SKE Crystal V2

SKE Crystal V2 comes in two. 20mg (2%) is the firm hit that matches the disposable bars and suits anyone fresh off a heavier smoking habit. 10mg (1%) is the gentler option, good once the worst of the cravings pass, or if you vape steadily through the day and find 20mg a bit much on the throat.

A sensible move is to start at 20mg and drop to 10mg when you notice you are reaching for it less. Same flavour, softer hit, and a natural way to ease the nicotine down over time. That step-down is something the sealed SKE Crystal Bar 600 pods cannot do, since they only come at 20mg, which is a quiet argument for bottled salts once you are settled.

If you have only ever used sealed pods, filling your own takes about 20 seconds and is the bit that unlocks the savings.

Any mouth-to-lung pod kit or AIO. The 50/50 mix and salt nicotine suit low-power, tight-draw devices best, the kind people move to after disposables, and it wicks cleanly in small coils without gunking the pod. Popular matches are the Vaporesso XROS, the OXVA Xlim, the Uwell Caliburn and the Aspire range, all running coils around 0.8ohm or higher under 30W. It also drops straight into a refillable MTL pod if you already own one.

It is not for big sub-ohm clouds. High-wattage sub-ohm tanks will burn through it fast and 20mg would be far too harsh at that power, so keep Crystal V2 to pod kits and MTL coils. Match it to the right device and you get the Crystal Bar flavour with none of the throwaway waste.

Very, and the sum is the selling point. At 10 for £16.99 a bottle is about £1.70, and a 10ml bottle is roughly 3000 puffs, so you are paying near 0.06p a puff once you own a kit. One bottle is around five pod refills, so a ten-pack keeps a moderate vaper going for a good long while.

Against sealed pods it is no contest. Bottled salt works out roughly a fifth of the per-ml price of buying SKE's prefilled pods, since you are not paying for a fresh coil and a plastic pod every 2ml. The catch is you do the filling yourself and supply the kit, but if you are happy to refill a pod, this is the cheapest way to vape the Crystal flavours.

Both give you the same Crystal flavours, so the choice is about convenience versus cost and control. Sealed Crystal Bar 600 pods are the grab-and-go option: clip one on, no filling, no mess, but you pay more per ml and you are stuck at 20mg. Bottled Crystal V2 is the thrifty, flexible option: far cheaper per ml, two strengths so you can step down, and it works in any MTL kit, not just SKE's.

A common path is to start on the prefilled pods for the ease, then switch to bottles once you have settled on a flavour or two and want to cut the running cost. If you already own a refillable pod kit, there is little reason not to buy the juice in bottles.

They are close cousins. SKE Crystal V2, Lost Mary MaryLiq and Elf Bar ELFLIQ are all 10ml 50/50 nic salts at 10mg and 20mg, each bottling its own brand's disposable flavours. So the real question is whose flavours you prefer: Crystal V2 if the Crystal Bar was your bar, MaryLiq if you were a Lost Mary person, ELFLIQ if Elf Bar was your thing.

Beyond those three, IVG Intense leans into dessert and sweet profiles and Hayati Pro carries one of the biggest flavour lists going, so if none of the disposable-brand salts grab you, they are worth a browse. All of them vape the same way in a pod kit; it really does come down to taste.

A few small habits keep every bottle tasting right. Give it a gentle shake before you fill, store it somewhere cool and out of the light (a hot car windowsill dulls any e-liquid fast), and screw the cap back tight to stop the top notes drifting off. Most salts are ready to vape straight away, but a day or two settling in the pod rarely hurts the flavour.

If a flavour ever tastes muted, it is usually a tired coil rather than the juice: a coil near the end of its life mutes everything, so a fresh pod or coil brings the flavour back. Let a freshly filled pod soak its 3 to 5 minutes before the first pull and you will avoid the dry, slightly burnt note that puts people off refilling in the first place.