Yeah, I think we should make the distinction here between throat hit in the manner that nicotine provides, chemical irritation in the manner that capsaicin and pepper provide, and simply "sensation" or mouthfeel like alcohol, mints and menthols provide.
"Throat hit" as I have always defined it is that which is provided by nicotine, a brief, round thump in the back of the throat/upper lung area that may also carry a bit of a sharpness to it depending on the strength and source of the nicotine.
Chemical irritation is peppers -- hot or black. This provides a very brief, very sharp sensation lower in the chest accompanied by a radiating warmth. The "hit" it provides is very different and, for me, not at all complimentary or even similar to a nicotine throat hit. There's no mistaking the hit from capsaicin or pepper for the hit of nicotine.
Sensation or mouthfeel is simply something that lets you feel something, whether warming or cooling. It is not a throat hit in any proper sense, and in fact I find that menthols actually diminish nicotine throat hit by overpowering the feeling you'd normally get from the nicotine with the cooling you get from the menthol. Pure grain alcohol and vodka provide a warming sensation but absolutely no real throat hit of any kind.
Unfortunately, nothing that I have found will give you the same kind of throat hit nicotine does. Cinnamon came the closest to providing what I'd call a "complimentary" throat hit, in that the sensation it provided on inhalation more closely matched that from nicotine than anything else I tried. Additionally -- and strangely -- marshmallow flavouring (at least, FlavourArt's marshmallow) provides a surprisingly sharp throat hit that is also somewhat complimentary to the hit from nicotine.
But nothing else that I've tried -- and I've tried just about everything that was available and carried little known risk -- has been able to replace a proper nicotine throat hit for me. That includes so-called boosters and nicotine replacements such as Throat Hit Plus, Diablo Loco and Flash E-liquid.
I got mine at 
