Note 08
Pre-activated is already tired
A bottle that was cracked months ago is not doing you a favor.
There are two kinds of smelling salts on a bench, and they are not the same product.
Pre-activated bottles are mixed before they are shipped. You open the cap and the smell is already there. Convenient, and often disappointing. Ammonia does not sit around at full strength because a label said it would. Time, heat, and a loose cap all spend it down. You can buy a bottle that was ready long before you were.
Non-activated bottles — Bardown is one — stay quiet. The blend is ammonium carbonate and sodium carbonate. Water is the switch. A splash, a cap, a shake, and the hit starts when you start it. Not when a fulfillment line did.
That is the entire argument. You are not paying for a smell that has been commuting. You are paying for a bottle you can wake up on a Wednesday and still trust on Saturday.
Ampules are the other compromise: strong, and then gone, and then a pile of them. Fine for a single attempt. A bad habit for a season. A multi-use bottle with a cap that actually closes is the adult version.
If a brand will not tell you whether the bottle is already live, assume it is, and assume it is tired.