Vape Duty — in plain terms
The Vape Duty starts 1 October 2026.
It adds around £2.64 per 10ml of e-liquid — but prices won't change overnight. You can keep buying your usual e-liquids at today's prices until our pre-duty stock runs out.
Where this comes from
The Vaping Products Duty (VPD) is a new tax introduced by the UK Government and administered by HMRC. It was announced at the 2024 Budget and applies across the whole of the UK from 1 October 2026.
It's a flat, government-set charge. The same £2.64 per 10ml (£2.20 + VAT) is added to every e-liquid sold anywhere in the UK.
It is the single biggest change the UK vaping industry has faced to date, affecting every retailer and customer alike. None of it is a price rise we've chosen — the duty is collected on the Government's behalf.
The Government's stated aims are to discourage young people and non-smokers from taking up vaping, to keep a clear price gap between vaping and smoking, and to raise revenue — around £445 million a year by the end of the decade. It was legislated in the Finance Act 2026 and is separate to the Tobacco and Vapes Act which became law in April 2026.
Even with the duty applied, vaping is expected to remain considerably cheaper than smoking. The rate has been set deliberately to preserve that gap.
How the duty affects prices across the market
Because the duty is charged per millilitre, the increase depends far more on how much e-liquid a product holds than on what it costs today. These are typical UK market examples — not our own confirmed prices — to show the shape of the change. The cheapest e-liquids are hit hardest of all.
Illustrative figures for widely-available market products. Duty calculated at £2.64 per 10ml on the e-liquid each product contains.
Why the cheapest e-liquids will have the biggest price increases
A £1 bottle isn't cheap because it's efficient — it's cheap because the e-liquid inside it is. When a flat £2.64 lands on top, a £1 bottle can more than triple in price, while a considered, better-made e-liquid changes by a far smaller share. The duty quietly rewards quality over throwaway pricing.
Where JAC stands on price
We've long rewarded bulk buying with strong multibuy discounts on e-liquid, and keeping that a core part of how we price stays a priority as we rebuild things around the new duty.
The duty itself is fixed and can't be discounted, but we're still designing our pricing around it — likely absorbing some of the cost ourselves and introducing new volume discounts to help. We don't yet know the final figures, and we won't pretend otherwise. As soon as they're confirmed, we'll tell you. Our aim is simple: to soften the blow as much as we honestly can.
What's changing, and what isn't
All e-liquid — including nicotine-free, nic salts, nicotine shots and flavour concentrates — carries the new duty from 1 October 2026: a flat £2.64 per 10ml, on top of the retailer's price.
Devices, coils, refillable (empty) pods and accessories. The duty doesn't touch them — their prices are unaffected.
What this means for you
There isn't one 'right' way to respond to this, and it isn't ours to decide for you. Speaking with customers, three honest responses come up most:
Stocking up
Stock bought before 1 October 2026 won't carry the duty, and you're welcome to begin stocking up now. We'll also keep selling our pre-duty (unstamped) stock at regular prices after 1 October, right up until it runs out.
Getting more from every ml
The biggest factor in how far a bottle goes isn't the e-liquid — it's your device, and specifically the wattage you're running it at — more on that below.
Vaping a little less
Some people naturally taper their use over time regardless of price, and a change like this can be a natural moment to ease off.
Why some e-liquids last longer
It's tempting to say one type of e-liquid is simply more efficient than another — plenty of vape stores make that claim. We looked into it properly, and the honest answer is that composition alone doesn't reliably predict how far an e-liquid goes. What actually drives it is your vape device wattage: higher wattage vaporises more e-liquid with every puff, regardless of what that e-liquid is made from. Lower wattage does the opposite, and the same bottle of e-liquid goes further.
Using ARX 1 Pro, wattage is fully adjustable — it defaults to a sensible setting for your pod's resistance, but you can lower it manually within a safe range. That's the single most reliable way to make any e-liquid last longer, whatever flavour or range you're using.
Best-before dates and shelf life
Best-before dates on e-liquid usually run from about one year to 18 months from production. That date is a quality guide rather than a hard cut-off: stored sensibly — at normal room temperature and out of direct sunlight — most e-liquid is still perfectly good to use for a good while beyond it. That's worth keeping in mind if you decide to stock up ahead of the duty, though it's still wise to buy only what you'll realistically get through.
Questions & answers
Yes. The Vape Duty applies to all e-liquid regardless of nicotine strength, so nicotine-free e-liquids are treated exactly the same as any other.
£2.20 per 10ml, set by the Government. VAT is then applied on top, bringing it to £2.64 per 10ml. It's a flat rate — the same amount on every e-liquid of that size, whatever its price and wherever it's sold.
All of them. The Government treats anything intended to be vaped as an e-liquid, so the duty applies equally to premixed e-liquids, nic salts, nicotine shots, flavour concentrates, prefilled pods and plain e-liquid bases. It's charged purely on volume, at £2.64 per 10ml, regardless of the type or what it contains.
Best-before dates on e-liquid usually run from about one year to 18 months from production. That date is a quality guide rather than a hard cut-off: stored sensibly — at normal room temperature and out of direct sunlight — most e-liquid is still perfectly fine to use for a good while beyond it. If you do buy ahead of the duty, that's worth knowing, though it's still wise to buy only what you'll realistically get through.
No. Devices, coils, refillable (empty) pods and accessories aren't within scope of the duty, so their prices are unaffected. Prefilled pods are different — they contain e-liquid, so they carry the duty like any other e-liquid.
Because the duty is charged per millilitre, not per product. A 2ml prefilled pod carries only a little duty; a 50ml e-liquid carries far more. An e-liquid's price increase depends on how much e-liquid it holds, not on what it costs today.
Our big volume discounts will still apply to the product itself; we're currently redesigning these to navigate through the vape duty change. The duty, though, is a fixed government charge per millilitre and this part of the price can't be discounted — it's added on top of whatever price you pay.
The duty takes effect on 1 October 2026, when new stock must carry a physical duty stamp. We'll still have pre-duty stock for a period afterwards, so prices rise gradually until 1 April 2027 — after which everything on sale must be duty-paid.
Yes, of course — you're welcome to stock up in advance, and we'd actually recommend building up a bit at a time between now and 1 October 2026. We'll likely still have pre-duty stock for a while after that date, but once it runs out the duty is added, so buying gradually beforehand is the sensible way to soften the change. Just buy what you'll realistically get through — e-liquid does have a shelf life.
No. The duty is collected on behalf of the Government — none of it comes to us. It isn't a price rise we've chosen.
Yes. Even with the duty applied, vaping is expected to remain considerably cheaper than smoking — the rate has been set deliberately to keep that gap in place.
Our communications so far
Newest last · updated as the duty approaches
A message from our CEO on the coming duty and what it means for pricing.
Read the message from our CEO →Full guidance, market price comparison and FAQ published, as promised in our first update.