I took a few discarded ones apart. The plastic mouthpiece and bottom can be separated from the metal tube with pliers or a pocket knife. Pulling the bottom out will slide out the internals.
Breath controller (mic and some circuitry) and maybe an LED in the bottom piece (looks like this)
Something like cotton wool infused with some volatile substance that is 2% nicotine (I hope I didn't get addicted to it at this point), still very wet and smelly
3 cm (1.2 in) of resistive wire (about 2 Ω) in a woven sleeve inserted into the wool. The power to it is controlled by the breath controller. The peak power is about 8 W, a lot for such a tiny battery and thin wires!
Same here in Russia. The old ass government is so quick to ban absolutely anything, but somehow haven't taken any action on anything that actually matters.
Stuff that actually matters brings profit to some important people. Addictive drugs are a lucrative biz. If selling them hasn't got an approval from the top, they couldn't have spread as much as they had.
In EU\US it's mostly about lobbies, there it's pure feudal nepotism. Someone's been probably given a role to oversee their import\certification\reselling and collect their %s in return. Hard to imagine a legistation to hurt that scheme being even voiced.
If anything, this is a good environmental measure, because the single-use devices tend to be thrown into household trash (despite the Li battery and the electronics) or at the side of the road. More costly reusable devices enforce longer use times.
It also increases the cost of picking up the habit if you have to invest in a recachargeable device first.
Drugs being more expensive (initially) is definitely something that stops young people (who are usually poor) from getting regular access to them. It's probably one of the most effective ways to reduce drug usage.