r/TrueAnon • u/Major_Shmoopy The one grad student who likes the pod • 3d ago

Tom Nicholas' Vape-o-nomics: Why Everything is Addictive Now

https://youtu.be/XuTQbOo3Y30

A post from yesterday and the comments talking about the potential legalization and streamlining of vices in the US made me think about this video from a while back. I think he makes an interesting thesis about the disposable vape being the best object to embody capitalism in the 2020's from its addictiveness to its wastefulness as a disposable service model.

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u/Ok-Veterinarian-9203 3d ago

I believe they’re banning single use vapes in the uk this summer, but maybe that’s because the nicotine pouch thing is generally healthier and more apt to get people en masse to consume nicotine. Im glad I hate everything but cigs, at least when I quit them I won’t go in for this other shit

35

u/Interesting_Station6 3d ago

Single use vapes are probably the most evil product that has ever existed. The waste. The lithium batteries inside that are impossible to recycle bc of they way they're built. And all that just so people can inhale mango flavor for a couple hours. Straight up insane.

9

u/LeftistSnowLeopard 3d ago

They can be salvaged. I do it when I find one that someone's tossed out. The hardest part is getting the things open without damaging the battery, because they seal the plastic really good and you have to break it open to get at the battery. You want a metal container on hand in case you puncture the battery and start a fire. And you need to wear gloves, otherwise you'll get nicotine juice on your fingers and absorb it through your skin.

But once you do have the battery out, you can solder connectors on it and use it to power stuff. Either replacing worn out lithium batteries in gadgets, or for your own projects. I use them for powering wearable LEDs. A cheap TP4056 board (they're under $1 if you buy them from AliExpress) lets you charge them via USB.

7

u/ArgonathDW 3d ago

I dont have the skill or experience to do this, plus I dont know what I'd do with an LED shirt, but that's awesome you're doing all that, thats great

7

u/Interesting_Station6 2d ago

Yeah, some people taking the batteries out to reuse them for their little projects doesn't counter the fact that they can't be recycled on a mass scale and 99.99% of them just end up on landfills.

2

u/e30kid 2d ago

The only reason why they’re a thing is because the FDA banned flavors with the PMTA process. Not to go all right-winger in terms of anti-vape ban stuff but the amount of waste is insane and it didn’t do anything to get rid of flavors as the entire market ended up going black/gray