Best e-liquid brands in the UK: ranked by what each one does best

• Kingston is the best shortfill brand for volume. 100ml bottles and 5 x 100ml packs in both 50/50 and 70/30, so it suits pods and sub-ohm tanks alike.
• Hangsen is the best 10ml multipack brand. Ten or twenty 10ml bottles of 70PG freebase from 0mg to 18mg, and a separate Bar Fuel nic salt range.
• Elux Legend, Bar Juice 5000 and Elfliq are the nic salt brands to know if you want the flavours you remember from a bar-style device in a 10ml bottle.
• 88vape is the budget pick for single 10mls and 50ml shortfills, and IVG is the pick for 50/50 fruit packs of ten.
• From 1 October 2026 every 10ml carries £2.64 in duty and VAT, so the brands that were cheapest per ml stay cheapest.

How we ranked them

A 100ml bottle of 70/30 Kingston is brilliant in a box mod and useless in a tight pod. A 20mg Elux Legend salt is exactly right in a pod kit and far too strong for a sub-ohm tank. So instead of a single leaderboard we have split the e-liquid range into the jobs people actually buy for, and named the brand that does each job best on our shelves.

Four things counted. Consistency, meaning the same flavour tastes the same from one batch to the next. Range, meaning enough flavours and strengths that you can stay with the brand as your tastes change. Format, meaning the brand makes the bottle that fits your kit rather than forcing you to compromise. And value per ml, which matters more than ever with the Vaping Products Duty arriving in October. Everything below is a bottle you can buy on the site today, not a product we have only read about.

Best for shortfills and big bottles: Kingston

Kingston is the brand for heavy users. It makes the same flavours in single 100ml shortfills and in 500ml packs of five 100ml bottles, and crucially it makes them in two ratios. The Kingston 5 x 100ml 70/30 full range pack is the classic sub-ohm buy, while the 50/50 line is thin enough for a pod or a mouth-to-lung tank. Few brands offer that choice at all, let alone by the half litre.

The flavours are UK classics rather than fashion. Zingberry is the brand’s take on the famous blue Heisenberg-style berry menthol and its best-known bottle. Red A is a sharp red apple, Blackcurrant Chill and Cherry Chill are the menthol fruits, Gold Tobacco covers the tobacco side, and there are dessert options like Sticky Toffee Pudding and Silly Moo Moo banoffee for anyone who wants something richer. The newer Podbar Juice line, such as Kiwi Passionfruit Guava 100ml 50/50, brings bar-style flavours into a 100ml pod-friendly bottle.

Remember that a shortfill is nicotine-free until you add a shot, and that the shots are taxed as 10ml each from October. If you are new to the format, our shortfill vs 10ml guide walks through the mixing maths.

Spec line: 100ml shortfills and 5 x 100ml packs, 0mg, 50/50 or 70/30 VG/PG depending on the line.

Best for 10ml multipacks: Hangsen

Hangsen has been making e-liquid for longer than most brands have existed, and it shows in the consistency. The Hangsen 10 x 10ml pack, also sold as a 20 x 10ml, is the pack for anyone who has settled on a flavour and just wants it to be the same every time. They are 30VG/70PG freebase in 0mg, 3mg, 6mg, 12mg and 18mg, which makes them ideal for mouth-to-lung tanks, older pen kits and anyone who prefers a proper throat hit over the smoothness of a salt.

The 70PG ratio matters. It wicks instantly in the smallest coils, it is thinner than a 50/50, and it carries flavour very cleanly, which is why Hangsen’s tobacco and menthol lines have such a loyal following. If you want more throat hit than a salt gives you, this is the format to look at.

Hangsen also makes a salt range for pod kits. The Bar Fuel line, with flavours like Blue Razz, Pina Colada and Blueberry Sour Raspberry, is 50/50 nic salt in 10mg and 20mg, so one brand can cover both a tank at home and a pod in your pocket.

Spec line: 10 x 10ml or 20 x 10ml packs, 30VG/70PG freebase, 0mg to 18mg. Bar Fuel salts: 10ml, 50/50, 10mg or 20mg.

Best nic salt brands: Elux Legend, Bar Juice 5000 and Elfliq

This is the busiest category on the site and three brands dominate it, because all three set out to bottle the flavours people got used to in bar-style prefilled devices. Paired with a refillable pod kit, a 10ml salt gives you the same style of flavour in a refillable format.

Elux Legend is the sweetest and boldest of the three. Mr Blue, Gummy Bear, Fizzy Cherry and Strawberry Watermelon Bubblegum are the big sellers. If you like your fruit turned up loud with a candy edge, start here.

Bar Juice 5000 is the balanced one. Its Blueberry Sour Raspberry, Strawberry Cherry Raspberry and Fresh Mint are close matches for the original bar flavours without being quite as sweet as Elux, and the range is enormous.

Elfliq by Elf Bar is the official liquid from the brand that started the bar trend, so flavours like Blue Razz Lemonade and Kiwi Passion Fruit Guava are the reference versions rather than imitations. It is a touch smoother on the throat than the other two. Honourable mention to the Hayati Pro Max salt range, which does tropical and gummy-style blends very well.

All of these are 10ml, 50/50 and available in 10mg and 20mg, with some flavours in 5mg. Not sure which strength you need? As a rule, 10mg salt suits a moderate habit and 20mg a heavy one, so settle that before you buy a box of twenty.

Spec line: 10ml nic salt, 50/50 VG/PG, 5mg, 10mg or 20mg depending on flavour.

Best budget brand: 88vape

88vape built its name on being the cheapest respectable bottle in the shop, and it has kept that reputation. Single 10ml bottles like Menthol, Menthol Chill and the tobacco-style Rolling Leaf are the ones ex-smokers reach for, and they are sold as “any tank” liquids that work in most starter kits without fuss.

Less well known is that 88vape also makes 50ml shortfills. Fusion, Lemon Sherbet, Grape Ice and Fruit Salad give you a cheap way into the shortfill format if you have just bought your first sub-ohm kit and do not want to commit to a 100ml of something you have never tasted. The flavours are simpler than Elux or Kingston, but for a straight menthol or a plain tobacco that is a feature, not a flaw.

Spec line: single 10ml bottles in a range of strengths, plus 50ml 0mg shortfills.

Best 50/50 fruit packs: IVG

IVG is a UK-born brand, and its 50/50 freebase 10mls are sold in packs of ten, which brings the price per bottle down close to the multipack brands while keeping a far more polished flavour. Blue Raspberry, Summer Blaze, Frozen Cherries, Forest Berries Ice and Sour Green Apple are the core of the range.

Because they are 50/50 freebase rather than salt, these packs are the right choice for a pod kit user who wants a bit more throat hit than a salt, or who vapes at 3mg to 6mg and finds 10mg salts too much. IVG also makes nic salts in the same flavours if you go the other way.

Spec line: 10 x 10ml packs, 50/50 VG/PG freebase, several strengths per flavour.

Also worth knowing

Pukka Juice makes 50/50 10ml packs of ten, including Triple Menthol and a plain Tobacco, and is a good alternative to IVG if you want something less sweet. Vampire Vape is the home of Heisenberg and Pinkman and sells them in 10 x 10ml packs. Signature does a 50ml shortfill in a long flavour list and a 10ml pack that lets you choose any flavour and any strength across the box. And Zeus Juice is a UK brand with a strong following for its bold fruit and ice blends.

The brands side by side

Ratios are VG/PG. Nicotine-containing bottles are capped at 10ml and 20mg/ml in the UK; anything bigger is a 0mg shortfill.

How to pick the brand for your kit

1. 1
   Check your coil. At 0.6Ω and above (typically 0.6Ω to 1.2Ω) you want 50/50 or 70PG liquid, so Hangsen, IVG, the salt brands or Kingston’s 50/50 line. Below about 0.6Ω you want 70/30 shortfills. Our MTL vs DTL guide explains why.
2. 2
   Pick a strength, then a type. 10mg to 20mg means nic salts. 3mg to 6mg with a throat hit means freebase 10mls or a shortfill with a shot.
3. 3
   Try before you commit. Buy one 10ml of a new brand before a pack of twenty or a 500ml. Every brand above sells a single-bottle way in.
4. 4
   Know the duty date. From 1 October 2026 every 10ml carries £2.20 in duty, £2.64 with VAT, at the same rate on every format. Pre-duty stock is on sale until 31 March 2027.

Found your brand? Pick the bottle that fits your kit

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