The city I live in recently passed a ban on "flavored tobacco," which includes (for some reason) vape products. While this ban has not taken effect yet, after it does, the net effect will be that full strength cigarettes like Marlboro Reds remain accessible at every gas station and corner store, while any vape product with a "flavor" is no longer legally saleable in the city limits.

I guess if flavor bans don't count for you, this wouldn't bother you. For me, this is a major "throwing the baby out with the bathwater" move that will remove access to a class of product with great effectiveness for smoking cessation and harm reduction. The reasoning, to my eye, seem to be largely moral panic bullshit, largely caused by the popularity of vaping among teenagers. (Why not impose harsher penalties for stores selling to underage kids? Seems to work fairly well for liquor in my experience.)

I'm also generally opposed to prohibition and think adults should be able to decide what goes into their bodies, so I'm opposed in principle.

It’s gotten so ridiculous I’ve started to see jobs… fully remote… that say will refuse to hire you if you use any nicotine products, explicitly including quitting aids like gums and patches.

That raises my eyebrows... How do they plan to validate this? What's to stop one from just... lying?

Urinalysis

A quick google suggests nicotine stays in your system for just a few days after quitting. I realize of course that it's hard to just quit nicotine on a whim for a few days, but I imagine most could do it for the sake of a job.

Why is that ridiculous? Health insurance costs more for smokers. Hiring non-smokers just makes economic sense.