Australia

Rechargeable batteries were the default.

Replaceable rechargeable batteries were the default.

letsgo bins are now a free source of 18650 cells for my thinkpad battery??

What is inside these things, from a chemical perspective, and what are the kids breathing into their lungs?

In most cases insanely high concentration nicotine salts. Back before corpos got a hold of them, most everyone vaping used nicotine freebase in concentrations <20mg/ml. Freebase absorbs slowly, you had to work hard with 20mg/ml to get a headspin, like hyperventilating for a minute. Also less addictive. Salts absorb much faster, and the disposables (disgusting waste, but that's the profit model) are at 50+mg/ml, so the dopamine hit is a lot more instant. Of course, cigarette manufacturers have been finding additives to make their products more addictive since at least the 1950s, so whether or not and how long before those things make their way in is anyone's guess.

You can still get reusable vapes and freebase nicotine, and it's still the most effective way known for smoking cessation, but the enshittification has basically happened.

It's nicotine.

Head spins are when you intake more than you should or are used to. That's nicotine's most notorious symptom after having it. Go smoke a 16mg cigarette or put a patch on, you'll spin and probably puke. Even your vape friends would probably get light headed or spin too.

But then also there's the matter of it retailing at just $250 a gallon which would last some people up to a decade, most at least half a decade. The other 3 ingredients, water, vegetable glycerine and/or propylene glycol are even cheaper still since it's in so much food. And that's all that's needed. 4 super common and dirt cheap ingredients.

If anyone's adding things, they're burning money. If anyone taking the high risk of substituting, they're doing so for just a couple cents. But I don't know of anything that could substitute nicotine that doesn't cost at least 10× the price. It would be one of the moronic business decisions of all time.

You should educate yourself on the topic before asserting wildly incompatible assumptions as truth, them go barreling down conspiracies of how your assumptions are the big problem.

The truth of bad regulation is that nicotine is so cheap, manufacturers could put more in than advertised to give more hit and get users hooked on their brand over others without realising. Trying friends different ones, I'm sure some do. Some have big hits that feel higher mg than they're meant to be. Is that "the problem" though? Only if true.

As a guy who makes his own juice, it's nicotine derived usually from tobacco or sweet potatoes suspended in a solution of either USDA food grade vegetable glycerine or propylene glycol, which is then mixed in the appropriate desired concentration with USDA candy/food artificial flavorings and more USDA food grade VG/PG.

This is a discussion on the physical components and environmental impact of these units, not the health issues they cause.

I get you're upset, but i don't need to be unloaded on over it.

That's what you get when you allow big tobacco to kill traditional vaping. Where were you when they were pushing bills to destroy the industry and take over it?