The Best New Vape Juice Brands Launched in the Last 5 Years | PinkVape

If you have walked into a vape shop or scrolled an online store at any point in the last year, you will have noticed something: the e-liquid wall looks completely different to how it did before the disposable ban. Whole rows of unfamiliar bottles, brand names that did not exist a few years ago, and a flood of flavours that read like the inside of a sweet shop. The UK e-liquid scene has gone through one of the biggest shake-ups in its history, and a wave of newer brands has risen to fill the gap left by single-use devices. This guide is a long, honest tour through the best new vape juice brands to launch or properly establish themselves in roughly the last five years – who they are, the flavour styles they are known for, whether they make nic salts or shortfills, and which adult vaper each one actually suits. No hype, no invented specs, and no pretending every brand is perfect. Just a clear map of what is worth trying.

How the UK e-liquid scene changed after the disposable ban

To understand why so many newer e-liquid brands exist, you have to understand what happened to the disposable. For several years the single-use vape was the dominant format in Britain. People did not buy a kit and a bottle; they bought a sealed plastic stick, vaped it for a few hundred puffs, and binned the whole thing. The flavours inside those devices – the blue raspberries, the watermelon ices, the cola-and-cherry blends – became the taste of an entire era of vaping. Then, on 1 June 2025, single-use disposable vapes were banned across the UK. Overnight, the most popular format in the country was gone, and millions of adults who had relied on it needed somewhere else to go.

What they moved to was the refillable pod kit: a small rechargeable device with a pod you fill yourself from a bottle of e-liquid. That single shift created enormous new demand for bottled juice, and specifically for the kind of liquid that tastes like the disposables people missed. The brands best placed to meet that demand were, unsurprisingly, the very companies that had made the disposables in the first place. They already owned the recipes, the flavour names and the customer loyalty. All they had to do was rehouse those flavours in a UK-legal bottle. That is exactly what happened, and it is why so many of today's most talked-about e-liquid brands carry names that started life on the side of a disposable.

The UK regulatory box shaped everything about how these new liquids look. Nicotine e-liquid sold to consumers cannot exceed 20mg/ml. Bottles of nicotine liquid are capped at 10ml. The pods and tanks you put them in are limited to 2ml. Those three numbers define the whole mouth-to-lung pod world in Britain. Within that box, two clear formats emerged for the new wave of brands. The first is the nic salt, sold at 10mg or 20mg in those small 10ml bottles, designed for the low-power pod kits that replaced disposables. The second is the shortfill: a larger bottle of zero-nicotine liquid with headroom left at the top, sold alongside a separate nicotine shot you add yourself, aimed at the bigger sub-ohm devices that produce more vapour. Almost every brand in this guide plays in one or both of those formats.

There is one more change on the near horizon that is already shaping the market: tax. From 1 October 2026, the UK introduces a Vaping Products Duty of £2.20 per 10ml of e-liquid, applied at a flat rate regardless of nicotine strength. A zero-nicotine shortfill base and a 20mg nic salt are charged the same per 10ml. The practical effect is that e-liquid prices are very likely to rise once the duty lands, and the brands that offer good value per millilitre – particularly larger shortfills that stretch across far more vaping – are likely to look even more attractive. The duty has not killed the new-brand boom; if anything, it has sharpened the focus on which brands deliver flavour and value at the same time. The combination of a banned dominant format, a surge of new pod users, a tight legal framework and an incoming tax has produced the most competitive e-liquid market the UK has ever seen. For an adult vaper, that competition is good news: more choice, more quality, and more reason for brands to fight for your taste buds.

What makes a great e-liquid brand

Before we get to the brands themselves, it is worth being clear about what actually separates a good e-liquid maker from a forgettable one. It is easy to be dazzled by packaging and a long flavour list, but the things that matter over weeks and months of vaping are quieter than that. Here is the honest checklist that sits behind every recommendation in this guide.

The first and most obvious factor is flavour accuracy and consistency. A great brand makes a flavour that tastes the way it is described, and – crucially – tastes the same in every bottle. Anyone can produce one good batch. The brands worth trusting produce the same blue raspberry, the same tobacco, the same menthol every single time, so that when you find a flavour you love you can keep buying it without nasty surprises. Consistency is unglamorous and it is exactly what separates a serious manufacturer from a chancer.

The second factor is range and depth. A strong brand gives you somewhere to go. If you like a maker's style, you want a handful of variations on it – the fruit, the fruit-and-ice version, the sweeter dessert option – rather than a single hit and nothing else. Depth also signals that a brand is investing in flavour development rather than just slapping a label on a generic base. The best new brands tend to launch with a properly built-out menu rather than two or three token options.

The third is format clarity. A good brand knows exactly who its liquid is for. A nic salt range should be tuned for small MTL pod kits: smooth, flavour-forward, modest on vapour, comfortable at higher strengths. A shortfill range should be built for bigger DTL devices: lower or zero nicotine, richer body, designed to make clouds. The worst brands blur the line and leave you guessing. The best ones make it obvious which liquid goes in which device, so you do not waste money pouring the wrong thing into the wrong kit.

The fourth is UK compliance and transparency, which is non-negotiable. A legitimate brand sells nic salt in 10ml bottles at no more than 20mg/ml, labels strengths clearly, and is sold through age-verified retailers. Any “brand” offering oversized bottles of nicotine liquid, or strengths above 20mg, is operating outside the rules and should be avoided entirely. Compliance is not a bonus feature; it is the baseline that tells you a maker is taking the law and its customers seriously.

The fifth, and the one people underrate, is value over time. The sticker price on a single bottle matters less than how far that bottle stretches and how it compares to the prefilled-pod alternative. A bottle of nic salt that refills a pod several times almost always beats buying sealed prefilled pods on cost per millilitre. With the incoming duty making every millilitre more precious, the brands that respect your money – through sensible pricing and formats that go the distance – earn a place on the shelf. A great e-liquid brand, in short, is one that nails flavour, offers real choice, is honest about format, stays firmly inside the rules, and does not take you for a ride on price. Keep that checklist in mind as we go through the picks.

The best newer vape juice brands worth trying

This is the heart of the guide. The brands below are the ones that have defined the post-disposable era of UK e-liquid, either by launching in roughly the last five years or by refreshing their ranges so thoroughly that they belong in the new wave. For each one we cover who they are, the flavour style they are known for, whether they lean nic salt or shortfill, and the adult vaper they suit best. Flavour is personal, so treat these as informed signposts rather than commandments – the only way to find your brand is to try a few.

ELFLIQ (by Elf Bar)

Who they are: ELFLIQ is the bottled nic salt range from Elf Bar, the brand that dominated the disposable era more thoroughly than any other. When single-use devices were banned, Elf Bar did the obvious thing and rehoused its famous disposable flavours in UK-legal 10ml bottles. ELFLIQ is, in spirit, the inside of the disposable sold separately, and that single fact is its entire appeal.

Signature style: ELFLIQ's flavours mirror the old disposable line-up, which means a sprawling menu built around sweet, bold, instantly recognisable fruit and ice blends. The hero recipes – the blue raspberry, the watermelon, the various menthols and the cola-leaning options – are the ones people specifically miss from their old devices, and ELFLIQ makes those rather than a generic approximation. The house character is upfront, slightly sweet and very approachable, with little of the complexity-for-its-own-sake that some boutique brands chase.

Format: Almost entirely nic salt, in 10ml bottles at 10mg and 20mg, tuned for small MTL pod kits. This is not a shortfill brand and does not pretend to be.

Who it suits: Former Elf Bar disposable users who switched to a refillable pod and have been hunting for “that flavour” ever since. If you can name the exact disposable you miss, ELFLIQ is usually the fastest route back to it. The sheer breadth of the range is part of the appeal too: because the catalogue mirrors the old disposable line-up, there are dozens of options, which means the odds of finding your specific old favourite are unusually high. It is also one of the easiest brands to recommend to someone new to refillables, because the flavours are familiar and forgiving rather than challenging. We go deep on the full range in our dedicated ELFLIQ review.

Lost Mary e-liquids

Who they are: Lost Mary is the sister brand to Elf Bar, made by the same parent manufacturer, and it was arguably the second-most recognisable disposable name in the UK. Like ELFLIQ, the Lost Mary e-liquid range takes the flavours that made its disposables a phenomenon and puts them in refillable-friendly bottles. It is one of the clearest examples of a disposable-era giant successfully crossing into the bottled-juice world.

Signature style: Lost Mary built its reputation on a slightly more “designed” flavour identity than its sibling – playful, confident fruit blends, often with a cool or icy edge, and a few crowd-pleasing sweet and drink-inspired options. The flavours tend to feel rounded and polished rather than sharp, which is part of why the disposables were so widely liked. The bottled range carries that same friendly, accessible character.

Format: Primarily nic salt in 10ml bottles at 10mg and 20mg, built for MTL pod kits, mirroring the disposable experience as closely as the format allows.

Who it suits: Anyone who loved a specific Lost Mary disposable and wants the same taste legally and more cheaply in a refillable pod. It is also a strong starting point for newer pod users who want approachable, reliably tasty fruit flavours without having to learn a complicated brand. Because Lost Mary and ELFLIQ share a parent manufacturer, the two ranges together cover an enormous slice of the most-missed disposable flavours, so it is well worth comparing both if your old device sat somewhere in that family. The slightly softer, more rounded character of Lost Mary versus the bolder ELFLIQ profile is the main thing that pushes people one way or the other.

Riot (Riot Squad / Riot X)

Who they are: Riot – known under the Riot Squad name and its refreshed Riot and Riot X lines – is a UK e-liquid maker that has reinvented itself for the post-disposable market. Unlike the brands that descend directly from a single disposable, Riot is a flavour house in its own right, and it has leaned hard into producing nic salts that capture the bold, sweet profiles that disposable users crave while building its own distinct identity.

Signature style: Riot is known for punchy, vivid fruit blends and confident sweet flavours, often with a glossy, fairground-sweet quality. The brand has a strong sense of presentation and tends to push flavour intensity, which appeals to vapers who found some e-liquids muted after the in-your-face taste of disposables. The refreshed lines were clearly designed to slot straight into the pod-kit world that replaced single-use devices.

Format: Riot spans both worlds. Its nic salt lines in 10ml bottles target MTL pod users, while the brand has historically offered shortfill options for DTL vapers who want bigger bottles and bigger clouds. That dual presence makes it unusually flexible.

Who it suits: Vapers who want loud, modern, sweet-leaning flavour and a brand with its own personality rather than a disposable's hand-me-downs. The split between nic salt and shortfill also means Riot can follow you if you move from a small pod up to a bigger device. Our full Riot Squad review breaks down the range in detail.

Vampire Vape

Who they are: Vampire Vape is a long-established British e-liquid maker rather than a disposable-era newcomer, but it earns a place here because it has refreshed and re-positioned its ranges for the modern pod market so effectively. It is one of the UK's heritage brands, best known for a single flavour that became genuinely iconic, and it has used that pedigree to stay relevant as the market reshaped around it.

Signature style: Vampire Vape's identity is anchored by its famous mixed-fruit signature flavour – a sweet, slightly mysterious blend that became one of the most recognisable tastes in British vaping. Around that anchor sits a range of well-made fruits, menthols and dessert-leaning options. The house character is more measured and “crafted” than the brash disposable-derived brands, which is part of its enduring appeal to vapers who want flavour with a bit of restraint.

Format: Vampire Vape offers nic salts for pod kits and has a presence in shortfills too, giving it reach across both MTL and DTL styles. The nic salt versions of its classic flavours are a natural fit for former disposable users moving to refillables.

Who it suits: Adult vapers who want a trusted British brand with a genuine heritage flavour, and who appreciate a slightly more grown-up, less sugar-rush approach. It is a great pick if you want something recognisable and dependable rather than the newest novelty. The full picture is in our Vampire Vape review.

Dinner Lady

Who they are: Dinner Lady is another established UK name that has remained a force through the market's transformation. It made its name with dessert and bakery-inspired flavours that genuinely tasted like the puddings they were named after, and it built that reputation into one of the most internationally recognised British e-liquid brands. It is the brand most associated with doing sweet, dessert-style juice properly.

Signature style: Dinner Lady is the dessert specialist. Its signature flavours evoke proper afters – lemony tart, custard-and-pastry blends, and rich sweet profiles – alongside a solid line of fruits and menthols. Where many new brands chase candy-bright fruit, Dinner Lady's strength is in the comforting, rounded, almost edible flavours that reward slower vaping. It is the brand to reach for when you want something that tastes like a treat rather than a sweet shop.

Format: Dinner Lady operates across nic salts for pod kits and shortfills for bigger devices, so its dessert and fruit profiles are available whether you vape MTL or DTL.

Who it suits: Vapers with a sweet tooth who want dessert and bakery flavours done with genuine care, and anyone who finds pure fruit blends a bit one-note. It is also a good all-day-vape brand for people who like a comforting, less aggressive flavour. See our Dinner Lady review for the full menu.

IVG (I Vape Great)

Who they are: IVG is a British brand that grew from a flavour-focused e-liquid maker into a major player across both bottled juice and the wider vaping market. It rode the disposable wave with widely recognised devices and has carried that flavour identity firmly into the bottled nic salt and shortfill world, making it a natural fit for the post-ban market.

Signature style: IVG is known for bold, well-defined sweet and fruit flavours with a polished, confident finish. The brand has a knack for sweets-and-desserts-inspired profiles – think confectionery-style blends – alongside strong fruit and menthol options. The flavours tend to be vivid and crowd-pleasing without tipping into harshness, which is why the brand translated so well from disposables to refillable formats.

Format: IVG covers nic salts in 10ml bottles for pod kits and shortfills for DTL setups, so its flavour identity is available across device types.

Who it suits: Vapers who want modern, sweet-leaning flavour with a recognisable brand behind it, and who appreciate a maker that does confectionery and dessert profiles particularly well. It is a strong choice if you liked IVG's disposables and want the same flavour direction in a refillable.

Bar Juice 5000

Who they are: Bar Juice 5000 is one of the clearest examples of a brand built specifically for the post-disposable moment. Its entire premise is in the name: bottled nic salt liquid designed to replicate the flavour and feel of the popular disposable bars, made for the people moving off single-use devices and onto refillable pods. It launched into the gap the ban created and aimed straight at it.

Signature style: Bar Juice 5000 focuses on the sweet, icy, instantly familiar fruit profiles that defined the disposable era. The flavour identity is deliberately “bar-like” – cool, sweet, fruit-forward blends that mirror the most popular disposable tastes. It is unpretentious and purpose-built, with the whole range pointed at recreating a known experience rather than inventing new ones.

Format: Squarely a nic salt brand, in 10ml bottles at 10mg and 20mg, built for MTL pod kits. It does not try to be a shortfill brand and is all the clearer for it.

Who it suits: Former disposable users who want a no-fuss, affordable bottle that tastes like the bars they used to buy, without needing to learn a heritage brand's back catalogue. It is one of the most direct “disposable flavour in a bottle” options on the market.

Doozy Vape Co

Who they are: Doozy Vape Co is a British e-liquid maker that has built a solid reputation over the years and remained relevant by keeping its ranges fresh for modern devices. It sits in the middle ground between heritage and new wave – established enough to be trusted, current enough to matter in the pod era.

Signature style: Doozy is known for clean, well-balanced fruit and menthol blends and a tidy, dependable house character. The brand tends to favour refreshing, slightly sophisticated flavours over outright candy sweetness, which gives it appeal to vapers who want something tasty but not cloying. Its menthol and fruit-menthol options in particular have a loyal following.

Format: Doozy offers both nic salts for pod kits and shortfills for larger devices, covering MTL and DTL preferences.

Who it suits: Vapers who want reliable, refreshing flavour with a slightly more refined edge, and who appreciate a brand that does cool and menthol profiles well. A good pick for an all-day vape that does not overwhelm the palate.

Wick Liquor

Who they are: Wick Liquor is a British brand that earned a strong reputation among more flavour-obsessed vapers for its complex, layered shortfills. It is less a disposable-replacement brand and more a flavour-craft brand, and it represents the side of the market that caters to enthusiasts who want depth and originality rather than a familiar bar taste.

Signature style: Wick Liquor is known for rich, multi-layered blends that combine fruits, creams and other notes into something more composed than a single-flavour hit. The house character is indulgent and intricate, designed to reveal different elements as you vape. This is flavour as a small experience rather than a quick sweet kick, which is exactly why it built a dedicated following.

Format: Primarily a shortfill brand, built for DTL sub-ohm devices where its complex blends have room to breathe and produce vapour. Less about small pods, more about bigger kits.

Who it suits: Experienced DTL vapers who want complex, characterful flavour and enjoy a juice that rewards attention. Not the obvious first stop for a former disposable user, but a brilliant destination once you have moved to a bigger device and want to explore. Browse the wider compliant range on the e-liquids page.

Pukka Juice

Who they are: Pukka Juice is a British brand that has carved out a niche with crowd-pleasing fruit and ice flavours, and it has stayed relevant by offering its blends in the nic salt format that the pod-kit market demands. It is one of the dependable mid-tier names that adult vapers reach for again and again.

Signature style: Pukka Juice specialises in sweet fruit blends with a frequent cooling or icy finish – the kind of refreshing, fruit-and-menthol profiles that travelled directly from the disposable era into bottled form. The flavours are accessible and easy to like, with a clean cool edge that makes them comfortable all-day options.

Format: Strong in nic salts for pod kits, with shortfill availability for some lines, so it covers MTL primarily and reaches into DTL.

Who it suits: Vapers who love fruit-and-ice combinations and want a reliable, affordable brand that nails that refreshing profile. A safe, satisfying choice for anyone who found their favourite disposable was a cool fruit flavour.

Nic salt vs shortfill: which format

Running through every brand above is the same fork in the road: nic salt or shortfill. Choosing the right format matters more than choosing the right brand, because the wrong format in the wrong device is unpleasant no matter how good the flavour is. Here is how to tell which side you belong on.

Nic salt is the format that replaced the disposable. It uses a smoother form of nicotine that does not scratch the throat at higher strengths, which is why it works at 10mg and 20mg without feeling harsh. It is sold in those small 10ml bottles and is designed for mouth-to-lung vaping in small, low-power pod kits – the cigarette-style draw where you pull vapour into your mouth first, then inhale. Nic salt is tight, flavour-forward and modest on vapour. If you switched from disposables to a pod, nic salt is almost certainly your format, and it is the one nearly every disposable-derived brand in this guide is built around. The smoothness at higher strength is what makes it satisfying for someone used to the steady hit of a single-use device.

Shortfill is the format for the bigger end of vaping. A shortfill is a larger bottle – bigger than the 10ml nicotine limit – filled with zero-nicotine liquid, with empty headroom left at the top. Because it contains no nicotine, it can legally be sold in those larger sizes. You then add a separate nic shot to bring it up to a low strength, typically around 3mg or 6mg once mixed. Shortfills are built for direct-to-lung sub-ohm kits that produce big clouds and run at higher power. They suit vapers who want lower nicotine, bigger vapour and richer, often more complex flavour. The trade-off is that you need a bigger device and you do a little mixing.

The simplest way to decide is to look at your device and your nicotine needs. Small pod kit, higher nicotine, cigarette-style draw, want your old disposable flavour? Nic salt. Bigger sub-ohm kit, lower nicotine, big clouds, want to explore complex flavours? Shortfill. Many of the brands above – Riot, Vampire Vape, Dinner Lady, IVG, Doozy – offer both, so you can often stay with a brand you like even if you change device. One final note on the incoming duty: it is charged per 10ml regardless of strength, so a large shortfill and a small nic salt bottle are taxed at the same per-10ml rate. That actually strengthens the value case for shortfills for the vapers they suit, because the per-millilitre cost of flavour can stretch further across a bigger bottle.

How to choose a brand for your device and taste

With the formats clear, the next question is how to actually pick a brand from the field. The honest answer is that it is a process of narrowing down, not a single perfect choice. Here is a practical way to do it without wasting money on bottles you will never finish.

Start with your device, not the flavour. Your kit decides your format, and your format decides which brands are even relevant. A small pod kit means you are shopping nic salts, which immediately points you at the disposable-derived brands and the nic-salt-heavy makers. A bigger sub-ohm kit means shortfills, which points you at the flavour-craft brands and the shortfill ranges of the bigger names. Trying to force a shortfill into a tiny pod or a high-strength nic salt into a cloud machine is the single most common mistake, and it ruins the experience before flavour even enters the picture.

Then anchor on a flavour family you already know you like. Almost everyone has a lean: sweet fruit, fruit-and-ice, menthol, dessert, or tobacco. If you came from disposables, think about the device you reached for most and what it tasted of – that is your starting family. Match the family to the brand's known strength: disposable-style sweet fruit and ice points at ELFLIQ, Lost Mary, Bar Juice 5000 and Pukka Juice; dessert and bakery points at Dinner Lady; bold modern sweets points at Riot and IVG; refined fruit and menthol points at Doozy and Vampire Vape; complex layered blends point at Wick Liquor. Starting from a family you already enjoy dramatically improves your hit rate.

Get your nicotine strength right early. This is its own decision and it matters for comfort. Too high and a flavour feels harsh; too low and you keep chasing satisfaction and over-vaping. As a rough guide, heavier former smokers and former high-strength disposable users often start around 20mg nic salt, lighter users around 10mg, and DTL shortfill vapers much lower at around 3mg to 6mg once mixed. Strength is personal, so use our nicotine strength guide to dial it in rather than guessing.

Buy small and test before you commit. The beauty of the 10ml bottle is that it is a cheap experiment. Rather than buying five bottles of one brand, buy single bottles across two or three brands in your chosen family and strength, and live with each for a few days. Flavours change as your palate adjusts and as a coil beds in, so a fair test is a few days, not a few puffs. Once a brand and a flavour earn a permanent spot, then you stock up. This approach costs a little upfront but saves you from a cupboard full of bottles you do not enjoy, and it is how almost every long-term vaper found the brand they now buy on repeat.

Tips for trying new juice

Finding a new brand is more enjoyable and more economical if you go about it the right way. These are the practical habits that separate people who confidently explore from people who keep buying bottles they abandon half-finished.

• Change your coil or pod before judging a new flavour. An old, gunked-up coil carries the ghost of the last juice and mutes everything. A fresh coil or pod gives the new flavour a clean stage, and it is the fairest way to decide whether you actually like it.
• Let new liquid soak in before you vape it. When you fill a fresh pod, give it a minute or two for the coil to absorb the liquid. Vaping a dry coil produces a horrible burnt taste that has nothing to do with the brand and everything to do with rushing. Patience here protects both the flavour and the coil.
• Give a flavour a few days, not a few puffs. First impressions can mislead. A flavour that seems too sweet or too subtle on the first pull often settles into something you love, or quietly reveals it is not for you, over a couple of days of real use. Judge a juice on a fair trial.
• Keep a simple palate-cleanser between trials. If you are sampling several brands, vaping them back to back blurs them together. A glass of water and a short gap between flavours keeps your palate honest so you can actually tell the brands apart.
• Track what you try. A quick note on your phone – brand, flavour, strength, what you thought – is worth its weight in money. It stops you re-buying something you already decided against and helps you spot which flavour family genuinely suits you.
• Match strength to format, not habit. If you move from a pod to a bigger DTL kit, do not carry your 20mg nic salt across – it will be far too harsh. Drop to a shortfill at low strength instead. The format and the strength move together.
• Store bottles sensibly. Keep e-liquid out of direct sunlight and heat, sealed and upright. Flavours hold up far better when stored cool and dark, and they should always be kept well away from children and pets, as nicotine is an addictive and toxic substance.
• Buy from age-verified, compliant retailers. Stick to sellers that age-gate at checkout and stock UK-compliant 10ml bottles at no more than 20mg. It guarantees you are getting legitimate product made to the rules, which is the baseline for doing this responsibly.

Our top picks

If you want the short version, here is how the field shakes out for different adult vapers. For the person who switched from a disposable and just wants that exact flavour back in a refillable pod, ELFLIQ and Lost Mary are the most direct route, with Bar Juice 5000 a strong purpose-built alternative. For loud, modern, sweet-leaning flavour with a brand personality of its own, Riot and IVG lead the pack, and both reach across nic salt and shortfill so they can follow you up to a bigger device.

For dessert and bakery lovers, Dinner Lady remains the brand that does sweet, comforting flavours with genuine craft. For a trusted British heritage name with a genuinely iconic signature flavour and a more measured house style, Vampire Vape is the pick. For refreshing, refined fruit and menthol that works as an all-day vape, Doozy Vape Co and Pukka Juice are dependable. And for experienced DTL vapers who want complex, layered shortfills to explore, Wick Liquor is the destination once you have the device to do it justice. There is no single “best” brand – only the best brand for your device, your strength and your taste – but starting from this list will get you to a juice you genuinely enjoy far faster than wandering the shelves blind. Browse the full compliant selection on the store whenever you are ready to try a few.

Frequently asked questions

What are the best new vape juice brands in the UK right now?

The standout newer and refreshed brands include ELFLIQ and Lost Mary e-liquids (both descended from hugely popular disposables), Riot in its Riot Squad and Riot X lines, plus established names that have re-tooled for the pod era such as Vampire Vape, Dinner Lady, IVG and Doozy Vape Co, alongside purpose-built newcomers like Bar Juice 5000. The “best” for you depends on your device, your nicotine strength and your preferred flavour family, so the smart move is to try a couple of single 10ml bottles before committing.

Why did so many new e-liquid brands appear after the disposable ban?

When single-use disposables were banned across the UK on 1 June 2025, millions of adults moved to refillable pod kits, which created huge new demand for bottled e-liquid – especially liquid that tastes like the disposables people missed. The companies that had made those disposables already owned the recipes and the customer loyalty, so they rehoused their flavours in UK-legal 10ml bottles. That is why so many of today's most talked-about brands started life on the side of a disposable.

What is the difference between a nic salt and a shortfill?

A nic salt is a smoother form of nicotine sold in 10ml bottles at up to 20mg, designed for small mouth-to-lung pod kits and the cigarette-style draw – it is the format that replaced disposables. A shortfill is a larger bottle of zero-nicotine liquid with headroom for you to add a separate nic shot, designed for bigger direct-to-lung sub-ohm kits, lower nicotine and bigger clouds. Your device and your desired nicotine level decide which one you need.

Are these new brands legal and safe to buy in the UK?

Legitimate brands sold through age-verified UK retailers are fully compliant: nic salts come in 10ml bottles at no more than 20mg/ml, and they are sold only to over-18s. Avoid any seller offering oversized bottles of nicotine liquid or strengths above 20mg, as those are outside the rules. Buying compliant product from a proper retailer is the baseline. As with all nicotine products, the underlying fact remains that nicotine is addictive, and this article is general information rather than health or medical advice.

Which new brand tastes most like my old disposable?

If you can name the exact disposable you miss, the fastest route back is usually the bottled range from the same maker – ELFLIQ for old Elf Bar flavours, Lost Mary e-liquids for Lost Mary flavours. Purpose-built brands like Bar Juice 5000 also aim squarely at recreating popular bar tastes. Because these use the same or very similar recipes, they tend to land far closer to the original than a generic third-party fruit blend.

How much nicotine strength should I choose in a new brand?

Strength is personal, but as a rough guide: heavier former smokers and former high-strength disposable users often start around 20mg nic salt, lighter users around 10mg, and direct-to-lung shortfill vapers much lower at around 3mg to 6mg once mixed. Too high feels harsh; too low leads to over-vaping. Our nicotine strength guide walks through how to dial it in for your habits and device.

Do the bigger heritage brands still count as “new”?

Brands like Vampire Vape, Dinner Lady and IVG are not new companies, but they belong in any modern shortlist because they have refreshed and re-positioned their ranges so thoroughly for the post-disposable pod market. They offer the reliability and flavour craft of an established maker with formats – particularly nic salts – built for today's devices, which is the best of both worlds.

Will the new 2026 vaping tax make these brands more expensive?

From 1 October 2026 the UK introduces a Vaping Products Duty of £2.20 per 10ml of e-liquid, charged at a flat rate regardless of nicotine strength. This is very likely to push e-liquid prices up, since the duty gets added into the cost chain. It also sharpens the value case for formats that stretch further per millilitre, such as larger shortfills for the vapers they suit, and for buying bottled refills rather than pricier prefilled pods.

Can I use the same brand if I change from a pod to a bigger device?

Often, yes. Several of the brands here – Riot, Vampire Vape, Dinner Lady, IVG and Doozy – make both nic salts and shortfills, so you can keep a flavour identity you like while switching format. The key is to switch the format and the strength together: drop from a high-strength nic salt to a low-strength shortfill when you move up to a direct-to-lung kit, rather than carrying the same bottle across.

How do I find my favourite brand without wasting money?

Buy small and test. Pick two or three brands within the flavour family you already enjoy, get single 10ml bottles at your chosen strength, fit a fresh coil or pod, and live with each for a few days before judging. Keep a quick note of what you try so you do not re-buy something you decided against. Once a brand earns a permanent spot, then stock up. This costs a little upfront and saves you a cupboard full of half-finished bottles. You can browse the full compliant range on the e-liquids page and the wider store.

PinkVape sells to over-18s only. Nicotine is an addictive substance. This article is general information, not health or medical advice. Prices are approximate and vary by retailer.

Frequently asked questions

What are the best new vape juice brands in the UK in 2026?

The standout newer and refreshed UK e-liquid brands are ELFLIQ, Lost Mary, Riot (Riot Squad / Riot X) and purpose-built newcomer Bar Juice 5000, alongside established names that have re-tooled for the pod era like Vampire Vape, Dinner Lady, IVG, Doozy Vape Co, Wick Liquor and Pukka Juice. The right pick depends on your device, your nicotine strength and your preferred flavour family. The cheapest way to find your brand is to buy single 10ml bottles across two or three options before committing.

Why did so many new e-liquid brands appear after the UK disposable ban?

When single-use disposables were banned across the UK on 1 June 2025, millions of adult vapers moved to refillable pod kits, which created huge new demand for bottled e-liquid that tasted like the disposables they missed. The companies that had made those disposables already owned the recipes and customer loyalty, so they rehoused their flavours in UK-legal 10ml bottles. That is why so many of today's most talked-about brands, like ELFLIQ and Lost Mary, started life on the side of a disposable.

What is the difference between nic salt and shortfill e-liquid?

A nic salt is a smoother form of nicotine sold in 10ml bottles at up to 20mg/ml, designed for small mouth-to-lung pod kits and a cigarette-style draw, which is the format that replaced disposables. A shortfill is a larger bottle of zero-nicotine liquid with headroom for you to add a separate nic shot, designed for bigger direct-to-lung sub-ohm kits, lower nicotine and bigger clouds. Your device and your desired nicotine level decide which one you need.

Which new e-liquid brand tastes most like my old Elf Bar or Lost Mary?

If you can name the exact disposable you miss, the fastest route back is usually the bottled range from the same maker, so ELFLIQ for old Elf Bar flavours and Lost Mary e-liquids for Lost Mary flavours. Purpose-built brand Bar Juice 5000 also aims squarely at recreating popular bar tastes in 10ml nic salt form. These ranges use the same or very similar recipes, so they tend to land far closer to the original than a generic third-party fruit blend.

What nicotine strength should I choose when trying a new vape juice brand?

Strength is personal, but as a rough guide: heavier former smokers and former high-strength disposable users often start around 20mg nic salt, lighter users around 10mg, and direct-to-lung shortfill vapers much lower at around 3mg to 6mg once mixed. Too high feels harsh on the throat; too low leads to over-vaping as you chase satisfaction. UK law caps nicotine e-liquid at 20mg/ml in 10ml bottles, so anything above that is non-compliant and should be avoided.

Are these new vape juice brands legal and safe to buy in the UK?

Yes, legitimate brands sold through age-verified UK retailers are fully compliant: nic salts come in 10ml bottles at no more than 20mg/ml and are sold only to over-18s. Avoid any seller offering oversized bottles of nicotine liquid or strengths above 20mg, as those are outside the rules. Nicotine is an addictive substance, and this is general information rather than health or medical advice.

Will the 2026 UK vaping tax make these e-liquid brands more expensive?

Very likely yes. From 1 October 2026 the UK introduces a Vaping Products Duty of £2.20 per 10ml of e-liquid, charged at a flat rate regardless of nicotine strength, so a zero-nicotine shortfill base and a 20mg nic salt are taxed the same per 10ml. That cost will feed into retail prices. It also sharpens the value case for larger shortfills for the vapers they suit, and for refilling bottles rather than buying pricier prefilled pods.

Can I use the same e-liquid brand if I switch from a pod kit to a bigger device?

Often, yes. Several brands here, including Riot, Vampire Vape, Dinner Lady, IVG and Doozy Vape Co, make both nic salts and shortfills, so you can keep a flavour identity you like while changing format. The important rule is to switch format and strength together: drop from a high-strength nic salt to a low-strength shortfill when you move up to a direct-to-lung kit, rather than carrying a 20mg bottle across, which would be far too harsh.