What Is a Nic Shot?

With e-liquids becoming increasingly popular, the TPD (Tobacco Products Directive) has had its hands full. Vape juices need to meet serious requirements before they hit the vape shop aisles. Although nicotine shots have been around for some time now, they’ve seen an increase in popularity, ever since the TPD increased restrictions for nicotine contents in e-liquids. With nicotine shots, vape enthusiasts can enjoy large vape juice bottles with nicotine, without the extra expense.

Given this outburst in popularity, nicotine shots, or nic shots, deserve more coverage.Let’s dive a bit deeper and explain all about them.

Why Use Nicotine Shots?

Due to the TPD regulations, the maximum package size for e-liquids that contain nicotine is 10ml. This is highly inconvenient for vapers, as they may have to carry multiple bottles of a flavour, instead of having a single larger one.However, thanks to nicotine shots, you can get around the TPD restrictions and get a larger nicotine-free bottle of vape juice and add nicotine to it, using the shot. Larger juice bottles are more cost-effective and are a great, practical solution.

What About Flavour Dilution?

A nic shot is unflavoured, to avoid compromising the taste of your preferred e-liquid. However, if you add a tasteless liquid to a mixture, won’t that dilute the flavour of the e-juice? This is simple chemistry, so, yes, it would.

However, after the TPD brought the new regulations into effect, e-juice manufacturers came up with something called “short-fill e-liquid bottles.” Essentially, this is a vape juice package that is designed for combination with nicotine shots. So, the flavour concentration in these short-fill bottles will be significantly higher, allowing for the perfect dilution with a quality nicotine shot.

Different Types of Nicotine Shots

Typically, you’ll find three different types of nicotine shots:

• Freebase nicotine shot – This is your typical, flavourless nicotine shot with a regular-intensity hit and no flavour adjustment.
• Salt nicotine shot –This type of nic shot brings a more intense hit to the table, which is ideal for people who use weaker vaping devices.
• Menthol nicotine shot –If you want to add a fresh menthol flavour to your vaping, along with nicotine, then menthol shots are the way to go.

Adding Nicotine Shots

Here’s a simple guide to how to add nicotine shots to your favourite short-fill.

Step 1

Take a nic shot and mark it halfway down its height. Use a ruler if you have to. This mark will represent 5ml of e-liquid that contains nicotine. Next, add two more marks, halfway below and halfway above the first one. Now, your nic shot bottle will show 2.5ml marks on it.

Step 2

You need to figure out the amount of nicotine to add. Go to an online nicotine shot calculator that’s in compliance with TPD. Insert the size of your nicotine-free bottle. Then, insert the strength of your nic shot (it will say on the bottle, typically 18mg or 20mg). Finally, insert the nicotine level that’s to your preference. The calculator should display the number.

Step 3

Take the nicotine-free e-juice, and start dripping your nic shot into it, until you’ve reached your desired nicotine level (refer to the online calculator). Then, mix the bottle properly (for 2-3 minutes),and give it a try. Give the bottle a shake every now and again, to ensure it’s mixed evenly.

Nicotine Shots Strength

Naturally, nic shots come in various strength options. Although a shot with a higher content of nicotine pays off in terms of pure nicotine usage, there is the factor of dilution to consider. Even though short-fill bottles come with a more potent flavour, different amounts of nicotine per ml of a nic shot liquid can still make a difference.

For instance, a 3mg nic shot bottle means that it contains 3mg of nicotine per 1ml of liquid. So, a 3mg x 10ml nic shot will have 30mg of nicotine in total. This is worth paying attention to when making you’re doing nicotine shot calculations. You should also be careful when doing the fills, as some nicotine shots are 6mg x 10ml, which means that there’s twice the amount of nicotine in it, compared to 3mg x 10ml bottles.

Nicotine Shot Basics

Nicotine shots are an easy, convenient, and budget-friendly addition to your vaping experience. Instead of carrying around a number of 10ml e-juice bottles, mix them yourself, and enjoy your own, personalized nicotine experience. Be careful when adding nic shots to the mix, though.