Zyn Isn’t ‘The New Vaping.’ It’s the Same Old Nicotine Playbook – Just Quieter

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Zyn Nicotine Pouches Spilled From Tin

A few years ago, Juul didn’t just sell nicotine – it sold a vibe. Smoking was fading, especially with teens, and then along came a sleek little device that looked like tech, tasted like candy, and delivered addiction like a freight train. The result was predictable: a product positioned as “cleaner” and “better” ended up pulling in people—especially young people—who might never have touched nicotine otherwise.

Now the trend machine has moved on. Juul’s moment has cooled. Zyn is having its turn.

Unlike a vape, Zyn doesn’t leave a cloud behind. No sweet smell, no visible exhale, no obvious evidence. You tuck a small pouch under your lip and let it sit – sometimes for close to an hour – while nicotine steadily absorbs. It’s tobacco-free, but make no mistake: it’s still nicotine, it’s still addictive, and it’s still engineered to keep you coming back.

Zyn Has Been Here Longer Than You Think – And It Slipped In at the Perfect Time

A lot of people are just hearing about Zyn now, but it’s been sold in the U.S. since 2014. That matters, because it entered the market during a period when regulators were still playing catch-up with “new” nicotine products. The FDA later required manufacturers to submit applications showing their products meet a public-health standard to remain on the market – but decisions on some of these products, including Zyn’s, have taken time.

And while the paperwork crawls along, the product has done what nicotine products always do when they find an opening: spread.

One tobacco-control researcher compared what’s happening now to the early rise of e-cigarettes – different format, same dynamic: a product marketed as a lower-risk alternative, expanding fast, and raising fresh concerns about who it’s really attracting.

Is Zyn Everywhere Like Juul Was? Not Yet. Is That the Point? Also No.

Here’s where the industry loves to play word games. They’ll point out – correctly – that Zyn isn’t at Juul’s 2019 peak. That’s true.

But “not as big as the worst nicotine youth epidemic in recent memory” is a low bar.

Recent data showed:

Adult smoking still outpaced vaping, and smokeless nicotine use was a smaller slice overall (early 2020s).
Among teens, nicotine pouch use was reported at about 1.5% in 2023, far below the vaping peak among high schoolers in 2019.

Zyn’s parent company has leaned into this comparison gap, basically saying: don’t even put us in the same sentence as Juul.

Here’s our response at killthecan.org:

That’s not reassuring. That’s just early-stage growth.

The Money Tells the Truth

Oral nicotine is not a niche anymore. U.S. sales in this category surged from hundreds of millions to over a billion dollars in just a couple of years. Meanwhile, Zyn’s own U.S. growth jumped sharply from one year to the next, according to its parent company’s reporting.

Translation: this isn’t a fad. It’s a business strategy that’s working.

“Zynfluencers” and the Social Media Problem

When nicotine starts trending, teenagers notice. That’s not a moral panic—that’s how marketing works in 2026.

Zyn content has shown up online so often that there’s even slang for the people pushing it: “Zynfluencers.” That has drawn concern from public-health voices and lawmakers. One high-profile U.S. senator publicly urged stronger enforcement and warned parents that nicotine companies aim young and use social platforms to hook them.

Zyn’s corporate line is predictable:

They say they don’t hire influencers.
They say they avoid using younger-looking models (claiming they keep models 35+).
They say their website is age-gated (21+).
They say they report underage or dangerous social posts to platforms.

But even the company admits the obvious: they can’t control what people post. And platforms don’t catch everything, even with rules on the books.

So we end up in the same place we always do:
a product that benefits from viral promotion while pretending it has nothing to do with it.

The “Safer” Conversation—and Why It’s Still Dangerous

Yes, if you’re comparing Zyn to cigarettes, you’re comparing it to one of the most lethal consumer products ever sold. So it’s not shocking that some experts believe nicotine pouches likely reduce certain risks relative to smoking—particularly lung-related harm, because nothing is inhaled.

And oral nicotine products like snus (which contains tobacco) have been studied for decades. Some evidence suggests they carry lower cancer and disease risk than cigarettes, and the FDA has previously allowed certain snus products to be marketed with reduced-risk language.

But here’s the catch: “less harmful than cigarettes” is not the same as “safe.”

Not even close.

Key concerns raised by researchers and clinicians include:

1) Your heart doesn’t care that it’s “tobacco-free.”
Nicotine can stress the cardiovascular system. Even if pouches reduce exposure to some combustion-related toxins, nicotine itself isn’t a wellness supplement.

2) Your mouth and gums take the hit.
Holding a pouch against your gums repeatedly can irritate tissue and may contribute to dental issues. Physicians who’ve treated oral and throat problems for decades have warned that parking chemicals in your mouth for long stretches isn’t risk-free.

3) “Cleaner” products can still contain harmful compounds.
A study published in 2023 reported low levels of potentially harmful substances in oral nicotine products, including chemicals like ammonia and formaldehyde.

4) Side effects are common—sometimes very.
A small 2024 study of adult pouch users found that nearly all reported unpleasant effects such as mouth irritation or lesions, nausea, and throat or mouth soreness. One of the study’s authors emphasized the key fear: that people who don’t currently use nicotine will start because they assume pouches are harmless.

And that fear is not hypothetical. That’s exactly how the vaping boom happened.

The Biggest Red Flag: People Often Don’t Switch – They Stack

Here’s one of the most important points in the entire conversation: many pouch users don’t fully replace smoking or vaping. They add Zyn on top.

Multiple studies have found that pouch users often continue to smoke or vape, including among younger users. That matters because:

It can deepen nicotine dependence
It can make quitting harder, not easier
It can keep cigarettes in the mix longer

Some researchers suspect one reason is the delivery speed: pouches may not hit the bloodstream fast enough to satisfy cravings the way a cigarette or vape does. So instead of switching, some people “dual use”—and nicotine companies get paid twice.

If You Already Use Nicotine, Switching Away From Smoke Might Reduce Harm. But the Best Outcome Is Never Starting.

Even experts who acknowledge reduced harm relative to cigarettes often say the quiet part out loud: they’d rather people never become addicted at all.

That’s where we land too, and we’ll say it even more plainly:

Zyn is not a health product. It’s a nicotine product.
And nicotine products don’t trend by accident.

Thinking about trying Zyn because it looks “safer”?
If you don’t already use nicotine, the safest move is simple: don’t start.
If you do use nicotine and want out, start with a plan that targets addiction—not just the delivery device.