Nicotine pouches are now finding themselves involved in the same debates that had earlier concerned vaping. Since these products do not contain tobacco leaf and produce neither smoke nor an aerosol, critics are increasingly referring to them as the ‘next Juul’. Tobacco harm reduction experts have consistently highlighted that this way of putting it is inflating legitimate worries regarding youth use and leading to exaggerated restrictions which will ultimately only benefit cigarette companies by removing lower-risk alternatives from the market.
The latest decision by the US Food and Drug Administration regarding ZYN provides an opportunity to redirect the debate towards evidence.
What does the reduced risk status by the FDA mean for the pouch market?
The FDA specified that the approval does not imply that nicotine pouches are harmless, appropriate for people who have never used them or approved as medicines to help people quit smoking. Furthermore, the decision does not automatically extend to every pouch currently on the market.
Nicotine pouches have had to go through the FDA’s Premarket Tobacco Product Application process, a system that was originally designed with quite different products in mind. Manufacturers and retailers have objected to the lack of detailed, pouch-specific guidance, the lengthy review times, and the uncertainty regarding how the agency evaluates flavours, nicotine delivery, and effects on the population.
A guideline for Asia
The Coalition of Asia Pacific Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates (CAPHRA) has recently reiterated that regulators should not classify cigarettes, traditional smokeless tobacco and tobacco-free pouches as being in a single, undifferentiated category. A reasonable regional response should therefore be neither simple approval nor a complete ban of alternative products. Governments could establish a separate product category with restrictions on nicotine concentration, requirements for testing contaminants, rules regarding manufacturing, mandatory health warnings, child-resistant packaging and post-market surveillance.
Nicotine pouches’ growing popularity in the UK
Convenience and discretion were major selling points. Since pouches need no batteries, do not have to be refilled or inhaled and can be used in places where smoking and vaping are not allowed, purchases by female customers increased more than three times in 2025.
The Haypp and Northerner Nicotine Pouch Report 2026 looked into the experiences of 2,082 UK customers and examined purchasing data from over 50,000 individuals. Nicotine pouch sales at the two retailers rose by 60% in 2025. Almost one in two of those surveyed stated that they had started using pouches as part of an effort to quit smoking, and a large number said that they were using them as they moved on from vaping or that they were alternating between lower-risk products.
Convenience and discretion were major selling points. Since pouches need no batteries, do not have to be refilled or inhaled and can be used in places where smoking and vaping are not allowed, purchases by female customers increased more than three times in 2025. This indicates that the unobtrusive format may be attractive to those who do not like to carry visible nicotine products or feel judged for using them in public.
Will Costa Rica choose prohibition?
The demand for nicotine will never vanish; people might start smoking again, buy unregulated pouches or resort to informal cross-border suppliers. As a result, prohibition will substitute regulated products with ones that have looser age checks, uncertain ingredients, and no reliable supervision during manufacturing – a pattern we have sadly become all too familiar with.
Regulation should follow the continuum of risk
Yet the fact that there are such concerns is no reason for pretending that pouches and cigarettes pose comparable risks. The way the FDA has handled its modified-risk assessment, albeit taking way too long, provides a more suitable approach—evaluating each product separately, requiring supporting evidence, and allowing comparisons between products if the science supports doing so. This type of information enables consumers to realise that switching completely makes a difference and that continuing to smoke means they will still retain most of the risk.
Nicotine Pouches and Oral Health: The Latest Evidence on the Risks and Their Solutions
