumes.
50ml vs 100ml Shortfills
Both work the same way. The difference is scale.
• 50ml shortfills come in 60ml bottles, take one nic shot, and give you 60ml at 3mg. Good for trying a new flavour without committing to a huge bottle, or for vapers who rotate flavours regularly and want variety over volume.
• 100ml shortfills come in 120ml bottles, take two nic shots, and give you 120ml at 3mg. Better value per ml, but you are locked into that flavour for longer.
If you already know what you like, 100ml is cheaper. If you are still exploring or you get bored of flavours quickly, 50ml gives you flexibility to switch things up more often.
Best 50ml Shortfill Brands in the UK
Dinner Lady
A UK original. Lemon Tart put them on the map, and it is still one of the best-selling shortfill flavours in the country. Strong across dessert, fruit, and menthol. Consistent quality bottle to bottle.
Vampire Vape
Heisenberg. That is the one people know. A fruit and menthol blend that has been a UK bestseller for years and refuses to go away. The rest of the range covers berry, bubblegum, tobacco, and a few unusual profiles like Pinkman.
Doozy
Bold flavour profiles with a focus on dessert and candy. The fizzy range is popular. Tends to lean sweet, which suits vapers who want a rich, full-flavoured draw.
Riot Squad
Punchy fruit blends and a handful of sour profiles. Blue Burst and Pink Grenade are the standouts. Good for vapers who want fruit with an edge rather than the usual soft-sweet approach.
Just Juice
Tropical-leaning fruit range. Mango and Passionfruit is one of their strongest. Clean, well-defined flavours that do not collapse into vague sweetness after the first few draws.
Nasty Juice ModMate
The shortfill counterpart to Nasty Juice's PodMate nic salt line. Malaysian-formulated, layered profiles, and a step above generic fruit blends in complexity. Cushman (mango) is the signature.
How Much Does a 50ml Shortfill Cost vs 10ml Bottles?
A single 10ml nic salt at full price might cost £3 to £5. Six of those gives you 60ml for £18 to £30. A 50ml shortfill plus one nic shot gives you the same 60ml for roughly £8 to £14 depending on the brand. Even at multi-buy pricing on the 10ml bottles, the shortfill usually wins.
The trade-off:
• 10ml bottles come pre-mixed, require no effort, and are available in nic salt at 10mg and 20mg. Convenient. Ready to go.
• 50ml shortfills require you to add a nic shot and shake. The final strength tops out at about 3mg (one shot) or 5mg (two shots, if the bottle has room). Not available at 10mg or 20mg.
So the value play depends on what strength you vape. If you need 20mg nic salt, shortfills are not the right format. If you vape 3mg freebase through a sub-ohm tank and go through liquid fast, shortfills save you real money every month.
What Nicotine Strength Do 50ml Shortfills Give?
A 50ml shortfill starts at 0mg, so the final nicotine strength depends on the number and strength of the nic shots you add. Here is what you can expect when using standard 10ml shots.
One Nic Shot (Standard)
One 10ml nic shot at 18mg/ml into a 50ml shortfill = 60ml at 3mg/ml. This is the standard combination. One shot, one bottle, done.
Two Nic Shots (Higher Strength)
Two 10ml nic shots at 18mg/ml into a 50ml shortfill = 70ml at roughly 5.1mg/ml. Some brands package their 50ml shortfills in a 75ml bottle specifically to give room for two shots. Check the bottle size before you buy.
No Nic Shot (0mg)
You can vape the shortfill as it is. Zero nicotine, pure flavour. Some vapers prefer this. The liquid is complete and ready to use straight out of the bottle if you do not want nicotine.
What If My Nic Shot Is 20mg Instead of 18mg?
Slightly higher final strength. One 20mg shot in a 50ml shortfill gives about 3.3mg instead of 3mg. Two gives roughly 5.7mg in 70ml. Small difference. Worth knowing if you are particular; irrelevant if you are not.
How to Mix a 50ml Shortfill With a Nic Shot
It takes thirty seconds and no equipment. No experience is needed either.
- Remove the cap and nozzle. Unscrew the childproof cap from the shortfill. If there is a squeeze nozzle insert, pull it out to widen the opening. Some bottles have a twist-off nozzle instead.
- Pour the entire nic shot in. Open the nic shot bottle and squeeze every drop into the shortfill. Do not leave any behind. The strength calculation assumes you use the full 10ml.
- Seal the shortfill. Replace the nozzle and cap. Make sure it is tight. You are about to shake this hard, and a loose cap means nicotine liquid on your hands and clothes.
- Shake properly. Thirty seconds minimum. Hold the bottle firmly and shake it vigorously. The liquid will look streaky or layered at first. That is the nic shot sitting on top of the flavoured base. Keep going until the colour and consistency look uniform.
- Rest and shake again. Set the bottle down for two or three minutes. Pick it up and give it another fifteen seconds. This second shake catches any uneven spots the first one missed.
- Vape. Fill your tank and go. Some dessert and tobacco profiles benefit from an overnight rest (steeping) before the first fill, but fruit and menthol are usually good immediately.
The one mistake people make: not shaking hard enough. If the nic shot is poorly mixed, the first few tank fills from the bottle will be noticeably stronger than the last few. A committed shake at the start prevents that entirely.
Best 50ml Shortfill Flavours
Fruit
The volume leader. Mango, watermelon, strawberry, mixed berry, grape, apple, passion fruit. Shortfill fruit blends tend to layer more than 10ml nic salt versions of similar flavours. A 10ml might be "mango ice." A shortfill equivalent might be mango and passion fruit with a lime finish. More complexity per draw.
Dessert and Bakery
Where shortfills genuinely shine. Custard, lemon tart, cheesecake, cinnamon roll, caramel popcorn, vanilla sponge. The higher VG content carries sweetness naturally, so dessert profiles land richer and smoother than they would in a thinner liquid. This is the category that built Dinner Lady's reputation.
Fair warning: sweet dessert liquids gunk coils faster. If you run a heavy dessert rotation, budget for slightly more frequent coil replacements. Not a dealbreaker, just a running cost.
Menthol and Ice
Cool profiles work well in VG-heavy blends. The thickness softens the menthol slightly compared to a 50/50 bottle, so you get a rolling coolness rather than a sharp bite. Some vapers prefer that. Others want the sharpness. Personal call.
Tobacco
Less common in shortfills than in nic salts, but the good ones are properly satisfying. A well-made RY4 (tobacco, caramel, vanilla) through a sub-ohm tank at 3mg is one of those quiet pleasures that does not get talked about enough.
Drinks and Candy
Cola, coffee, mojito, energy drink, bubblegum. Smaller category. The brands that commit to these profiles at shortfill scale tend to do them well because they are selling to experienced vapers who know what they want, not newcomers grabbing the nearest fruit flavour.
What VG/PG Ratio Are 50ml Shortfills?
Most run 70/30 VG/PG or 80/20 VG/PG. A few sit at 60/40.
• 70/30: The most common. Dense vapour, smooth draw, good flavour clarity from the PG content. Works in all sub-ohm tanks and most RDAs. The 70/30 collection gathers these specifically.
• 80/20: Even thicker. Bigger clouds, softer throat hit, slightly muted flavour compared to 70/30. Suited to high-wattage setups and cloud-focused vapers who prioritise vapour over sharpness.
• 60/40: Thinner than the norm for shortfills. Occasionally used by brands targeting vapers who want a shortfill that works in pod mods or MTL-capable devices. Less common but it exists.
The ratio is usually printed on the bottle. If you are filling a sub-ohm tank, 70/30 is almost always the right call. If you are running a pod mod with a 0.4ohm coil, check whether the device can handle VG-heavy liquid before committing.
Best Devices for 50ml Shortfills
Sub-Ohm Tanks
The natural home. Coils between 0.15ohm and 0.5ohm running at 30W to 80W with large wicking ports built for thick liquid. SMOK TFV series, Freemax mesh tanks, Horizontech Falcon, Uwell Valyrian, Geekvape Zeus. Browse the full vape tank range for compatible options.
Box Mods
Regulated mods with adjustable wattage pair with the tanks above. Dial the wattage to the coil's recommended range and the thick shortfill liquid performs as intended. Too little power and the coil heats unevenly. Too much and you burn the cotton before the liquid re-saturates.
RDAs and RTAs
If you build your own coils, you already know what works. 70/30 is the default for most builders. Drip it, wick it, fire it.
What Does Not Work
Pod kits with coils above 0.6ohm. The wicking ports are too narrow for VG-heavy liquid. Dry hits within minutes. If your device came with a 0.8ohm or 1.0ohm coil, stick to 10ml nic salts at 50/50. Shortfills are not the right format for that gear.
How to Store 50ml Shortfills
Bigger bottles sit around longer before you finish them. Storage matters more here than with a 10ml you empty in three days.
- Keep it sealed. Cap on between fills. VG absorbs moisture from the air, which thins the liquid and shifts the flavour over time. A tight cap prevents that.
- Store upright. Lying on its side risks slow leaks from the nozzle, especially with thinner 60/40 blends. Upright in a drawer or cupboard is the safest position.
- Room temperature, out of sunlight. Heat degrades nicotine and dulls flavour. UV light does the same. A drawer, a shelf, a cupboard. Not a windowsill, not a car dashboard, not near a radiator.
- Do not worry about slight colour changes. Nicotine oxidises over time and turns the liquid a faint amber. Normal. Does not affect taste or safety unless the bottle has been open in sunlight for weeks.
- Cold weather thickens VG. If a bottle feels sluggish after sitting in a cold room, warm it between your hands for a minute. It loosens up. Do not use any external heat source.
Every 50ml shortfill at Pirate Vapes is genuine, sold nicotine-free at point of sale, and dispatched the same day before 4 pm. Free Pirate Post on orders over £40. Age-verified checkout. Over 18s only.
