Inovape Explains: The rise of 50/50 Shortfills

Getting down to lower nicotine in the bar salts, but don’t want to lose their great flavour. Then this article might be of use for you! 50/50 shortfills offer liquid that can still go into your favourite pod kits, but at better value and lower nicotine!

What are 50/50 shortfills?

For a start, a shortfill bottle is a larger bottle of liquid containing no nicotine. They usually leave space to add nicotine (nic shots) in the same bottle, hence the name!

The 50/50 element comes rom the ratio of the two main ingredients VG/PG (You can learn about these ingredients here). This means it is a thinner liquid, which allows you to use it inside your favourite pod kit. If you’re looking for a new pod kit, we recommend some great ones here.

What is a nic shot?

A nicotine shot is a bottle of flavourless e-liquid containing nicotine.

They can come with different VG/PG ratios, often high VG (70/30) or 50/50. In the case of the 50/50 shortfills, it would be best to use 50/50 nic shots to match the mix of the rest of the liquid.

You can also get freebase nic shots, cool nic shots, or nic salt nic shots.

• Freebase nic shots give more of a throat hit.
• Cool nic shots have a cooling effect on the liquid.
• Salt nic shots give a smoother nic shot.

How do you get the nicotine into a shortfill? 

• Remove the top cap and then the stopper from the shortfill bottle.
• Add in your nic shots to the bigger bottle. Usually enough room is left for you to add 1 x Nic shot to a 50ml shortfill, and 2 x Nic shot to a 100ml shortfill. These amounts will get your liquid to a 3mg. Less nicotine can be added depending how you’d like to do it!
• Return the stopper and then top cap to the bottle.
• Shake the bottle thoroughly to ensure the liquid has mixed properly with the nicotine. You don’t want to be vaping the nicotine off the top.
• Let the liquid settle for a few minute if you can, and then your shortfill will be ready to use!

Why might you use a 50/50 shortfill? 

• Better value – Shortfills normally come in either 50ml or 100ml. It works out better for manufacturers to make large quantities which means that they can be cheaper for you, the customer. Compared to our Bar Salts for example, which you get 40ml for £10, our Bar Shorts (50/50 shortfills)  give you 120ml of liquid for £13.99 (or 2 bottles for £23).
• Control of nicotine strength – Being able to change the amount of nicotine shots you put into your bottles, or even putting less than a full bottle in, allows you to control your nicotine level more than a premixed 10ml.
• Longer lasting – Clearly they last longer than the 10ml bottles being so much bigger in size. This keeps you going for much longer!
• Less waste – Less plastic needs to be used to make the bigger 120ml bottles than it would take to make 12 x 10ml bottles.
• Useful in all devices – Another big advantage of these 50/50 shortfills is that you can use them in whatever device you ike. In general, the HVG (70/30) shortfills can only be used with the larger, cloud chasing devices. These 50/50 liquids can be used in your smaller pod kit, but still in the larger kits, if you want.

Why may a 50/50 shortfill not work for you? 

• Extra effort – Whilst it isn’t difficult, it does take a bit of extra effort to add the nicotine shots to your bigger bottle. They are less convenient than using the premixed liquids, although they do offer better value. So it may well still be worthwhile.
• Lower nicotine – In these larger bottles, they only leave room for nic shots to get the liquid to a 3mg. It’s very difficult to get the nicotine level much above a 6mg due to the maximum strength of a nic shot being 20mg in the U.K.
• Stuck with one flavour – Many people do just like one flavour, and if that applies to you, then this isn’t an issue. However, if you do like switching around flavours, this may not be the best option for you. With 60ml or 120ml worth of the same flavour, this does lock you in a little bit.

What 50/50 shortfills do we recommend?

Our favourite at the moment is our brilliant range of Bar Shorts liquids. They are all 50/50 shortfills which have the amazing disposable inspired flavours that are in our Bar Salts liquids! We think they could well be the next big thing in vaping!