SKE Crystal vs Lost Mary MaryLiq — Which Nic Salt Should You Buy?

Two brands dominated the disposable era, and both now sell the same flavours in a bottle. If you're choosing between SKE Crystal Salts and Lost Mary MaryLiq, here's the honest comparison.

The short answer

• Buy SKE Crystal if you want the widest flavour choice and the most reliable availability.

• Buy MaryLiq if you specifically liked Lost Mary bars and want that sweeter, rounder flavour profile.

Both are 10ml nic salts in 10mg and 20mg. Both need a refillable MTL pod kit. On price there is very little in it.

Flavour: sharp versus sweet

This is the real difference, and it's consistent enough to be useful.

SKE Crystal leans brighter and sharper. The iced flavours have a genuine cooling hit, the fruits are more defined, and the range stretches further into sweets and drinks — bubblegum, cola, sherbet blue raspberry.

MaryLiq leans sweeter and rounder. Softer edges, more candied, less ice. If you found Crystal's iced range too cold, MaryLiq will suit you better.

Neither is better. They're aimed at slightly different palates.

Availability: not close

SKE Crystal has much deeper availability in the UK, and that shows on our shelves — we typically carry the large majority of the Crystal range at any time, against a handful of MaryLiq flavours.

If you want to settle on one flavour and repurchase it for months, that difference matters more than anything else in this comparison. There's little point falling for a MaryLiq flavour that's out of stock more often than not.

Full range detail: the SKE Crystal flavours guide and the Lost Mary MaryLiq guide.

Strength and throat hit

Both come in 10mg and 20mg, and both are nic salts, so both are smoother than a freebase liquid at the same number.

In practice SKE Crystal 20mg gives a slightly firmer throat hit than MaryLiq 20mg, because of the sharper flavour profile rather than the nicotine itself. If you're sensitive to that, MaryLiq is the gentler of the two.

Coming off a disposable, 20mg is the like-for-like swap either way. See nicotine strength for beginners.

Cost

There is no meaningful price gap between the two ranges. Both give five 2ml pod fills from a 10ml bottle, and both work out dramatically cheaper than the bars they replaced — even after the Vaping Products Duty.

Your real running cost is pods, not liquid. Sweet flavours — and both of these are sweet — shorten pod life. How long do vape pods last.

Which kit for either

Any refillable MTL pod kit with a 1.2Ω or 0.8Ω pod. Both ranges are designed for exactly that and neither belongs in a sub-ohm device.

If you still need a kit: best pod kits 2026, or best vape kits under £20 for the cheapest sensible route in.

Which one suits which person

Just came off Crystal Bars: SKE Crystal, 20mg. It's the direct continuation.

Just came off Lost Mary bars: MaryLiq if your flavour is in stock, SKE Crystal if it isn't — the profiles overlap more than the branding suggests.

You want iced fruit: SKE Crystal. Watermelon Ice is the benchmark.

You found iced flavours too cold: MaryLiq. Strawberry Ice is about as cool as it gets.

You want one flavour you can always get: SKE Crystal.

Frequently asked questions

Are they made by the same company? No. SKE make Crystal; Lost Mary make MaryLiq. They're competitors.

Can I mix them? You can vape one then the other, but there's no reason to blend them in a pod.

Which lasts longer in a pod? Roughly the same. Both are sweet ranges, so neither is kind to coils.

Are these the actual bar liquids? Both are built from the same flavour ranges as the brands' bars, in bottled form.