Best New Vape Juice Brands 2026 (UK Buyer's Guide)

TL;DR: The best new vape juice brands launched in the UK over the last five years are Elf Bar ELFLIQ, Lost Mary BM600, Riot Squad Bar Edtn, IVG Bar Favourites, Bar Juice 5000, SKE Crystal Salts, Doozy Bar Salts and Hayati Pro Max Salts. All comply with TPD limits (10ml bottles, 20mg/ml nicotine cap), most recreate popular disposable flavours for refillable pod kits, and prices sit between £2.99 and £4.99 per 10ml.

Last updated: July 2026. The UK e-liquid market got redrawn twice in eighteen months — first by the 1 June 2025 disposable ban, then by the incoming HMRC vaping products duty landing 1 October 2026. The brands that survived both are the ones we're covering here.

Best new vape juice brands in the UK (2026 quick answer)

The best new UK e-liquid brands launched in the last five years are ELFLIQ by Elf Bar, Lost Mary BM600 Salts, Riot Squad Bar Edtn, IVG Bar Favourites, Bar Juice 5000, SKE Crystal Salts, Doozy Bar Salts and Hayati Pro Max Salts. Every brand on this list is TPD-compliant (10ml bottles, 20mg/ml nicotine ceiling), sold through licensed UK vendors, and priced between £2.99 and £4.99 for a 10ml nic salt.

At-a-glance rankings

How the UK e-liquid market changed between 2021 and 2026

Between 2021 and 2026 the UK vape juice market shifted from freebase 50/50 in 10ml bottles aimed at tank users to 50/50 and 60/40 nic salt formulations designed for pod kits at 20mg/ml. Disposable dominance from 2022 to mid-2025 pushed brands to copy Elf Bar, Lost Mary, Crystal Bar and Hayati flavour profiles into refillable bottles, and the 1 June 2025 disposable ban locked that shift in for good.

Three regulatory forces set the shape of the current shelf:

• The TPD nicotine cap of 20mg/ml — carried over from EU rules and confirmed under the UK Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016. Every legal UK nic salt tops out at 20mg/ml, and any bottle claiming 25mg, 35mg or 50mg is either grey-market or mislabelled.
• The 1 June 2025 single-use disposable ban, enforced by DEFRA and monitored by Trading Standards. It didn't ban Elf Bar, it banned the throwaway hardware — which is why every disposable-era brand pivoted to bottles and pods.
• The 1 October 2026 HMRC excise duty — £2.20 per 10ml of e-liquid, applied at manufacturer level, per the 2024 duty consultation. Expect every price in the table above to rise by roughly £2.20 plus VAT (£2.64) after October — pricing in this guide reflects pre-duty shelves.

Alongside those, the MHRA continues to notify and publish every legal e-liquid on its list, and the NHS position remains that vaping is substantially less harmful than smoking and is a legitimate quit-smoking tool. That regulatory clarity is why the brands below are worth buying — they are all MHRA-notified, sold through licensed UK retailers, and safe to run in any refillable pod kit.

1. ELFLIQ by Elf Bar — the disposable-parity king

ELFLIQ is Elf Bar's own bottled nic salt line, launched in 2022 and reformulated in 2024 to mirror the exact flavour profiles used in the Elf Bar 600 and Elfa disposables. If your fingers keep reaching for a disposable that no longer exists on shelves, ELFLIQ is the closest legal replacement in a 10ml TPD bottle at 10mg or 20mg/ml.

Why it ranks first: no other brand has managed to duplicate the base flavour compound of the original Elf Bars this closely, because Elf Bar owns the compound. Blue Razz Lemonade, Watermelon, Cherry, Kiwi Passionfruit Guava and Strawberry Ice all taste within a whisker of the disposable versions. Full breakdown of the current line-up in our Elf Bar ELFLIQ flavours for 2026 guide.

Verdict: if you liked disposables, this is the first bottle to try. Pair with an Elfa Turbo pod kit and you effectively have a refillable Elf Bar.

2. Lost Mary BM600 Salts — the fruit-and-sweets specialist

Lost Mary BM600 Salts is the bottled line from Lost Mary, launched late 2023 to replicate the BM600 disposable flavours after the brand read the room on the incoming ban. It sits second because the compound work is nearly as tight as ELFLIQ, and because Lost Mary's flavour house tends to lean sweeter and more confectionery than Elf Bar — which is what most disposable switchers actually want.

Standout picks: Blueberry Sour Raspberry (the flagship), Triple Mango, Cherry Peach Lemonade, Blueberry Cranberry Cherry, and Watermelon Cherry. Priced at £3.99 for 10ml, £8.99 for three bottles from most UK vendors. Compatible with any 0.8Ω pod, including the Lost Mary Tappo Air, Elfa Turbo and Uwell Caliburn A3.

3. Riot Squad Bar Edtn — the value nic salt everyone underrates

Riot Squad's Bar Edtn line launched in 2023 and quietly became the most-bought sub-£3 nic salt in the UK. It ranks third for one reason: price-to-flavour ratio. At £2.99 a bottle (often three for £8), it undercuts Elf Bar and Lost Mary by 25% and doesn't taste 25% worse — in blind tastings it's often confused for a £3.99 bottle.

Riot's flavour house has been running since 2016, well before disposables, so their compounds are further along the maturity curve than most disposable-era brands. Standouts: Tropical Fruits (a Fruit Salad chew profile), Fizzy Cherry, Mango Raspberry Watermelon, and Sub Lime.

4. Bar Juice 5000 — the multi-buy powerhouse

Bar Juice 5000 is a UK-manufactured nic salt line explicitly built to mimic 5000-puff disposable flavours in a 10ml bottle. It launched in 2023 through Vape Superstore and quickly became the single best-selling nic salt SKU by volume in the UK in 2024, largely on the back of a permanent "3 for £8" pricing structure that works out at £2.66 per 10ml.

Flavour range is enormous — over 40 SKUs, covering every dominant disposable profile: Blue Sour Raspberry, Cherry Cola, Watermelon Ice, Fresh Mint, Mr Pink Blue (the Mr Blue clone), Rainbow Candy, Strawberry Kiwi, Peach Ice, and Menthol. Nicotine strengths at 10mg and 20mg. It's not the most sophisticated bottle on the shelf, but at £2.66 it doesn't need to be.

5. IVG Bar Favourites — the menthol and tobacco crossover

IVG's Bar Favourites range covers a segment most disposable-clone brands ignore: tobacco, menthol and classic UK profiles that skew older. It ranks fifth because for anyone using vaping as a smoking-cessation tool — which the NHS recommends over disposables — the tobacco and menthol side of the market matters more than another Blue Razz.

Standouts: Menthol, Blackcurrant Menthol, Classic Tobacco, Ry4 Tobacco, and Watermelon Ice. IVG runs its own flavour lab in the UK and has been ISO-audited since 2019, which shows in bottle-to-bottle consistency.

6. SKE Crystal Salts — for the Crystal Bar loyalists

SKE Crystal Salts is the bottled reincarnation of the Crystal Bar 600 disposable — which was one of the two best-selling disposables in the UK from 2023 until the ban. Launched in 2023, reformulated in 2024, and the Crystal Bar Kit + Salts pairing sold enough units in Q4 2025 to earn shelf space at Sainsbury's convenience stores and Tesco Express.

Flavour lineup mirrors the original Crystal Bar top ten: Blue Razz Lemonade, Fresh Mint, Cherry Cola, Grape, Blueberry Sour Raspberry, Watermelon Ice, and Prime Blue Ice (their answer to Prime Blue Raspberry hype).

7. Doozy Bar Salts — the dessert and sweet specialist

Doozy Vape Co has been operating since 2015 and its Bar Salts range, launched 2023, sits at the dessert-and-confectionery end of the disposable-clone market. It ranks seventh because the profiles are more distinctive than most competitors — less "Blue Razz clone number 47", more "Blueberry Doughnut" and "Strawberry Watermelon Bubblegum". Better for people who found disposables too samey.

8. Hayati Pro Max Salts — the big-hit clone

Hayati Pro Max was one of the top three disposable brands right up to the ban and the Pro Max Salts line launched in early 2024 with the explicit goal of keeping that customer base after 1 June 2025. The formulation is punchier than average — throat hit is heavier and the sweetness is turned up — which reads as "closer to the disposable" for many former Hayati users.

Standouts: Cherry Ice, Blueberry Cherry Cranberry, Fresh Mint, Mr Blue and Watermelon Ice. Sits at £3.99 for 10ml, £9.99 for three.

9. Fantasi Bar Salts — the tropical specialist

Fantasi has been making mango-forward tropical e-liquid since 2018 and its Bar Salts line, launched 2022, is where to go if you want tropical done properly — Fantasi Mango Ice was widely recognised as the best mango e-liquid on the UK market before the disposable era and the nic salt version keeps that lineage. Also strong: Passion Fruit Ice, Pineapple Ice and Watermelon Ice.

10. Nasty Juice Bar — bold, funky fruit

Nasty Juice launched in Malaysia in 2015 and became one of the earliest premium freebase brands in the UK. The Bar Salts line launched in 2023 and covers Nasty's signature bold fruit profiles at 20mg/ml. If you want fruit that punches — Wicked Haze, Slow Blow (pineapple lemonade), Bad Blood (blackcurrant), Cush Man (mango) — Nasty is where to look.

Nic salt vs freebase: which of these brands to buy for which kit

Nic salt e-liquid uses nicotine bound to benzoic or salicylic acid, which delivers nicotine faster and smoother at high strengths — the reason 20mg salts feel bearable while 20mg freebase would feel like a punch in the throat. Freebase is thinner, better for tanks, and better below 6mg/ml. Every disposable-clone brand above is a nic salt. Freebase suits older-style tank kits and cloud chasers, and the brands above mostly don't operate in that space anymore.

Not sure which kit you have? Our perfect vaping setup guide walks through matching liquid to hardware.

Are the new UK vape juice brands safe? MHRA notification explained

Every e-liquid sold legally in the UK must be notified to the MHRA under the TRPR 2016, with a six-month standstill before it can go on sale. The manufacturer must submit ingredient lists, emissions data, toxicological profile, and packaging artwork. Every brand covered in this guide is MHRA-notified and appears on the public register. If a bottle isn't on that register, it's not legal to sell in the UK — regardless of what a corner shop is doing with it.

What to check on the bottle:

• 10ml maximum volume (larger bottles are legal only as unflavoured "shortfill" nicotine-free base)
• Nicotine strength printed clearly, capped at 20mg/ml for finished salts
• Child-resistant and tamper-evident cap
• Health warning covering 30% of the front and back
• Ingredient list including nicotine content and batch number
• MHRA submission number or clear manufacturer address

If a bottle is missing any of these, don't buy it. Report suspect stock to Trading Standards. According to ONS smoking-and-vaping surveys, the vast majority of legal UK vape sales now come through licensed retailers and this is the shelf you should be buying from.

The 20mg/ml TPD cap: why it matters for new brands

The 20mg/ml nicotine ceiling means no legal UK bottle can exceed that concentration — a rule most of continental Europe shares but the US does not. If you see a US-import "Salt Nic" at 35mg or 50mg from a UK vendor, it's either a mislabelled 20mg bottle or a black-market import.

Practical impact on brand behaviour: every brand covered above has spent five years engineering their 20mg formulations to feel as close as possible to what US-market 35mg salts deliver. That's done through PG/VG ratio tuning (most UK bar salts sit at 50/50 for a firmer throat hit) and by increasing benzoic acid concentration so the nicotine crosses the mucosal membrane faster. Result: legal, and satisfying enough that switchers from disposables actually stick.

Disposable ban impact: what changed on 1 June 2025

The single-use vape ban made it illegal to supply, sell or offer for sale disposable vapes anywhere in the UK. Enforcement is by Trading Standards, with a maximum £200 on-the-spot fine and unlimited fine on conviction. The impact on the e-liquid market has been direct: every major disposable brand shipped a nic salt line within twelve months, most retailers reallocated 40–60% of counter space to bottles and refillable pods, and total 10ml nic salt unit sales roughly tripled between mid-2024 and mid-2026.

If you're still using up disposables you stockpiled before June 2025 and looking for the closest bottled match, our disposable flavour dupes guide maps each popular disposable to the exact nic salt that recreates it.

HMRC excise duty from 1 October 2026: what to expect

From 1 October 2026, HMRC applies an excise duty of £2.20 per 10ml of finished e-liquid, per the 2024 vaping products duty consultation. At the same time, a one-off £2.20/pack tobacco duty rise offsets the price gap between vaping and smoking. Practical effect on shelves:

• Current £3.99 10ml nic salts will land at roughly £6.60 (duty + VAT on duty)
• 3-for-£8 multi-buys will move to 3-for-£15 territory
• Longfills and shortfills (nicotine-free base + nic shots bought separately) will keep the excise off the base — expect this format to grow sharply
• Cheap grey-market imports will expand; only buy from licensed retailers with a UK VAT number and a physical UK address

Buying in July 2026, you have a three-month window to stock up at pre-duty prices. Nic salts have a two-year shelf life if stored in a cool, dark place, so a stockpile is rational.

How we ranked these brands

We ranked based on five weighted criteria: flavour accuracy versus its disposable equivalent (30%), value per 10ml (20%), UK availability across licensed retailers (20%), MHRA notification status and packaging compliance (15%), and pod-kit compatibility (15%). Every brand tested came from a UK-registered retailer, was checked against the MHRA register, and vaped in a standard 0.8Ω refillable pod for consistency.

Brands we deliberately left off this list

Three types of brand did not make the ranking. First, US-imported salts at 35mg or 50mg — even the good ones (Naked 100 Salts, Pachamama, Air Factory Salts) are non-compliant in the UK. Second, brands whose bottles we couldn't verify on the MHRA register at time of writing. Third, brands whose nic salt line is essentially a rebadge of a bigger manufacturer's compound with a markup — you're paying for the label and not much else.

Best flavour picks by profile

Not every reader wants a ranked brand list — a lot of people want "the best cherry" or "the best menthol". Here is the cross-brand flavour ranking based on our tasting notes:

Best nic salt to pair with each popular UK pod kit

Most refillable pod kits have a preferred flavour profile driven by coil metal, resistance and airflow. Match your bottle to the kit:

Need help picking the pod itself? Check the current refillable kit range and the pod system section.

Nicotine strength: 10mg or 20mg?

Choose 20mg/ml if you were on 20mg disposables (Elf Bar 600, Lost Mary, Crystal Bar all shipped at 20mg) or if you smoke more than 10 cigarettes a day. Choose 10mg/ml if you're using vaping to step down, if you cough or headache easily on 20mg, or if you're a lighter smoker (under 10 a day). Both concentrations from every brand above use the same base formulation, so flavour is identical — only nicotine changes.

The NHS Better Health quit-smoking programme notes that nicotine strength should broadly match cigarette consumption at first, then step down over months as dependence weakens.

Where to buy: what "licensed UK retailer" actually means

Buy from a retailer that has a UK VAT number displayed, a physical UK address, Age Verification Services checks at checkout (Yoti or similar), and clear MHRA-notified stock lists. Avoid Facebook Marketplace, TikTok Shop resellers, Instagram DMs and Amazon Marketplace third-party sellers — the counterfeit rate on all four is extremely high per Trading Standards' 2025 illicit vapes report. Legitimate UK retailers include Vape Superstore, Vape Club, Vapoholic, Grey Haze, Ecigwizard, Vape Dinner Lady, and your local independent vape shop.

Every product covered in this guide is stocked in our e-liquids section at TPD-legal strengths.

Nicotine pouches: the other side of the shelf

If you're pod-averse and looking for another format, tobacco-free nicotine pouches from Velo, ZYN, Nordic Spirit and Killa have been the fastest-growing nicotine category in the UK since 2023, and they attract zero excise duty in October 2026. They aren't a replacement for the vape juice on this list — the delivery curve is slower and the sensory experience is entirely different — but they pair well as a backup for situations where vaping isn't allowed. Full rundown in our best UK nicotine pouches guide or shop the pouches range.

Storage and shelf life: how to make bottles last two years

Nic salts oxidise slowly in contact with air and light. To hit the full two-year shelf life, store bottles upright, capped, in a cool dark cupboard. Fridge storage extends life further but requires a warm-up before vaping. Signs a bottle has oxidised: yellow-brown tint, harsh peppery taste, muted flavour top notes. Discard if any of those appear.

Buying six-plus bottles at pre-duty prices in Q3 2026 is rational only if you have proper storage. A cupboard away from radiators works. A shed does not.

What's coming next: new brands to watch in late 2026

Three brands were in soft launch at the time of writing and are likely to appear on shelves before Christmas 2026: R and M Salts (from the R and M disposable line), Aroma King Legacy Salts (Aroma King's bottled pivot after their disposable line was banned), and OXVA Xlim Salts (the first e-liquid line from a hardware-first brand). Vaporesso also has a bottled DOJO line already selling in the UK — our Vaporesso DOJO flavours guide covers current SKUs.

FAQ

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Frequently asked questions

What is the best new vape juice brand in the UK for 2026?

ELFLIQ by Elf Bar is the best new UK vape juice brand for 2026 because it's the closest legal recreation of the Elf Bar 600 disposable flavours in a TPD-compliant 10ml nic salt bottle at 10mg or 20mg/ml, and it works in almost any refillable pod kit.

Are new vape juice brands like ELFLIQ and Lost Mary Salts legal in the UK?

Yes. Every brand covered in this guide is notified to the MHRA under the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016, capped at the legal 20mg/ml nicotine ceiling, and sold in child-resistant 10ml bottles through licensed UK retailers.

How much will vape juice cost after HMRC excise duty on 1 October 2026?

After the HMRC vaping products duty comes in on 1 October 2026, a typical £3.99 10ml nic salt will rise to roughly £6.60 once £2.20 duty plus VAT is added. Multi-buy 3-for-£8 deals will move to around 3-for-£15.

Can I still buy disposables in the UK in 2026?

No. Single-use disposable vapes have been banned across the UK since 1 June 2025, enforced by Trading Standards with fines up to unlimited on conviction. Refillable pod kits paired with any of the nic salt brands in this guide are the legal replacement.

What's the difference between nic salt and freebase e-liquid?

Nic salt uses nicotine bound to benzoic acid, delivering a smoother, faster hit at high strengths like 10mg and 20mg — ideal for pod kits. Freebase is thinner, better in sub-ohm tanks, and is used at lower strengths like 3mg to 6mg for cloud production.

Which new UK e-liquid brand offers the best value?

Bar Juice 5000 and Riot Squad Bar Edtn are the best-value nic salt brands in the UK for 2026. Both sit at £2.99 per 10ml or 3 for £8, roughly 25% cheaper than ELFLIQ and Lost Mary while covering the same disposable-clone flavour profiles.

Is vaping safer than smoking, according to the NHS?

Yes. The NHS position remains that vaping is substantially less harmful than smoking and is a legitimate quit-smoking tool, especially when combined with the NHS Better Health quit-smoking programme. Vaping is not risk-free and is not intended for non-smokers.

What nicotine strength should I choose from these brands?

Choose 20mg/ml if you smoked more than 10 cigarettes a day or were on 20mg disposables. Choose 10mg/ml if you were a lighter smoker, are stepping down, or find 20mg harsh. Flavour is identical between the two strengths from every brand in this guide.