The federal crackdown on disposable vapes has reshaped what sits behind the counter at US retailers. New analysis of American search behavior suggests it is also reshaping what shoppers go looking for.
A study of US search demand by Discount Vape Pen, an online vaping store based in New Jersey that specializes in refillable 510-thread cartridge batteries, found that searches for “510 thread battery” now total roughly 30,500 a month nationwide, edging ahead of “disposable vape” at about 29,500. Searches for the reusable term are up around 20% since 2021, while disposable searches have fallen roughly 36% from their 2022 peak. The timing is hard to ignore: the slide in disposable interest lines up closely with the period in which federal enforcement against unauthorized throwaway devices intensified.
That enforcement has been substantial. The US Food and Drug Administration has authorized only a few dozen of the roughly 6,000 e-cigarette products on the US market, and in 2024 its enforcement efforts produced more than 700 warning letters, many aimed at the most popular disposable brands. Much of the retail growth in disposables has rested on products that sit outside that authorized list, leaving the best-selling devices in a precarious supply position.
“When the throwaway someone likes keeps going out of stock, they do not leave the category. They trade up to something they can refill and keep,” said James Smith, head of vaping community at Discount Vape Pen. “A 510 battery is a one-time purchase that lasts months. Once people make that switch, they rarely go back.”
There is a disposal dimension that policymakers are increasingly attentive to as well. Consumer advocates at PIRG have reported that millions of single-use vapes are thrown away every week in the US, each one carrying a lithium-ion battery into the waste stream. Reusable 510 systems, by contrast, are charged and refilled over months before they are replaced, a profile that draws far less regulatory and environmental scrutiny than a sealed device built to be binned.
None of this means disposables are going away. They remain the single most common device type sold, and a regulated market could yet leave authorized throwaway products firmly on shelves. Discount Vape Pen says the more durable signal is in the search data, which has climbed steadily for several years rather than spiking and fading. As supply tightens at the top of the disposable market, that interest in refillable hardware appears to be where some of the displaced demand is going.
“Regulation changes what is available. Search shows you where people move when it does,” Smith said. “Right now they are moving toward hardware they can keep.”
