The real cost of disposables versus a refillable pod
A worked example using our own prices, so you can run it against your own habit.
Disposables are excellent at removing friction and terrible at cost per millilitre. Here is the arithmetic, using our own prices and assuming moderate use of about 3ml of liquid a day. Your own numbers will differ.
Disposables
At 3ml a day, an 8,000-puff device holding 16ml lasts a little over five days. At £11.99, that is roughly £2.30 a day, or about £840 a year.
Refillable pod system
A device costs £35 once. Liquid at 3ml a day means roughly nine 10ml bottles a month at £4.49, or about £40. Pods run around £9 a month. Call it £49 a month, or £623 a year including the device in year one and £588 in every year after.
So the saving is a bit over £200 in the first year and closer to £250 thereafter. Meaningful, but not the ten-times difference that gets quoted online.
Where disposables still make sense
- As a backup device that will still work after three months in a drawer.
- For occasional or social use where 60ml of liquid would go stale before you finished it.
- For trying a flavour family before committing to a bottle.
- For the first week of switching, when reducing every possible source of friction genuinely matters.
Nothing in this article is medical advice. It is what our team has observed across thousands of customer conversations. If you are trying to stop smoking and want clinical support, your GP or a local stop-smoking service can help free of charge.