'No punishment': How Illawarra schoolkids are beating vaping ban

And now, thanks to a new trend that's emerging in school yards after the government tightened vaping regulations, there are also small tins of nicotine pouches lined up on her benchtops in the University of Wollongong's School of Chemistry and Molecular Bioscience.

"We've had anecdotal evidence that these are starting to appear in schools, so we have just purchased two brands we could easily find on the market to start working out what's in them," Dr Kelso said.

"We've picked two different flavours, mint and tobacco, so that when we do the chemical analysis we can see if there's any differences. You can get berry flavours, and you name it, there are plenty of options."

Her team is also trying to track down products which look like nicotine tic-tacs - essentially lollies dosed with the addictive substance - but have found these to be sold out everywhere.

"With the bans in January and then the further ban that started on March, there's anecdotal evidence that vapes are harder to put your hands on - even though they are still accessible - and people are likely to look at alternative products," Dr Kelso said.

"These are brand new and not regulated - even though they shouldn't be around there's no regulation so there's no punishment either."

She said the products were increasingly available alongside lollies and confectionary at petrol stations or corner stores.

Dr Kelso is one of two well-known experts on the chemical make-up of vapes and oher nicotine products, after she and colleague Dr Jody Morgan published research showing almost all vapes, even those that said they didn't, contained high levels of nicotine.

The chemical analysis, which looked at 428 vapes seized from retailers and 322 vapes surrendered by children at schools, also showed some e-cigarettes had concerning levels of toxic substances, including ethylene glycol, which is the main ingredient in antifreeze.

With the federal government now frantically trying to stamp out vaping among nicotine-addicted children, the team is turning its attention to what is happening in the market as the rules change.

Dr Kelso said new regulations would need to move fast to stop an explosion of new nicotine products taking hold.

"I'm seriously hoping the government will act as soon as they start to see these products appear and don't wait as long as they did to put a regulation in place like they did with the vapes," Dr Kelso said.

"Because as we've seen, waiting that long period has contributed to the explosion in popularity of the vapes and their addiction to nicotine.

"If they wait too long, these will be the new vapes. They need to stamp out any nicotine-related unregulated products."

Inside each the nicotine pouch tins, there are small paper-looking pouches that have the consistency of playdough, filled with crushed up cellulose that has been soaked with nicotine and flavours.

These are different to "snus" which are pouches filled with crushed up tobacco, and are outlawed in Europe and the UK because of their adverse health effects.

Dr Kelso said it was hard to tell exactly how much nicotine was in each, with a complete lack of regulation meaning the brands can make claims without any transparency.

"One of these says it is 'medium strength' and the other is 'extra strong' but when you read the fine print there's more nicotine in the first one," she said.

"There is no regulation whatsoever at the moment, so there is no way to know really what's inside them."

If the claims the products make on the packet are true, each small pouch has the equivalent nicotine of smoking about six cigarettes (with less than 2mg of nicotine consumed when smoking).

"You would just grab one of these, lick your lip and put it on your gum and just leave it there, a little bit like chewing tobacco," Dr Kelso said.

"We've heard that these have been seen on school grounds and they are probably even more stealthy that vaping because there's no puff. You just put one under your gum - who is going to know if you're sitting in a classroom."

Like with vapes, she said the cost of nicotine pouches which retail for about $15, was also appealing to young people as they were dramatically cheaper than cigarettes or tobacco.

Vapes have about 14 to 16 packets worth of nicotine in each and cost about $35-$60, Dr Kelso said.

Over the coming months, Dr Kelso and her colleagues will continue analysing the contents of vapes and pouches which are continually being sent to them from health districts and schools.

"We are analysing how the models, flavour and brands are changing - are we seeing more, less the same amount?," she said.

"There is plenty of mystery about these products."