Hunter Latchford is a college student in Alabama with 42,000 followers on TikTok, where he posts almost exclusively about Zyn, a brand of flavored oral nicotine pouches that come in bright round tins with flavors like cool mint, citrus and cinnamon.
Latch said a fellow student in his sorority introduced him to the product three years ago. “He said it helped him focus better when he had classes back-to-back, so I gave it a try,” he said, adding that the product helped him too, and that he liked the stimulation it gave him. “I've been hooked ever since.”
Now, he says, he consumes one to one-and-a-half cans a day, about 25 packets in total, by placing a packet between his gums and lip or cheek every 15 minutes to deliver the maximum amount of tobacco-free nicotine available in the US – 6mg (compared to 10-12mg in a cigarette) – through the mucous membranes of his mouth and directly into his bloodstream. His frequent posts, sponsored by Snus Town, a British online shop that sends him samples of 10 cans a week, range from dreaming up new flavours of Zyn to professing his love for the little white packets.
Although Gin's website says its products are aimed at current nicotine users aged 21 and over, Latch, 22, says he has never smoked cigarettes or e-cigarettes (and still doesn't) since he started using them as a teenager. “Gin is the only nicotine I've ever used,” he says.
He's one of an estimated 2.1 percent of adults in the U.S. (5.2 million people) who currently use smokeless tobacco products, according to the most recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which doesn't specifically mention nicotine pouches.
Latch isn't the only Zyn user who started using it in his teens: About 1.5% of high school and middle school students (more than half of whom are boys), or 400,000 teens, use nicotine pouches, according to the 2023 National Youth Tobacco Survey. That's roughly the same as cigarette smokers (1.6%) but far less than e-cigarette users (7.7%).
An FDA press release from April about retailers selling nicotine pouches to minors noted that these numbers have not changed in recent years. Still, Brian King, director of the FDA's Center for Tobacco Products, said, “The FDA is concerned about all tobacco products that may be appealing to youth and will continue to closely monitor youth use of these products.”
Zyn sales soar
Thanks to users of all ages, Zyn and other oral nicotine products (including brands like Velo, On! and Rogue) have created a market that is expected to generate $2 billion in revenue in the United States this year. Most brands, including Zyn, have not been approved by the FDA for sale in the U.S. This is because these products came on the market in 2014, before the FDA put new tobacco and nicotine product regulations into effect, and are now being required to retroactively prove that they offer sufficient public health benefit to continue being sold. Those decisions are currently pending.
Meanwhile, sales are soaring, increasing sixfold between 2019 and 2022. And Philip Morris International, the parent company of Swedish Match, the maker of Zyn, reported sales up about 80% in the first quarter of 2024 compared to the same period last year, and there are now shortages in some markets.
Many blame youth use on the preponderance of Zyn content on social media, where Zyn fans, so-called “Zynfluencers,” can be seen trying new flavors for the first time or creating sculptures out of the hundreds of empty cans they've collected, using slang terms like “lip pillow” and “upper deck” for the position of the pouch in their mouths.
This has raised concerns that Zyn could become the next Juul, both in terms of youth acceptance and its impact on public health. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) recently jumped on this concern, calling for regulators to investigate Zyn due to its popularity with teenagers. This sparked pushback from some prominent conservatives, including Tucker Carlson, who had already made waves with a Zyn-themed Instagram video posted by prankster influencer Nelk Boyz. In response to Schumer, Carlson asserted that “Zyn is not a sin.”
A spokesperson for Philip Morris International provided the following statement to Fortune:
“For the approximately 30 million U.S. smokers, Swedish Match is committed to developing products like ZYN that are scientifically proven to be a better alternative to continuing to smoke. Swedish Match goes beyond legal requirements to ensure that our marketing is directed to legal-age nicotine users 21 years of age or older. We do not use social media influencers and have declined requests for such partnerships, we have age-restricted our digital channels, and we only use adult-oriented flavors. We also serve on the advisory board of We Card, a nonprofit that supports retailers that sell age-restricted products, and we are working to educate and train our retail frontline employees on the requirement to present an age verification card when purchasing nicotine pouches, and to ensure that our pouches are included under 21+ signage in the majority of our brick-and-mortar stores. Manufacturers, regulators, retailers and social media platforms must work together to ensure that these products are used only by people 21 years of age or older, and we believe we are playing our role to achieve that objective.”
Either way, it's important for parents to be aware of Zyn and its risks, Rees said, adding that “anytime a child is using an addictive substance or product, it's natural to be concerned.”
Here's what else parents need to know:
Nicotine addiction is real and comes with health risks
“Addiction itself is considered a health issue,” Rees says, “and nicotine use disorder impacts adolescents' social and emotional development.”
He states: “Drug use disorders narrow one's range of activities, so rather than choosing activities that may be beneficial and that may positively enhance one's engagement with other people and the world, one tends to make the very narrow choices that the drug use disorder imposes.” For example, instead of playing with friends, a drug-dependent teen “will play alone and use nicotine.”
Other health risks from nicotine include increased blood pressure, heart rate, and blood flow to the heart, as well as narrowing of the arteries, which are moderate risks, according to the American Heart Association. But the risk of cardiovascular disease is much lower than with smoking, Reese emphasized. Most studies point to tobacco smoke, not nicotine, as the cause of cancer, but some research suggests that nicotine may cause some type of DNA damage that could increase cancer risk.
Additionally, a recent small survey of pouch users found self-reported side effects including mouth lesions, upset stomach, and sore throat.
On the positive side, there is some evidence that tobacco can improve focus, but “if you're experiencing withdrawal symptoms, that can make you less able to concentrate,” says Lynn Kozlowski, a longtime tobacco researcher and professor emeritus at the University at Buffalo's School of Public Health and Medical Professions.
What worries Kozlowski most is a recent survey by the Truth Initiative, an educational nonprofit that advocates against tobacco and nicotine use, which found that most 15-24 year olds who use oral nicotine pouches also smoke cigarettes (73%), and nearly half (49%) also use e-cigarettes.
He thinks these findings are why he feels parents shouldn't be too bothered by Zyn.
“Smoking is a much bigger issue and should be discouraged,” he says. “My concern is that if our younger customer base is primarily experimenting with smoking and tobacco pouches, we don't want to send a message that makes them fear the tobacco pouches more than they do cigarettes.”
He points out that recent surveys suggest most smokers mistakenly believe e-cigarettes are just as harmful or more harmful than cigarettes. “Holy crap, that's just not true,” he says. “The main carcinogens are in the combustible products… Nicotine pouches are exactly the same toxicological problem as lozenges and gum, they don't get into your lungs, and most of what kills people is getting smoke in your lungs.”
Nicotine patches are by no means a “health food,” Kozlowski adds, but if you have a child who uses them, “monitor them closely to make sure they're not also smoking. If they're not smoking because of the patch, that's progress.”
