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Refillable vape and e-liquid: nicotine content
E-liquid strength is a concentration, not a dose. What matters is milligrams per millilitre multiplied by the millilitres you actually get through, which is the one calculation most people never do.
This is a reference page about what is printed on packs and what EU law caps. It is not medical advice, not a diagnosis and not a recommendation to use any product here. Nicotine is addictive and every product on this page can sustain that dependence. If you use nicotine and want to stop, a pharmacist, a doctor or your national cessation service will help you more than a table will.
What the number on the pack is
| Item | Figure |
|---|---|
| Category | Tobacco-free nicotine |
| The declared figure | Nicotine concentration in mg per ml of liquid |
| Legal position | EU: 20 mg/ml, refill containers 10 ml maximum, tanks 2 ml maximum |
| Declared as | mg of nicotine per ml |
| EU concentration ceiling | 20 mg/ml |
| EU refill container ceiling | 10 ml |
| EU tank ceiling | 2 ml |
| Nicotine in a full 10 ml bottle at 20 mg/ml | 200 mg |
Concentration times volume is the only honest figure
A bottle labelled 12 mg per millilitre contains 12 mg of nicotine in every millilitre of liquid. Someone getting through 3 ml a day is therefore handling 36 mg of nicotine a day. Someone getting through 3 ml a day of 20 mg per millilitre liquid is handling 60 mg. Neither figure is what reaches the bloodstream, but both are exact, both are easy to compute, and they are the right basis for comparing your own use over time or against another format.
This is the calculation the strength number invites and almost nobody performs. A drop in concentration accompanied by a rise in volume is not a reduction, and it is the most common way a self-directed taper quietly fails.
What the EU caps and why
Article 20 of the Tobacco Products Directive sets three limits that together define the format in Europe: nicotine concentration no higher than 20 mg per millilitre, refill containers no larger than 10 ml, and tanks or cartridges no larger than 2 ml. A full 10 ml refill bottle at the maximum concentration contains 200 mg of nicotine, which is the reason those bottles must have child-resistant and tamper-evident closures and carry a leaflet and the warning that the product contains nicotine, a highly addictive substance.
The same article requires that a device deliver nicotine doses at consistent levels under normal conditions of use, prohibits certain additives, and requires manufacturers to notify products before placing them on the market.
Freebase and salt are the same number with different behaviour
Two bottles can both say 20 mg per millilitre and behave very differently. Freebase nicotine produces a more alkaline aerosol and a harsher throat sensation at a given concentration. Salt formulations, made by adding an acid such as benzoic acid, lower the aerosol pH and cut that harshness, which allows longer and deeper inhalation of the same concentration.
The label figure does not capture this. If you are comparing your own use across a change of liquid type, the millilitres you get through are the measurement that will actually tell you what happened.
The hardware is half of the delivery
Nicotine delivered per puff is the concentration multiplied by the volume of liquid vaporised in that puff. Coil resistance, power, wicking and airflow all change the second term, sometimes by a large factor. A high-power device running a low concentration can deliver more nicotine per puff than a low-power pod running a high one.
This is why milligrams per millilitre alone cannot be converted into a cigarette equivalent, and why any site that offers such a conversion is guessing at the part that actually varies.
Nicotine-free liquid and the size rules
A liquid labelled 0 mg per millilitre contains no nicotine. The EU volume caps apply to nicotine-containing liquid, which is why large bottles of nicotine-free liquid are legal while a 10 ml limit sits on anything with nicotine in it. If you are running a large bottle, check the concentration on it rather than assuming from the size.
Against a cigarette
The only figure that lets any of these formats be compared is what a smoker actually absorbs: roughly 1 to 1.5 mg of nicotine per cigarette, or something in the region of 20 to 30 mg across a twenty-a-day habit. That is a measured absorbed dose, and it is not the same kind of number as the one on most packs.
The figure on this pack is a content, so it cannot be divided by 1.5 mg and read as a number of cigarettes. What it does tell you is the ceiling on what one unit could deliver, which is a useful upper bound and a poor equivalence.
| Reference point | Figure |
|---|---|
| Nicotine absorbed from one cigarette | about 1 to 1.5 mg |
| Nicotine absorbed at twenty cigarettes a day | about 20 to 30 mg |
| EU cigarette machine yield ceiling | 1 mg per cigarette |
| Nicotine in a full EU-legal single-use vape | up to 40 mg, as a content |
| Nicotine in a full 10 ml refill bottle at 20 mg/ml | 200 mg, as a content |
| Refillable vape and e-liquid | EU maximum 20 mg/ml; a full 10 ml bottle at that strength holds 200 mg |
Quitting from here
The measurement that makes a taper real here is millilitres per day recorded alongside the concentration, so a fall in one is not hidden by a rise in the other. Licensed products replace both numbers with a single declared dose.
The pattern with the most evidence behind it is the same whichever product you are stopping. A long-acting form holds the baseline so that withdrawal is not generating cravings all day, and a fast-acting form is there for the moments a craving still arrives. Cochrane reviews of nicotine replacement therapy find that using it improves the chance of stopping compared with no medication, and that combining a patch with a fast-acting form does better than either on its own. Behavioural support on top of medication does better again.
Two things are worth knowing before you start. Under-dosing is the usual failure: people choose the low strength, use it less often than the label says, and conclude that replacement does not work for them. And prescription medicines exist for tobacco dependence as well; those are a conversation with a clinician rather than a shelf decision.
National services are free and staffed by people who do this all day. In Estonia the National Institute for Health Development runs cessation counselling and publishes the current clinic and helpline list. In Finland the Stumppi service run by Filha covers the same ground. In Sweden it is Sluta-Roka-Linjen. Your pharmacy will know the local one.
Source: Cochrane Tobacco Addiction Group reviews of nicotine replacement therapy and of combination therapy · checked 2026-09-06
Frequently asked questions
What does mg/ml mean on e-liquid?
It is the nicotine concentration: milligrams of nicotine in each millilitre of liquid. Multiply by the millilitres you use to get the nicotine you are handling.
How much nicotine is in a 10 ml bottle?
Concentration times ten. At the EU maximum of 20 mg per ml, a full 10 ml bottle holds 200 mg of nicotine, which is why those bottles are child-resistant.
Is 20 mg/ml a lot?
It is the highest concentration that may legally be sold in the EU. Whether it is a lot for you depends on how many millilitres a day you get through, which is the number worth tracking.
Sources: EU Tobacco Products Directive 2014/40/EU · Manufacturer declaration printed on the pack, can or bottle · checked 2026-09-06
Other formats
Nicotine pouch (tobacco-free)
mg per gram multiplied by the pouch weight gives mg per pouch
Single-use (disposable) vape
Up to 40 mg of nicotine in a full EU-legal device: 2 ml at 20 mg/ml
Cigarette (factory-made)
Up to 1 mg machine yield; roughly 1 to 1.5 mg actually absorbed
Hand-rolled (roll-your-own) cigarette
No per-cigarette figure exists in law or on the pack
Cigar and cigarillo
A large cigar can hold as much tobacco as a whole pack of cigarettes
Pipe tobacco
No per-bowl figure exists; a bowl is user-packed
All formats, the conversion tables and the EU caps are on the hub page.
What changes when you stop
Sleep, resting heart rate, mood and appetite all move in the first weeks. TempoLife logs them in one place so the change is something you can see rather than something you have to remember.