Note 16
Ampules vs a bottle you can close
One breath in a pile of plastic, or a bottle that lives in the bag.
Ampules are honest about one thing: they are one breath. After that they are trash in a gym bag. A smelling-salts bottle is honest about a season. The cap is the whole argument.
The pile problem
Single-use ammonia inhalants look serious in a photo. In a locker they are a rattle of spent plastic. Fine for a one-off attempt you will never repeat. A bad habit if you train four days a week and travel with a team.
A multi-use bottle costs you a splash of water the first time, then it just sits there. Open, inhale, close. The hit is the same reflex. The cleanup is not.
What “fresh” actually requires
Most cheap bottles are already live when you buy them. They have been leaking strength since the factory. Non-activated salts — Bardown’s blend of ammonium carbonate and sodium carbonate — stay quiet until you add water. That is how you get a bottle in October that still means it in March.
If your bag has room for one thing, make it a bottle you can close. This one.