Nicotine Pouches in America

Nicotine Pouches in America and other parts of the world have been rising in popularity since their introduction on to the market as a tobacco-free alternative for people to get their Nicotine fix.

Taking inspiration from the already hugely popular Snus pouches that originate from Sweden, which contains tobacco, Nicotine Pouches were formulated by using powdered nicotine, flavourings and other essential ingredients to give people the option to use an oral nicotine product, without having to use Tobacco and be exposed to the toxicants found within tobacco leaves.

In this article, I’m going to take a look at just how popular Nicotine Pouches have become in the USA, with the market share more than tripling over the course of three years, some of the big brands that are big sellers in America, and also why there’s calls for these to be regulated and restrictions due to the concerns of people who are not fully educated on the safety and benefits of using Nicotine Pouches.

What are Nicotine Pouches?

Nicotine Pouches are exactly what they are described as, small white pouches that contain powdered nicotine, flavourings and other essential ingredients that people can put in their mouths, and the nicotine is then absorbed through the gum and into the bloodstream.

Nicotine pouches do not contain any form of Tobacco, and they are considered a lot safer to use rather than traditional Snus pouches, which contain tobacco leaves and other carcinogens which can be harmful to health.

Nicotine pouches come in varying nicotine strengths which people can pick a strength that is best suited for them to curb their cravings for Nicotine if they have recently transitioned away from smoking cigarettes. As well as varying nicotine strengths, brands also offer a good array of flavours to choose from fruity flavours, to mint flavours as well as traditional tobacco flavours which of course do not actually use tobacco leaf.

Where and why is Snus banned?

Snus originates from Sweden, and it’s first inception stems right back to the 18^th century but not in the form of what it is known and used as today. Snus remains hugely popular amongst the patrons of Sweden, where it is still heavily promoted and manufactured in vast quantities.

Snus was also sold in the UK as well as all other countries in the European Union up until the early 1990s, where a complete blanket ban on the sale of Snus in the European Union was enforced by the European Commission. And when the United Kingdom left the European Union in 2020, the ban of sale was still upheld as it is today.

The reasonings behind the ban was the cause for concern it bought with it potentially being harmful to people’s health, as well as the aggressive marketing strategies being utilized by some of the big brand names of Snus.

Snus is still widely available in the USA though, and is still quite popular amongst people who are looking to use oral tobacco products. Big Tobacco companies acquired several pre existing brands of Snus in the 90s, with Malboro Snus becoming hugely popular thanks to the Big Tobacco tycoon injecting a serious amount of cash into the production and promotion of the product.

But since their introduction to the country, Nicotine Pouches have started to become a much more popular choice for people to get their Nicotine fix, with awareness being raised over the potential risks involved with using Snus pouches. Let’s have a look at this in more detail.

Nicotine Pouch sales increase year on year in the USA

In late 2022, a study was released that was conducted by researchers from the American Cancer Society that showed that the overall sales of Nicotine Pouches between 2019-2022 had grown year on year quite considerably. They also showed that the most common Nicotine concentration/strength being bought was 8mg, which is a mid-range strength. This strength outsold any other strengths of Nicotine Pouches quite considerably also.

However, one Doctor from the American Cancer Society is quoted as saying:

“Our findings are important as nicotine is a highly addictive substance. The growing popularity of nicotine pouches may increase the risk of children finding these products to be attractive and risk-averse health outcomes and addiction to nicotine,” “Health campaigns warning of potential adverse health outcomes of nicotine pouches are needed.”

Comments like this made by healthcare professionals are quite common when it comes to the safety of Nicotine. The comments of Nicotine being highly addictive is correct as that is a commonly known fact, but the statement made of potential adverse health outcomes through using Nicotine Pouches isn’t quite fair to be said, as the “adverse” effects of using Nicotine are normally very minor and do not tend to hand around, making them somewhat of a short term side effect rather than being totally adverse like it’s being described here.

What the numbers say

The study also discloses the amount of units of Nicotine Pouches sold in 2019 to the current figures recorded in 2022, and the number increase is nothing short of astronomical.

It’s reported in 2019 when Nicotine Pouches first came on to the market in the USA, 126 million units were sold between August 2019 and December 2019, which is a 4 month time frame. And fast forwarding to 2022, 808.14 million units were sold between January and March 2022, an absolutely crazy jump in unit volume sold and also in a shorter time span as well.

The study took a look at which brands held the most unit share value, with Zyn holding a huge 58.8% unit share, with the next closest brand being less than half of Zyn’s value at 24.4%. VELO came in third with 12.1% of the total unit share which comes as no surprise thanks to VELO being such a huge brand name known globally.

Zyn is a hugely popular brand of Nicotine Pouches in the USA as you can see, and they’re also popular around the world. They invested heavily in marketing and advertising campaigns, as well as other brands such as VELO doing the same, with it reported that over $25 million was spent on marketing and advertising alone during 2019-2021, which likely explains why the sudden boom in sales volume and units sold. Zyn is also manufactured by Swedish Match, a company that was recently acquired by Phillip Morris International in 2022, so the possibilities of this brand becoming even bigger and better than before are relatively strong.

Conclusion

I hope this article gave a bit of an insight into the popularity of Nicotine Pouches within the USA. It’s good to see a product like Nicotine Pouches becoming so popular in countries, and more people opting to make the switch from using tobacco products, whether it be cigarettes or oral tobacco products like Snus, and turning to using Oral Nicotine products.

I believe that Nicotine Pouches will continue to see a rise in popularity not only in the USA, but also here in the UK, with the popularity of them increasing, albeit considerably slower than what they have done in the USA, but still the numbers are on the rise and long may it continue!

If you’re wanting to try Nicotine Pouches, be sure to check out our online shop, where we offer great brands of Nicotine Pouches including VELO, DIP, Nordic Spirit and others in an array of nicotine strengths and flavours for you to buy!