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Nicotine pouches are finding a following of people who see them as a healthier alternative to other products.
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Five men with a previous habit of using nicotine or tobacco said they used Zyn to help them focus on BI.
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“If I have to work on something that’s a little more important than other things, it’s like it’s part of the routine,” one said.
At his previous job, Clay Coomer would sometimes see a colleague in the hallway and have a quick exchange of ideas.
“‘Hey, do you need it?'” Coomer told Business Insider. he would ask.”
The substance in question was Zyn, a brand of nicotine vape that users often place under their lips for a boost. Coomer and his former co-worker were sharing their stash when the other’s stash was running low.
For Coomer, who is 36 and works in marketing, sometimes popping on Zyn is a way to get the tough stuff done.
“If I need to have a difficult conversation with someone or work on something that’s a little more important than other things — like it’s just part of the routine,” she said.
Coomer is not alone. BI spoke with a handful of men in various fields who rely on the relief they get from nicotine as a way to get through the day — especially the toughest things that can be hard to get through — without the mess and health risks that come with chewing tobacco. or cigarette.
All had used nicotine or tobacco products before and described turning to Zyn because they saw it as a healthier or cleaner alternative to dips, e-cigarettes, or cigarettes.
Zyn’s rise
Zyn has been available in the US since 2014 but has recently gained wider popularity.
In 2023, shipments of nicotine pouches in the United States increased by 62% compared to the previous year. While product shipments may outpace consumer sales, Tobacco giant Philip Morris International, which owns Sweden’s Match, the maker of Zyn, predicts shipment volume will increase further this year. Zyn pouches have won over everyone from powerful Wall Street traders to Tucker Carlson to GOP lawmakers.
There are even “Zynfluencers” on social media who post videos of themselves swiping pouches under their lips.
A 28-year-old corporate performance management consultant who has used dips before says he sees Zyn as “the worst of all evils” among nicotine and tobacco products in terms of health risks.
Some sources asked not to be named because they did not want to jeopardize their future job opportunities, but their identities are known to BI.
Raymond Niaura, chair of the Department of Epidemiology at New York University and an expert on tobacco addiction, told BI that there is a risk of addiction with any product containing nicotine. (The FDA has issued a similar warning.) Niaura said pouches tend to deliver less nicotine than cigarettes, and cigarettes are more addictive. Instead, pouches are more like nicotine replacement therapy.
Overall, Niaura said, the nicotine pouch is “a pretty neat product,” but it can still carry risks: Nicotine can increase heart rate and blood pressure, for example, so someone at risk for cardiovascular disease may want to be especially careful when using it. .
Referring to how addictive products such as Zyn can be, he said, “It is still early days. It is difficult to say for sure where these products will fit.”
Hand of God’
When it comes to using pouches at work, nicotine pouches are so small that they are virtually invisible to others, which is another part of the appeal for some users. Many users told BI it wasn’t a big deal because the bags didn’t contain tobacco. In other words, tobacco products do not have the same stigma.
“Nobody cares,” Coomer said, referring to Zyn’s use in startups. While working at a large blue chip company, he was a little more careful about taking out the Zyn can or keeping it in his pocket so it didn’t look like a sauce container.
Nate Palmer is a personal trainer, podcaster, and founder of Million Dollar Body Labs. He works remotely with clients to improve their fitness and overall health. About ten years ago, he was chewing nicotine gum to keep himself going. However, he was not prepared for the blow he received when he burst the 6 mg Zyn bag after not using nicotine for a while. “It felt like God’s hand was on my central nervous system. I felt great. Then I had to throw up.” Palmer has since switched to 3mg bags.
He now consumes four pouches a day. And although he says he’s not exactly addicted, he said he misses it when he hasn’t done it in a while. For now, it has become part of his routine to concentrate on something challenging.
“Basically I’m going to do this now for podcasts or if there’s a sales call or something I need to get called on,” he said. “I do this at kids’ birthday parties and say, ‘I don’t want to talk to these people. I need to be more friendly.'”
Palmer considers Zyn an important part of his groundwork ritual. She advises her clients to focus on creating rituals to pair something difficult with something that can act as a reward; This is a concept called temptation. In his case, his ritual helps him tackle important tasks at work. “When I sit down and try to do some deep work, it’s like I have some sort of ritual where I put binaural beats from Spotify, I’ll put a Zyn in it and then, you know, make sure it’s possible. I have a list of things I need to do,” he said.
overcoming the hump
Chandler, a 24-year-old software engineer who started smoking cigarettes as a teenager before switching to e-cigarettes and now Zyns, said the pouches gave him a similar “dopamine rush” without “feeling the burn in your lungs and throat.” He did this with other products as well. Chandler works from home, but says his boss is aware he uses Zyn at work and has no problem with it.
“When I try to really focus and use my brain and think hard, I just end up going through the purses, and that kind of thing fades away when the work day is over,” he said.
He pops Zyn “first thing” in the morning and estimates he consumes just over a box containing 15 sachets each workday.
“I think once that nicotine buzz wears off, it becomes kind of like background noise in your brain saying, ‘Oh, I have to have another one.’ The longer you don’t have it, it lingers and that in itself becomes distracting,” he said. “It’s not something that helps you focus; not taking it can really take away from your focus.”
The 24-year-old veteran analyst, who described himself as “part of the JUUL population” before switching to Zyn, says the pouches “get me in the right headspace and more or less allow me to focus.” He works in the office five days a week, but says he has no problem using his office there. He starts his days by taking Zyn with his morning coffee and takes between 5 and 10 Zyn during the day.
“I understand that nicotine is an addictive drug, but it also helps you focus, just like when you have Zyn,” he said.
Philip Morris spokesman Sam Dashiell told BI that Zyn is aimed at people 21 and over who use nicotine and want to continue doing so. He said the best thing someone with health problems can do is to quit nicotine or not use it at all.
“Nicotine is addictive and not without risk, but the primary cause of tobacco-related illnesses is not nicotine but the high levels of other harmful chemicals in cigarette smoke,” Dashiell wrote. The average Zyn user is 39 years old, the company said.
Nicotine quit plan
Many Zyn users said they used the pouches as a stepping stone towards finally getting rid of nicotine completely.
“Ultimately, I don’t want to be a nicotine user in the future. I think when I was younger and JUULs were the big thing and then all this happened, I would say a lot of people are stuck with nicotine addiction.” the analyst said, referring to the FDA’s ban on JUUL. “So I think it’s a lot easier to give up Zyns, more or less, than JUULs.”
For now, Chandler also has no problem using Zyn at work and other times because he’s trying to reduce his nicotine use, but he also wants to quit eventually. His reasoning: “The health hits you get from doing it and how much you rely on it are where you’ll go crazy if you don’t have access to it for a few hours.”
“It’s largely masked in the culture by how good it is, but it’s an addiction and I feel bad for anyone who gets caught up in it because quitting sucks, it sucks,” she said. “If I could go back and never start using nicotine, I would.”
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