When did Oral Nicotine Pouches Become So Popular

Though brands of oral nicotine pouches were launched throughout the 2010s, it wasn’t until 2020 that they really took off. Sales of oral nicotine pouches have exploded in the years since, with sales increasing 541 percent between 2019 and 2022 — PMI’s Zyn having the largest market share. Not only ZYN ,but also sales of many nicotine pouches brands such as VELO, LYFT, WHITE FOX, DZRT,HELWIT,KILLA,PABLO are increasing sharply. It comes as no surprise that nicotine pouch use is now on the upswing among school-age children. In California, 1.1 percent of high schoolers reported using them regularly in 2023 – a number that nearly doubled in one year. Nicotine pouches were also the number two most common tobacco product eighth graders used in 2023, second only to vapes.

The same massive companies that created the cigarette and vaping epidemics are now pushing oral nicotine pouches to the market. Notably, Big Tobacco conglomerate PMI invested heavily in Zyn manufacturer Swedish Match, and eventually acquired the company in 2022. They have even cited it as a major source of their new profit streams in their 2023 annual reports.

Another tobacco giant-STG purchased XQS International AB---a Swedish maker of tobacco-free nicotine pouches and it has announced its entry into the next-gen nicotine category with the launch of XQS pouches.And they use recyclable packaging and contain uniquely smaller sized pouches to ensure a perfect fit under the lip.

Altria, a PMI competitor, also recently announced it would release their On! pouch with even higher levels of nicotine content than Zyn, meaning Big Tobacco’s leading players are racing each other to create the most addictive product on the market.