Zyn nicotine pouches are everywhere; are they risky?
You may have seen Zyn on TikTok, where “Zynfluencers” pop what looks like a piece of white Chiclets gum under their lip. Or perhaps you caught SNL comedian Marcello Hernandez, dressed as a frozen embryo from Alabama, slipping a Zyn into his mouth and quipping, “All the embryos are doing it.” Tucker Carlson has said on podcasts that Zyn helps with mental acuity and that he uses one “every minute” he’s awake.
Zyn suddenly seems to be everywhere, but what is it and why is it so popular?
What is Zyn?
Zyn is a brand name and market leader in a category of products called oral nicotine pouches. They’re small, rectangular packets that contain nicotine salt but not tobacco, and are used both recreationally and as an aid to quit smoking.
Sold in small, round, flat cans — about the size and look of a tin of shoe polish — they come in two strengths, 6 milligrams and 3 milligrams (a typical cigarette has 10 to 12 milligrams of nicotine, although only a fraction of that amount enters the body). They’re meant to be popped into your mouth, between the top or bottom lip and gum, and left there to dissolve over the next 30 minutes.
The nicotine, a stimulant, gets absorbed into the bloodstream for a “hit” or buzz.
Zyn is made by Swedish Match, a Stockholm-based company that was acquired by Philip Morris International in 2022. Zyn and other nicotine pouches mark an evolution of smokeless tobacco, such as “dip” or chewing tobacco that was widely used by professional baseball players for years.
Unlike smokeless tobacco, though, nicotine pouches do not contain tobacco. There are other oral nicotine products, including lozenges, gum and toothpicks, many of which are used in smoking cessation programs.
Why is it so popular?
Zyn is not new — it first came onto the U.S. market in 2014, though it was not available nationwide until 2019. Since then, it has skyrocketed in popularity, with U.S. shipments climbing from 127 million cans in 2019 to nearly 1.3 billion cans in 2023, according to the company’s data.
It’s not clear what is driving its increasing popularity, but social media appears to be a major factor.
Philip Morris International does not use social media influencers or partners to promote Zyn, said spokesman Corey Henry. But that hasn’t stopped influencers, mostly young men, from posting skits and other viral content about Zyn to their sizable online followings.
As of 2023, about 1.5% of high school and middle school students reported using nicotine pouches within the last 30 days, according to a survey from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Some tobacco researchers think the flavors may be appealing to young people. Zyn comes in eight: spearmint, cool mint, peppermint, wintergreen, citrus, menthol, cinnamon and coffee. It also comes in two unflavored versions, “smooth” and “chill.” Because California prohibits the sale of flavored tobacco products — which include nicotine pouches, since nicotine is derived from tobacco leaf — only the unflavored versions can be sold here.
Is it harmful?
Zyn and other oral nicotine products are believed to be less harmful than smoking or vaping. But whether they harm health has yet to be determined because they’re relatively new and haven’t been studied extensively, researchers say.
The reason nicotine pouches are seen as less harmful is that they don’t involve inhaling smoke or vapor, which can trigger or worsen asthma, coughing, bronchitis and other respiratory problems. And because they don’t contain tobacco, a known carcinogen, they don’t have combustible toxins.
So the main concern with oral nicotine pouches is whether they’re addictive, especially to adolescents or teens who haven’t previously used cigarettes or e-cigarettes and are using nicotine for the first time.
“You can become addicted to oral nicotine even though they’re not as addictive as smoking or inhaling nicotine,” said Dr. Neal Benowitz, a UCSF tobacco and nicotine researcher. “I favor harm reduction for people trying to quit cigarettes, but I’m concerned about limiting use of nicotine products in kids because there’s no need for them to have it, and no benefit.”
Young adults are particularly susceptible to becoming addicted because their brains are still developing until age 25, said Stanford pediatrics professor Bonnie Halpern-Felsher, who studies tobacco use among teens and adolescents.
Smokeless tobacco, a sort of predecessor product to nicotine pouches, has been linked to higher risk of oral and pancreatic cancers and dental disease.
It’s not clear what short-term nicotine use does to the body in healthy people, but studies have found that long-term nicotine use could contribute to higher risk of acute heart problems in people who have underlying cardiovascular disease.
Does it reduce smoking?
Zyn makes no health claims in its marketing materials. But officially it is meant for adults 21 and older who smoke or vape and who want to switch to a tobacco-free product to reduce harm.
It’s not clear what the success rates are among smokers who try to quit cigarettes or e-cigarettes by switching to oral nicotine. The company’s consumer research found that the average age of Zyn users is 39, and that nearly half are former smokers or e-cigarette users — which indicates Zyn is reaching its intended audience, said Henry, of Philip Morris.
“You’re getting a sizable amount of people moving to the product who were smokers,” he said.
Some tobacco researchers see potential for good because oral nicotine is at the lowest end of the spectrum in terms of harm.
“You move people from cigarettes to e-cigarettes to oral nicotine,” Benowitz said. “It’s best to quit totally, but if not, use the safest product. There is an opportunity to use these to help adult smokers switch away from tobacco to a pure nicotine form. That’d be a good thing to do.”