How much nicotine is in a vape? By strength, per pod and per puff

By Antonio Cappiello · Last reviewed 2026-09-21

A 20 mg/ml liquid, the UK and EU legal maximum, holds 40 mg of nicotine in a full 2 ml device. A US 5% pod is about 50 to 59 mg/ml, roughly 40 mg in 0.7 ml. In lab tests one puff delivered about 0.03 to 0.17 mg, and your body keeps about 94 percent of what you inhale.

How is the nicotine in a vape labeled?

Two ways. UK and EU labels give milligrams per milliliter, up to the legal maximum of 20 mg/ml. US labels mostly use percent; the FDA’s list of authorized e-cigarettes runs from 1.5 to 6 percent, with a few labeled 50 or 18 mg/ml.

Percent means nicotine by weight: 5% is 5 g of nicotine in 100 g of liquid. Treat a milliliter as a gram and 5% is 50 mg/ml, the usual shorthand. E-liquid is a little heavier than water (0.7 ml of one 5% pod’s liquid weighs 0.77 to 0.83 g), so JUUL’s 5% pods are about 59 mg/ml (lab tests of 5% pods found 56 to 69 mg/ml), roughly three times the UK maximum.

Nicotine salt or freebase: what is the difference?

Early e-liquids used freebase nicotine, which is harsh to inhale at cigarette-like concentrations around 60 mg/ml. Adding an acid, benzoic acid in the best-known pod, turns most of the nicotine into a protonated salt and removes the harshness at the same strength. In a randomized trial, 119 adults puffed the same liquids in both forms (average 23.6 mg/ml) and rated the salt versions less harsh (36 against 57 on a 100-point scale) and smoother.

Salt does not add nicotine; it makes high strengths easy to inhale. Clinical studies, including a manufacturer’s patent study, found higher and faster blood nicotine from salt than freebase at the same strength, yet at the UK’s 20 mg/ml cap the salt pod delivered less than refillables on the same strength. Strength and device power matter more than the word salt.

How much nicotine is in a full vape or pod?

Multiply strength by volume. UK rules cap tanks at 2 ml and refill bottles at 10 ml: a full 2 ml device at 20 mg/ml holds 40 mg, a 10 ml bottle 200 mg. A 0.7 ml pod at 5% holds about 40 mg (39 to 48 mg in five lab tests). The mg/ml column uses the 1 g per ml convention.

Strength label	mg/ml	Nicotine in a 2 ml fill	Nicotine in a 0.7 ml pod
0.6%	6	12 mg	4 mg
1.2%	12	24 mg	8 mg
1.8%	18	36 mg	13 mg
2% (UK and EU maximum)	20	40 mg	14 mg
2.4%	24	48 mg	17 mg
3%	30	60 mg	21 mg
5% (measured 56 to 69 in 5% pods)	50	100 mg	35 mg, about 40 mg at 59 mg/ml
6%	60	120 mg	42 mg

How much nicotine is in a disposable vape?

A UK disposable could hold at most 2 ml at 20 mg/ml, so 40 mg, and since 1 June 2025 single-use vapes cannot be sold there. In the US they grew instead: the average disposable sold went from 1.1 ml at 1.7% in 2017 to 5.7 ml at 5% by September 2022, roughly 285 mg of nicotine, seven UK devices’ worth.

How much nicotine is in one puff of a vape?

Nicotine per puff is the liquid strength times the liquid vaporized in that puff, which depends on the device and how you puff. Thirteen experienced vapers took 15 puffs on their own cigalikes, tanks and drippers (6 to 24 mg/ml liquids). The devices used 46 to 463 mg of liquid over the 15 puffs, 3 to 31 mg per puff (roughly 0.003 to 0.03 ml), and delivered 0.4 to 2.6 mg of nicotine: 0.03 to 0.17 mg per puff. One 5% pod uses about 4.4 mg of liquid per puff; machine tests of 5% pods found 0.07 to 0.16 mg of nicotine per puff.

One puff is a fraction of the 1 to 1.5 mg a smoker absorbs from a cigarette; the puffs to cigarettes calculator does the conversion from your own count.

How much of it does your body absorb?

Nearly all of it. In the 15-puff study, 94 percent of the inhaled nicotine stayed in the body, 1.2 of the 1.3 mg. Blood nicotine peaked within 2 to 5 minutes at 8.4 ng/ml on average (2.3 to 19.8), below the 10 to 30 ng/ml reported after a cigarette.

Strength closes that gap. When 20 UK vapers who also smoke used a US JUUL (59 mg/ml) or their own cigarette for 5 minutes, the peaks were 20.4 and 19.2 ng/ml. The EU JUUL (20 mg/ml) in the same lab peaked at 3.8 ng/ml, against 21.1 for the US version and 12.9 for a cigarette: a third of the strength, a fifth of the nicotine.

Over a day it adds up: vapers in those studies used a median of 2 ml a day, 24 mg of nicotine at 12 mg/ml or 40 mg at 20.

Why your puff count is the missing number

Strength is on the label, liquid per puff comes from your device, and the third factor, how many puffs you take, only a count can tell you. Puff Counter logs each puff in one tap, in the app or from a small home screen widget, and for free turns the count into a nicotine estimate per puff and per day from the liquid strength and puff volume you enter in Vape settings. Set the puff volume to match your device (a pod uses far less liquid per puff than a big refillable); the estimate is only as good as that number.

Questions people also ask

Sources

1. MHRA (gov.uk): E-cigarettes, regulations for consumer products (Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016)
2. gov.uk: Single-use vapes ban, information for businesses
3. FDA: E-cigarettes authorized by the FDA (product list with nicotine strengths)
4. FDA (July 2025): FDA authorizes marketing of tobacco- and menthol-flavored JUUL e-cigarette products
5. Prochaska JJ, Vogel EA, Benowitz N (2022), Nicotine delivery and cigarette equivalents from vaping a JUULpod, Tobacco Control (PMC8460696)
6. St.Helen G et al. (2016), Nicotine delivery, retention and pharmacokinetics from various electronic cigarettes, Addiction (PMC4749433)
7. Hajek P et al. (2020), Nicotine delivery and users' reactions to Juul compared with cigarettes and other e-cigarette products, Addiction (PMC7318270)
8. Phillips-Waller A et al. (2020), Nicotine delivery and user reactions to Juul EU (20 mg/ml) compared with Juul US (59 mg/ml), cigarettes and other e-cigarette products, Psychopharmacology (PMC7914237)
9. Duell AK, Pankow JF, Peyton DH (2020), Nicotine in tobacco product aerosols: it's deja vu all over again, Tobacco Control (PMC7591799)
10. Leventhal AM et al. (2021), Effect of exposure to e-cigarettes with salt vs free-base nicotine on the appeal and sensory experience of vaping, JAMA Network Open (PMC7804919)
11. Gholap VV et al. (2020), Nicotine forms: why and how do they matter in nicotine delivery from electronic cigarettes?, Expert Opinion on Drug Delivery (PMC9361466)
12. Diaz MC et al. (2025), Bigger, stronger and cheaper: growth in e-cigarette market driven by disposable devices with more e-liquid, higher nicotine concentration and declining prices, Tobacco Control (PMC11877113)

Related

• How much nicotine is in a cigarette? 10 to 14 mg, but you absorb 1 to 2 mg
• How many puffs are in a cigarette? About 10 to 15, in 5 to 6 minutes

This page is general information about vaping and nicotine, not medical advice. If you are worried about your health or want help quitting, talk to a doctor or a stop-smoking service.