refillable vape guide

The Australian regulation and legislation bans have made vapes and accessories outside of the prescription or pharmacy model illegal.

New regulation of vapes starting January 2024 | Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA)

New vaping laws to commence 1 July 2024 | Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA)

This includes bans on importation, domestic manufacture, advertisement, supply and commercial possession of non-therapeutic vapes in Australia, including restriction of flavours to menthol, mint, tobacco and unflavoured. So this means all previously legal vape shops were forced to close down on 1st July and pharmacies are now the only legal pathway for vaping.

This article outlines the steps to take and options to legally purchase vapes and nicotine liquid from an online pharmacy, with a prescription from an online prescriber. This will more than likely be an easier pathway than going to your local GP and pharmacy because many GPs are unfamiliar with vaping and many pharmacies don’t stock vapes.

You will need to submit a script to see what is available, as they cannot legally show any vape products until your script is approved.

Getting a prescription and accessing an online pharmacy

Note: A script will not be required from 1st October 2024 for 20mg/ml or less of nicotine liquid for those over 18 years old.

There are online prescribers and online pharmacies that specialise in vaping products. Some are separate, others are one-stop-shops for both vape prescription and pharmacy services or partnered with each other.

You can apply for a script (an e-script token to get filled elsewhere) from online prescribers like quitrx.com.au, or one-stop-shops like quithero.com.au, v-scripts.com.au, tabuu.com.au myduke.com.au, bestnwell.com and quitdoctors.com, amongst others.

Generally, applying is an online questionnaire and access to an online pharmacy’s products is granted

Prices for prescriptions can vary. Some are free, for example myduke.com.au.

Quithero.com.au, quitmed.com.au and Tabuu.com.au (Tabuu have free scripts, at time of writing) have the biggest range of vape products, there are many others listed here.

Note: Quithero.com.au and Tabuu.com.au share the same ABN with Quitmed.com.au and according to redditors on r/aussievapers, Quitmed and Quithero and Tabuu share the same stock inventory.

Nicotine vape liquid | refillable vape guide

You can buy ready-to-vape nicotine liquid, prefilled pods, or purchase nicotine concentrate from a pharmacy.

Nicotine liquid comes in freebase and salt forms. The difference between freebase and salt nicotine, is that freebase has a better ‘throat hit’ and is regularly used for vaping at lower levels of nicotine in a higher wattage device, although many use it at moderate levels with a lower wattage device too. Salt nicotine has an acid added, like benzoic acid, so is less irritating to the throat at higher nicotine levels and absorbs into the bloodstream quicker.

Note: disposable vapes generally contain around 50mg/ml (5%) of salt nicotine in Australia, even if there is no information on the label.

If you’re coming off disposables, depending on the wattage of the device you decide to use (some are adjustable), 50mg/ml salt nicotine may be too much, so 25mg/ml (2.5%) to 30mg/ml (3%) may be enough. Freebase, at a lower dose, is also an alternative.

For freebase nicotine, the dose range is around 6mg/ml (0.6%) to 18mg/ml (1.8%), anything much above 18mg/ml tends to be irritating to the throat, so salt nicotine is recommended.

If you’re coming off smoking, freebase maybe suitable in the transition to vaping because of the ‘throat hit’ that is similar to a cigarette. Otherwise, if a higher nicotine dose is needed or cravings aren’t satisfied, salt nicotine is an alternative.

These nicotine levels are for low watt devices, not sub-ohm high powered vapes that are usually vaped with around 3-6mg/ml of freebase nicotine.

DIY flavoured liquid

(Note: If you want things as simple as possible, skip this and go to ‘ready to vape liquid’ below).

You can make your own flavoured vape liquid. PG, VG and flavours are available as they are all used in food manufacturing. Stock of PG, VG and flavours can be sourced from basedrop.com.au and other others, (Google ‘flavour concentrates’). Recipes can be found at alltheflavors.com, e-liquid-recipes.com, nimbusvapour.com.au/ (former juice maker) and advice on mixing vape liquid at  and the DIY or DIE YouTube channel.

Nicotine concentrate | refillable vape guide

100mg/ml freebase and salt nicotine concentrate are available to mix with ready-to-vape, doublers or your DIY flavoured liquid at Quitmed.com.au, Quithero.com.au and tabuu.com.au.

You can use a nicotine calculator to work out your desired nicotine level using 100mg/ml nicotine concentrate here.

If you want to add nicotine concentrate to mix with your DIY liquid, take into account the amount of mls from the bottle or replace it with the same mls of your chosen mg/ml of concentrate, to get an accurate dose. You can add the nicotine, without removing liquid to avoid wastage, just consider that it will be a less accurate dose, especially if a lot of concentrate is used.

For example, if your desired nicotine level is 25mg/ml, you would be adding 25mls of 100mg/ml nicotine concentrate to 75mls of DIY flavoured juice, making 100mls of 25mg/ml of juice.

Take precautions when dealing with nicotine concentrate: FAQ: “Spiking” 0mg e-liquid with your 100mg nicotine.

PG and VG | refillable vape guide

PG is Propylene glycol and VG is vegetable glycerin, they are the base of vape liquid that carries flavours and nicotine, making up the 4 ingredients of flavoured nicotine vape liquid. More about PG and VG here.

Vape liquid comes in a mix of PG and VG, usually around 50PG/50VG and 30PG/70VG, though there are other ratios.

When choosing vape liquid, 50PG/50VG liquid will carry flavour better and have more of a ‘throat hit’, being higher PG and is generally for lower wattage devices. 30PG/70VG liquid is smoother and produces more vapour because of the higher VG and tends to be used in higher wattage devices. 30PG/70VG can however, be used in lower wattage devices as well.

When mixing 100mg/ml nicotine concentrate, consider that it’s usually PG based and can change the ratio of PG/VG in a 0% nicotine flavoured liquid quite a lot, depending on how much is added. 50PG/50VG together with a larger amount of nicotine PG concentrate might be irritating. In this case, using a 30PG/70VG 0% nicotine flavoured liquid, or a doubler and adding flavourless 30PG/70VG or 100% VG to the shortfall may be best, avoiding going much higher than 50% PG, or 50/50 in the final product. Ulimately, keep the ratio between 50PG/50VG and 30PG/70VG for most vapes.

Ready to vape liquid | refillable vape guide

You can buy ready-to-vape flavoured nicotine liquid in various strengths up to 50mg/ml (5%), however, you’re limited to the brands and flavours on offer at pharmacies.

Prefilled pods

Devices with prefilled pods of flavoured nicotine liquid are also available. They are the most convenient, but also by far, the most expensive.

Flavour profile of disposable vapes vs reusable vapes

Many disposable vapers are looking to replicate the flavour of disposable vapes when they switch to refillable vapes. There is a lot more sweetener and menthol, AKA ice or WS-23 cooling agent in disposables, so finding a vape liquid with a similar profile or adding sweetener and WS-23 might be an option. You can get advice about adding sweetener etc, at . However, higher levels of sweetener can potentially reduce the life of the coil in your refillable vape and you may get used to the flavour profile of vape juice for refillable vapes anyway.

Availability of vapes and coils/pods

Note: Since the 1st of July ban, where all vapes and accessories are limited to pharmacy only and vape stores have been forced to close down, there are limited devices available (mostly prefilled pod devices at time of update). Perhaps contact them about current stock and what they have planned to stock and the timeframe of those devices’ availability.

The TGA has list of notified vapes that pharmacies can choose to stock from. Popular examples are the Uwell Caliburn G3, Vaporesso XROS 3, Vaporesso XROS 3 Mini and the Vaporesso Luxe X.

refillable vape guide

If you want to keep things simple, consider going for the XROS 3 Mini, it is a lower wattage ‘mouth to lung‘ (MTL) pod device, with auto draw (inhale activated). It is similar to a disposable, and as similar as possible to a cigarette.

VAPORESSO XROS 3 Mini Unboxing and Set Up Guide (youtube.com)

The XROS 3 differs from the XROS 3 Mini in that it has a fire button (with option of auto draw) and adjustable airflow so you can control the tightness of the draw and as such, it can be used for ‘restricted direct lung‘ (RDL) as well as MTL.

The Caliburn G3 is also a MTL and RDL device with auto draw, adjustable airflow and wattage up to 25w (depending on the coil used), so you can control the amount of vapour produced.

refillable vape guide

The Luxe X is a higher wattage device (up to 40w), with adjustable airflow, that can be used for both (MTL) or ‘direct lung‘ (DL) vaping and is the most versatile of the vapes above.

For MTL vaping, coils at or above 1.0 ohm are generally used. However, a 0.8-ohm coil, for example, could be used as well. Just bear in mind that the lower the ohms, the more vapour is produced and vice versa. DL is ‘sub ohm’ vaping where coils below 1.0 ohm are used. More info about coils and ohms here.

These devices, compatible coils/pods and others on the list can be found in pharmacies (subject to availability).

refillable vape guide