Vape duty from 1 October 2026: what it costs per week

What changes on 1 October 2026

From 1 October 2026 the UK charges Vaping Products Duty on e-liquid. The rate is £2.20 for every 10ml, whatever the nicotine strength, including zero-nicotine liquid, nic salts, shortfills and prefilled pods. The duty is the only certain figure. Shops set their own prices: if one passes the duty on in full, VAT applies on top and the rise is about £2.64 per 10ml. It could be less, or spread across other products. Hardware such as devices and coils is not covered. Liquid also has to carry a duty stamp from that date, which is why some shops are clearing old stock now.

The same day, Stoptober starts: the NHS's annual 28-day stop-smoking challenge. It is aimed at smokers, and NHS advice is not to give up vaping if that would send you back to cigarettes. OneLess is not part of Stoptober and has no NHS endorsement.

What it adds, in numbers

These are worked examples that assume the full duty and VAT are passed on to you. Your shop may do something different, so check your own prices.

• A 2ml prefilled pod: about 53p more per pod.
• 10ml of liquid a week: about £2.64 more a week, about £137 more a year.
• 20ml of liquid a week: about £5.28 more a week, about £275 more a year.
• A 100ml shortfill: about £26 more per bottle, because the duty applies to the whole volume.

Notice what the duty does not change: the money you were already spending. If you get through 20ml a week at £3 per 10ml today, you spend about £312 a year. From October that becomes about £587. The duty is the part people talk about. The bigger number was there all along.

Using the price rise as a date

A tax rise is a poor reason to quit on its own, and a good reason to pick a date. NHS advice for stopping is to choose a date and prepare for it, rather than wait for a bad day. 1 October is as clean a date as you will get: the duty starts, Stoptober starts, and everyone around you knows why you are stopping.

OneLess is built around exactly that. You choose one of three routes: taper the gap between vapes down to a quit date, stop on a date after a short checklist, or track a stop you have already made. Your savings estimate uses your own weekly spend, not a national average, so it is your money it counts. On the morning the duty starts, the app reminds you that vaping now costs more, and shows what you have kept.

Two honest notes about that savings figure. During a taper it only counts days you logged and confirmed, so a day with nothing recorded keeps nothing. And it is an estimate from your own figures, not a bank balance.

If you are not ready to stop

Then cut the cost without pretending. Log every pick-up for a week and look at the gaps. Most people find two or three moments where a vape is habit, not craving: after food, the first work break, the drive home. Waiting ten minutes at those moments is the whole method, and it costs nothing.

Sources and limits

The duty rate and start date are from HM Revenue and Customs: Vaping Products Duty and the Vaping Duty Stamps Scheme. To work out your own figure, use the vaping cost calculator. The per-week figures are arithmetic on that rate; check your own prices. OneLess is a structure to practise, not a medical programme. For free support to stop, use the NHS quit vaping guidance.