155 points
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This shit really grinds my gears. There’s absolutely no need for this product. Normal vape is like $20, you’re not saving on anything. In EU the manufacturers are obligated to recover used units (they have to setup boxes where you can drop them and handle recycling) but obviously you see them on the ground all the time. This should be banned with the speed of light but EC thinks the current regulations are enough. Fucking infuriating.

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31 points

I was in Italy recently, and I could ONLY buy single use. I fucking hated it as it died in two days making me throw out an otherwise fine device - just because there’s no charging port.

Now I have one lasting for almost half a year, and that’s only the taste that dissappears - not the battery becoming bad.

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8 points

I believe the regulations about replaceable batteries will apply here but they are only coming to life in 2025 or even later.

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4 points

Aah okay! It’s good to know.

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11 points

Where I live, only single use vapes are legal.

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8 points

Tobacco companies must love anti-ecig regulations like that lol.

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9 points

People are lazy and don’t want to maintain a vape, which does require some basic maintenance/cleaning.

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20 points

Never heard about it. My GF vapes and the vape is simply a battery with a charger. The liquid container is exchangeable. You refill it and when it runs out you change it. There’s no maintenance. And even if it were true what do I care? We’re supposed to contaminate the environment with batteries because some people are inconvenienced by their addiction? As I said, this product is not needed and should be banned.

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2 points

It’s definitely the way to go, and the maintenance is easy. You do need to replace the coil every now and then though FYI.

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1 point

When I was vaping I had to replace the coils every few weeks and cleaned out the mouthpiece, liquid container and stuff in an ultrasound. Also, I mixed flavor liquid with the nicotine liquid and had to watch out for the right mixing ratios. I’d say that’s all a bit involved and a bit much for those that just want a hit of nicotine.

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0 points

Vape is very little maintenance. They even came out with disposable atomizer tanks. So I paid like $50~ or so for the battery which you charge with those big batteries they make ebikes & tesla batteries out of.

The tank works for a few weeks and then you buy another one. Much easier than going to store to buy ecigs all the time

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7 points

Disposable e-cigarettes were a direct and immediate response to pod based vapes getting banned. Use to be, you would buy a device and just buy juice pods that were disposable. It still wasn’t great for waste, but that policy was a clear step in the wrong direction.

They saved children from using Juuls, just to fill the landfills with lithium batteries.

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0 points

You’re talking about US, right? I don’t think pod based vapes are banned in EU. And disposable ones are still sold here.

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6 points

There’s absolutely no need for this product. Normal vape is like $20

A single use disposable is like $4 - $10, depending on how many puffs, and some people just want something they can puff on for the weekend and then quit, not something they can use/reuse long term.

Sure it’s not healthy, and it’s environmentally irresponsible with current single use disposables, but there’s definitely a market of “casual smokers” that don’t want to commit to a non-disposable vape.

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14 points

When it’s easier for people to litter, they litter more. I don’t care if they want to vape while pretending they’re only gonna do it for one weekend.

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1 point

Sure, I’m just saying there is definitely a market for single-use vapes. I’m not saying it’s good or right to buy and use a single-use vape, but people definitely do it.

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12 points

Really? People smoke for one weekend and then quit? Never ever heard about this. Sure, there are people that smoke sporadically, for example only while partying or something but this is such a minority I doubt anyone would target a product specifically at them. Besides, you can just buy normal vape and buy refills only for one weekend and then ‘quit’. $20 non-disposable vape is no commitment, that’s my point. And people who can’t afford to spend $20 on a vape probably shouldn’t be spending their money on smoking anyway. There’s tons of policies to discourage people from smoking, banning cheap, single use vapes should be one of them.

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1 point

There certainly are casual smokers, who might buy a pack of cigarettes on Friday and be done with it by Sunday (usually after giving out several along the way) to repeat the next week.

These people don’t see themselves as addicts, and they for all intents and purposes aren’t, otherwise they’d be jonesing all week and buying a pack on Monday.

Making the leap from “having a finite amount of smoke” to “owning reusable paraphernalia” is a big jump for a casual smoker. And more than likely would enable them to justify smoking during the week.

It’s the same thing as the guy who buys an eight of weed, brings it to the party, smokes a flew blunts, and then doesn’t smoke the whole week. This guy has no need for a glass bong in his house, and he wouldn’t be able to justify its purpose, but its existence would likely mold his occasional use into something more frequent.

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98 points

of course they are. it’s why I always encourage people not to buy them. they’re awful for the environment, they’re wasteful and they are lower quality than you’d get with most standard rechargeable e-cigarette kits.

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47 points

I don’t vape, but I can’t imagine they’re cheaper than re-usable vaping devices in the long run either.

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47 points

oh my goodness yes. I couldn’t imagine buying a disposable every time I ran out.

that would possibly be just as expensive as smoking regular cigarettes.

I just use a little pod system that has replaceable coil heads. it was maybe 60 total because I bought two batteries. but I’ve not needed a replacement battery for my personal vape yet. Just have been replacing (or reusing) my coil heads.

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4 points

I do vape. The long-term reusable vapes are a LOT more expensive than the disposable ones. My current setup cost 100 USD before batteries or coils.

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25 points

No, I mean long-term as in costs. Over a year or two, won’t you be saving money?

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9 points

The pod style devices are cheaper than the older style cloud chuckers and most of those now are refillable and not the juul style ones. I’m seeing good ones for $30-$50. The non removable battery gives them less longevity although they’re still significantly more environmentally friendly than disposables. I used a fog machine to quit smoking and I’ve kept using them, but I definitely get why new vapers are largely going with the USB sticks now.

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3 points
*

Not really anymore for the ones with built-in batteries like the disposables. Similar to disposibles they are typical 20W or less. You can get many of them for under $30, including the UWELL Caliburn line which is a quality product line. The G Coil packs are between $10 and $20 depending and last a week or more per coil of which there are 5. If you chain them, you’re probably looking at between 2 and 3 days per coil.

The mods that require rechargeables like 18650 and other similar form factors sit between $50 and $70 for reputable brands, though for the ~200W mods it can be around $100 if you include their branded tanks.

I’d bet your mod is at least a 100W+, probably over 150W depending on when you bought them (they are cheaper now than a few years, which were cheaper than a 10 years before that).

The tanks are pretty cheap now too, even those multi-coil rebuildables. If you don’t rebuild your tank and use pre-built coils it is going to be a little more expensive. Those tanks for pre-builts tend to be a bit cheaper as well, like ~$30 for non-pods. Pod tanks tend to be around $10 - $15.

I remember 80W mods going for between $100 and $300 back in 2011 depending if it was considered a “clone” or not.

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1 point

Lawl my geekvape aegis was like 35USD and five coils are under 15USD. The coils last 2-3 weeks or more. The battery lasts FOREVER before needing a recharge.

I make my own juice so that’s free.

It was even cheaper using a SMPL mech mod and wrapping my own coils, but I got lazy. Now my 16+ 18650s go to my hobbyist flashlights.

I don’t know what your setup is, but you prolly overpaid

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3 points

They are not. In many cases they’re the same price or slightly less. If you want a long term refillable, rechargeable vape that comes with spare coils, and is a similar profile to a small disposable, it’s about $40. A similar disposable is about $35.

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67 points

A few of us electronics hobbyists have been collecting them (when found discarded on the street) to harvest the battery for re-use in other projects.

.

Yes they’re nasty, but I pick them up with a dog poo bag and clean them before cracking them open to get the battery.

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17 points

I was just thinking about this the other day. Any ideas for projects to use them with?

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17 points

Turn them into a power bank, among other things.

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4 points
*

futuristic caltrops

I am dying… 🤣

Also they all have to be 0.1 v from each other otherwise the “whole thing goes south” sounds scary and is now kind of making me rethink my plan of putting up collection boxes outside of high schools and building a battery for my house out of them.

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1 point

… home made ecig?

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14 points

I guess that’s the silver lining, free batteries for anyone willing to deal with a dirty object.

They’re also a prime starting supply for lithium battery recycling plants so they can get things figured out before they have to deal with car packs at volume.

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3 points

I have a small collection from friends that use the disposables. What do you use them for? I had the idea to make keychain flash lights or a battery conversion of some kind.

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1 point

At the moment I have several strings of LED Christmas lights on various houseplants that are powered by salvaged batteries.

Also a dollar store magnetic “spotlight” that I modified and have mounted to the chest freezer in the basement so I can see what’s in there.

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3 points

You can also use them as mini fog machines if you hook up a small pump. I build dioramas and have been experimenting with them.

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2 points

For anyone wanting to learn more there’s a bigclive video covering the extraction process.

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54 points

That reminds me of this monstrosity https://www.walmart.com/ip/Neutrogena-Light-Therapy-Acne-Treatment-Face-Mask-1-ct/168984043

You have to buy new “activators” every 30 uses as a way of increasing profits… You know rather than just letting users replace the batteries.

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12 points

This seems easy to hack. Just dig into it and hook it up to a wall wort with the applicable resistor, then sell the monstrosity on eBay for 2x the cost.

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8 points

I can imagine the company suing

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12 points

I can imagine them fucking off.

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1 point

Nothing to sue over.

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8 points
5 points
*

I bought one of those once and when I realized what it was (something disposable that really shouldn’t be) I was quite upset.

It’s 2023 for gods sake we should be able to buy rechargeable teledildonic cock rings at every corner store by now ffs. Alexa, suck my dick.

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5 points

I used to have a radio that would use the leftover battery from a Polaroid 600 cassette.

Iirc that was some sort of a lipo and it handled the flash and motors, but had more than enough power after the paltry 10 pictures were taken to power an AM/FM radio.

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3 points

You have to buy new “activators” every 30 uses

“Please drink…”

Who knows the rest?

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6 points
*

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2 points

60 dollars for 10 dollars worth of electronics with no moving components… of course they wouldn’t let you just keep using it for years

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49 points

Oh wow it’s as of e-cigs is just like cigarettes, but besides cancer and toxic chemicals, they also found a way to add more waste.

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24 points

I gave up arguing with people like you a long time ago, but I still want you to know actively telling people they’re just as bad as cigarettes will keep people on cigarettes, which are 4000x worse than vaping. Your misguided views are extremely harmful.

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2 points

Nicotine alone is carcinogenic, despite what people like to believe.

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27 points

[Citation needed]. Both of you.

There’s been a study which found carcinogenic compounds in vapour… thing is they overdrove the thing so hard that it was burning the wick, noone would actually take a puff of that. It’s the equivalent of setting a toaster to maximum and then saying that bread causes cancer.

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26 points

There’s little evidence of pure nicotine being carcinogenic afaik. Nicotine in tobacco is carcinogenic due to certain reactions with other chemicals in the tobacco plant

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16 points

I mean, it is, but smoke and, weirdly, polonium are also very large contributors to cancer from tobacco use.

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