"Vape refills" means different things depending on your kit. On a refillable pod kit, a refill is a bottle of e-liquid, which in the UK holds no more than 10ml if it contains nicotine. On a prefilled pod kit, a refill is a replacement pod that arrives full and sealed. And on any refillable kit, you'll also need replacement coils or pods from time to time. Work out which kind of kit you have and you'll know which refill to buy. Our pods and coils hub shows how the parts fit together.
Three things people call refills
| Refill type | Which kits use it | What you replace | How often |
|---|---|---|---|
| E-liquid bottle | Refillable pod kits, tank kits | Just the liquid | Whenever the pod runs low |
| Prefilled refill pod | Prefilled pod kits | Pod, coil and liquid together | When the pod is empty |
| Replacement coil or pod | Refillable kits | The heating part | When the flavour fades or tastes burnt |
If you're not sure what you have, look at the pod. A rubber bung or fill slot means it's refillable. A pod with no way in is prefilled.
E-liquid refill bottles
For refillable kits, the refill is the bottle. UK rules set by regulation 36 of the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016 shape what's on the shelf:
- Bottles of nicotine e-liquid are capped at 10ml.
- Nicotine strength is capped at 20mg/ml.
- Bottles must be child-resistant and tamper-evident.
So every nicotine refill bottle you see in a UK shop is 10ml or smaller. Bigger bottles, usually 50ml or 100ml, are sold nicotine-free as shortfills. Our shortfills guide explains how those work and why they rarely suit pod kits.
Picking the right bottle
Three choices matter, roughly in this order.
Nicotine type. Most pod kits are designed around nic salts, which feel smoother at 10mg and 20mg. Freebase is more common in bigger, more powerful kits. The nic salt vs freebase guide covers the difference.
Strength. Nic salts are usually sold at 10mg and 20mg. If you came from disposables, most of those were 20mg. Our guide on what nicotine strength to vape goes through how to choose.
VG/PG ratio. Thinner 50/50 liquids soak into small pod coils easily. Thick 70% VG liquids are made for bigger coils and can cause dry hits in a pod. The VG/PG ratio guide explains why.
Flavour is the fun part, and once you're on a refillable kit you can try anything. The flavour library sorts flavours by family if you want somewhere to start.
Prefilled refill pods
On a prefilled kit, the refill is a pack of pods. Each pod has the liquid and the coil sealed inside, and you click a new one in when the old one runs dry. You can't top them up, and trying to open one usually ends in a mess.
Two things to check:
- Compatibility. Prefilled pods only fit the kit they're made for. Check the full kit name as well as the brand.
- What the puff count covers. Each UK nicotine pod holds 2ml at most, so a pack advertising thousands of puffs is counting several pods.
Our prefilled pod vape guide has more on living with a prefilled kit.
Replacement coils and pods
On a refillable kit, the liquid isn't the only thing you'll run through. The coil wears out, and when it does, the flavour goes flat or burnt no matter how full the pod is.
Depending on your kit you'll buy either:
- Replacement pods with built-in coils. You swap the whole pod.
- Replacement coils. You swap only the coil and keep the pod.
How long a coil lasts varies a lot with how often you vape, the power and how sweet your liquid is. For many people it's somewhere between a few days and a couple of weeks. Our vape coil guide explains resistances and how to pick the right coil, and how long does a vape pod last covers the signs it's time.
How much to buy at once
There's no right answer, but a few habits help:
- Keep a spare coil or pod in the drawer. Coils have a habit of dying at awkward times.
- If you're trying new flavours, buy single bottles first rather than multipacks.
- Store bottles somewhere cool and out of the sun, and well out of reach of children and pets.
Refills for tank kits
Bigger tank kits work the same way as refillable pods, just with more choice of coil. The tank still holds 2ml at most if you're using nicotine liquid, and the refills are still 10ml bottles. Where they differ is the liquid. Tank kits with sub-ohm coils usually want thicker, higher-VG liquid at a lower strength, which is where 50ml and 100ml shortfills come in. Our nicotine shot guide explains how those are made up to strength.
If you've moved from a tank kit to a pod kit, or the other way round, don't carry your old liquid across without checking. A liquid that's perfect in one can leak or burn in the other.
Filling up
Once you've got your bottle, filling a refillable pod takes about a minute. Tilt the pod, fill to just under the max line, close the bung and wipe it. New coils need five to ten minutes to soak first. Our step-by-step guide on how to refill a pod vape covers the details, and the pods for vape guide helps if you're still matching pods to your kit.
Still choosing a kit?
If you haven't got a kit yet, the refill question is really a kit question. A prefilled kit means buying pods; a refillable one means buying bottles and the occasional coil. Our vape kits hub compares the two styles.
Questions people ask
What are vape refills?
It depends on the kit. For a refillable pod kit it usually means bottles of e-liquid. For a prefilled pod kit it means replacement pods that come with liquid inside. Coils are sometimes called refills too.
Why are UK vape refill bottles only 10ml?
UK law limits refill containers of nicotine e-liquid to 10ml. Larger bottles can only be sold without nicotine.
Can I use any e-liquid refill in my pod kit?
Any brand, yes, as long as the liquid suits the coil. Most pod kits work best with nic salts or 50/50 liquids rather than thick high-VG ones.
