How Much Is a Vape?

How Much Does a Vape Cost?

How much a vape costs depends mostly on the type. Disposables are sold as single devices, and two national studies put their average price at roughly $13 to $14:

• In stores. Truth Initiative researchers, using NielsenIQ scanner data from convenience, grocery, drug and dollar stores (not vape shops), found the average disposable sold for $14.07 in September 2022, up from $8.49 in January 2020, both in September 2022 dollars (Tobacco Control).
• Online. An Ohio State study of three online vape stores, published in August 2026, found the average listed disposable fell from $13.58 in 2022 to $12.66 in 2024 (Nicotine and Tobacco Research).

Pod vapes split the cost between a rechargeable device and prefilled pods, so the ongoing cost depends on the pack size and how fast you go through pods. We couldn't find current list prices that the makers of FDA authorized pods publish openly: JUUL's online shop, for one, opens only after you sign in to an age-verified account. Taxes move prices too, and by state they run from nothing to 95 percent of the wholesale price.

How Much Is a Geek Bar?

There's no legal answer to how much a Geek Bar is in the United States: FDA hasn't authorized any Geek Bar product, and FDA says only the 48 vapes on its list may be lawfully sold. So we don't quote store prices for it. Geek Bars still turn up on shelves, but a store selling one is selling an unauthorized product, whatever it charges.

Supply has been tight, too. Reuters reported in June 2025 that tariffs and federal seizures had cut Geek Bar supply and that popular brands could get more expensive, if shoppers could find them at all.

Geek Bar Prices and Colorado's Tax

Geek Bar prices in Colorado have to carry the same state tax as any nicotine vape, because Colorado's 56 percent nicotine products tax applies to every nicotine product distributed in the state, FDA authorized or not. Here is the math on a sample price, using our own assumption: if a maker charges a Colorado distributor $10.00 for a vape, the tax adds $5.60, so $15.60 is built in before the distributor or the shop adds a markup, and sales tax comes on top at the register.

That's why a price far below what other shops charge is a warning sign. Geek Bar itself warns about counterfeits and runs a code check on its own site, and our guide to spotting fake vapes explains how to use it.

Why Are Vapes So Expensive?

Vapes are so expensive in Colorado in large part because of taxes, which come to about a third of the price in our worked example below. Device size and supply push prices too.

• Taxes. Colorado's nicotine tax equals 56 percent of the maker's price and rises to 62 percent on July 1, 2027 (Colorado Department of Revenue). Sales tax adds 2.9 percent for the state plus local rates, and Boulder charges its own 40 percent tax on electronic smoking devices.
• Bigger devices. The average disposable grew from 1.1 mL of liquid in 2017 to 5.7 mL in 2022, and its price climbed from $8.49 to $14.07 between January 2020 and September 2022, even as the price per mL fell from $7.96 to $2.45, the Truth Initiative study found.
• Tighter supply. Reuters reported that tariffs on China, 30 percent in June 2025 after peaking at 145 percent that April, plus federal seizures, had brought vape shipments from China to a near halt.

What Is the Vape Tax?

The vape tax is an excise tax a state, and sometimes a city, puts on vaping products on top of sales tax. There is no federal one: GAO reported in August 2025 that e-cigarettes are not federally taxed. As of January 2026, 34 states and Washington, DC taxed vapes, the Tax Foundation found, some as a share of the wholesale or retail price and others per milliliter or per cartridge.

On the Tax Foundation's sample, a four-pack of 1.8 mL pods with an $18.84 wholesale price, the tax runs from $0.36 in states such as Delaware to $17.90 in Minnesota and Washington state. Colorado's comes to $10.55, tied for 10th highest. Sixteen states had no vape tax at the start of 2026.

Colorado Vape Tax: A Worked Example

The Colorado vape tax is easiest to see in a worked example, so here is one built on two assumptions of ours: the maker charges the distributor $10.00 for a vape, and a Denver shop sells it for $20.00.

• Nicotine tax: $5.60. That's 56 percent of $10.00. The distributor pays it and it's built into the shelf price, so it never appears on your receipt.
• Sales tax: $1.83. Denver's combined rate is 9.15 percent: 2.9 for the state, 5.15 for the city, 1 for RTD and 0.1 for the cultural facilities district, according to the state's January 2026 rate list.
• You pay $21.83. Of that, $7.43 is tax, about 34 percent of the total.
• From July 1, 2027. The 62 percent rate raises the nicotine tax on the same vape to $6.20.

Sales tax outside Denver depends on the address. Our Colorado vape laws page covers the state's other rules, from ID checks to flavor bans.

What Are the Cheapest Disposable Vapes?

The cheapest disposable vapes vary by store and brand, so there's no single answer, and we don't recommend products. Price depends on the brand, the device size and the shop's markup.

Taxes set a practical floor in Colorado: the 56 percent nicotine tax is paid before a vape reaches the shelf, so a shop pricing a vape below what it paid, tax included, would lose money on every sale. The state has no minimum price for vapes, though, only for cigarettes. An unusually cheap disposable is a warning sign of a fake. And only four disposables are FDA authorized, NJOY Daily and Daily Extra in tobacco and menthol, as our list of FDA authorized vapes shows.

Are Vapes Cheaper at a Vape Shop or Gas Station?

Vapes aren't reliably cheaper at a vape shop or a gas station, because the price depends more on the product and the store's markup than on the kind of store. In Colorado, the nicotine tax is figured the same way for both, as a share of the maker's price to the distributor, and the sales tax rate depends on the address, not the type of store. Both need the same $400-a-year state license for each location.

To compare, match the brand, flavor and pack size, then work out the price per pod or per device. For where to buy, see our guide to which stores sell vapes, or browse vape shops in Colorado by city.

Vape Prices FAQ

This vape prices FAQ answers the questions shoppers ask most.