What to Know Before You Hop on the Zyn Bandwagon

Yahoo

3 days ago

When John,* 43, first heard about Zyn from a friend a couple years ago, it struck him as a 'much better alternative to chewing [tobacco],' he tells SELF, which he'd previously done on occasion to get a buzz and stay alert on long days. He didn't have to spit while using Zyn, an oral nicotine pouch, which made it easy to camouflage, and it didn't seem to have as many harmful-sounding ingredients. The pouches delivered a feel-good boost, and it wasn't long before he was powering through a tin of Zyns every two days, barely sleeping but always energized. He had an inkling that this lifestyle might backfire someday—but for the time being, he was hooked.
Nicotine pouches like Zyn, On!, and Velo are little white, pillow-like sachets of nicotine salt and other chemicals and flavorings that you place between your lip and gum, which allows the nicotine to seep into tissues in your mouth. (Once you've soaked up its nicotine content for as long as you like—from a few minutes to an hour—you toss out what remains of the pouch.) How they're used is reminiscent of chewing tobacco or dip, but the big difference is, these don't contain tobacco, Mary Hrywna, PhD, MPH, an associate professor at the Rutgers School of Public Health and founding member of the Rutgers Institute for Nicotine and Tobacco Studies, tells SELF. Nicotine is the key ingredient, either extracted from tobacco leaf or made synthetically. In other words, the pouches are to dip what vapes (a.k.a. electronic cigarettes or e-cigs) are to cigarettes.
Their entry into the US market has charted a similar trajectory to that of vapes, surging among young people especially. Despite the fact that you have to be 21 to buy any form of nicotine or tobacco in the US, a 2025 study found that nicotine pouch use doubled among high schoolers between 2023 and 2024, just as the combined use of pouches and vapes also climbed substantially in this group. (We have the, ahem, Zynfluencers peddling Zyn on social media, along with podcasters like Joe Rogan, to thank for that.) This uptick helps explain why monthly sales of the pouches more than tripled between 2021 and 2024, even as usage in adults remains low—under 3% report ever popping one in, though that number is higher among folks who currently smoke (11%) or once did (7%).
The pouches also share much of the same appeal as vapes, at least relative to their tobacco-laden cousins. For starters, they come in a bunch of fruity, minty, and candy-type flavors, 'which masks the inherent bitterness and other unpleasant sensory properties of nicotine,' Adam Leventhal, PhD, director of the Institute for Addiction Science at the University of Southern California's Keck School of Medicine, tells SELF. That's extra relevant for young folks, who are less likely to be used to the harshness of tobacco, he points out. Pouches are also more discreet to use, he adds. While vaping made it easier to sneak a puff without others noticing, Zyn-ing is all but invisible and hands-free. It was an easy sell for John, who found himself sporting Zyns even in the midst of activities like pickleball.
But perhaps most concerning is how these pouches have co-opted the health halo once shrouding vapes. 'People know cigarettes are bad for you, and 'cigarettes' translates to 'tobacco,'' Bonnie Halpern-Felsher, PhD, a developmental psychologist at Stanford University who studies adolescent decision-making, tells SELF. 'So the perceptions [around vapes] became, 'Oh, if it's not tobacco, it must be okay, it must be healthier.'' Now we're seeing the same thing with pouches, she says, which also have the added upside of not requiring any inhalation.
It's true that bypassing the lungs makes these products less harmful than smoking or vaping, as does their tobacco-free status, Dr. Leventhal says. After all, tobacco is a source of multiple carcinogens, a.k.a. cancer-causing agents—nicotine isn't. In January 2025, the FDA authorized the marketing of several Zyn products after determining that the benefit of these pouches for people who switch to using them over cigarettes or smokeless tobacco 'is sufficient to outweigh the risks.' (Still, they aren't FDA-approved as a type of nicotine replacement therapy, or NRT, like nicotine gums and lozenges, nor have they gone through the stringent process required of these products to demonstrate safety and efficacy as a cessation aid.)
Of course, being 'less harmful than the most dangerous legal product in our society doesn't mean the pouches are safe,' Michael Steinberg, MD, MPH, director of the Rutgers Tobacco Dependence Program, tells SELF. Just ask John: After about a year of frequent pouch use, the extra pep in his step was replaced by nagging stomach pain—and since leaving Zyn behind roughly two months ago, he's battled brain fog and depression too. While there isn't much research yet on how nicotine pouches, specifically, may harm your health (because of how new they are), we know plenty about the risks of their main ingredient. Below, experts share their concerns with oral nicotine pouches and what to be aware of if you're debating Zyn-ing.
The most important thing to know about oral nicotine pouches? They can very effectively shuttle a lot of nicotine—a highly addictive chemical—to your brain, Dr. Steinberg says. Part of that is because nicotine salts can pack a concentrated amount of the stuff into a small sachet; in the US, Zyn pouches are sold in 3- and 6-milligram doses, while Velo goes up to 7 mg, and On! goes up to 8. (And it's plenty easy to put more than one of these puppies in your gums at once, potentially increasing your exposure by double or more.) For reference, a cigarette typically contains 10 to 15 mg of nicotine. But here's the kicker: With smoking a cig, you'll absorb just about 1 to 2 mg of that; a pouch sitting in your mouth for about an hour could leach up to half of its nicotine content into your blood, meaning you could wind up with as much, if not more, nicotine in your system than with smoking.
The timeline of exposure, though, is much more gradual, Brittney Keller-Hamilton, PhD, an epidemiologist at The Ohio State University College of Medicine who studies tobacco regulatory science, tells SELF: The amount of nicotine in your blood usually peaks within a few minutes of starting a smoking session and dissipates pretty swiftly once you wrap up, whereas with a pouch, that nicotine level builds slowly (likely for the full length of time you're using it) and then takes longer to clear too. Mark*, 48, who started using Zyns when his son brought them home from college last summer, tells SELF it feels more like a 'slow drip' versus the 'sudden rush' of smoking or vaping. This gentler form of delivery could make it easier to consume more nicotine with the pouches than you realize.
Getting hooked on Zyn or On! might seem like an innocuous, if eventually expensive and time-consuming, habit—after all, you're not getting exposed to the cancer-causing chemicals in tobacco products. (Worth noting: The pouches could contain other carcinogens; research on this has mostly been funded by the companies that make them, so it's hard to say for sure, but generally, their cancer potential is thought to be low.) The problem is, nicotine use, in and of itself, kicks off a negative cycle of dependence: 'Your brain gets used to having nicotine in your system, so you don't get the same mood or attention boost on it as you did previously,' Dr. Leventhal explains. Eventually, you need it 'just to have a normal level of functioning—the same as you had before you started.' There's a risk that, as addiction sets in, some people who've exclusively used the pouches may switch to 'more harmful products with a quicker mode of delivery like a cigarette or vape just to continue chasing that growing nicotine dependence,' Dr. Keller-Hamilton says.
The worst part? Trying to ween off or quit typically brings a slew of withdrawal symptoms. The timing varies based on how long you've been using them, but you could experience things like anxiety, irritability, difficulty concentrating, restlessness, and depressed mood as soon as a few hours after taking out a pouch, Dr. Steinberg says. 'It's not a constellation of things you want to go through.' And these symptoms don't go away overnight, he notes. Depending on just how dependent your body has become on nicotine, you could be stuck feeling off—or outright miserable—for several days, weeks, or longer. Nearing two months sober from Zyn, John says he still feels 'like a shell of myself.' He has a shorter fuse and attention span, less energy. 'I used to be this vibrant, fun-loving guy who couldn't wait to wake up and see my kids,' he says. 'But now, I have trouble just getting out of bed in the morning.'
The threat of nicotine dependence applies all the more to people under age 25 because of the fact that 'their brains aren't yet fully developed,' Dr. Halpern-Felsher says. One region that hasn't matured at this stage is the prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for higher-order thinking and decision-making. It's the reason why, in our youth, we're more likely to act on impulse or emotion versus weigh long-term costs and benefits, Dr. Halpern-Felsher explains. At the same time, certain nicotine pathways in the brain are especially primed for action when we're young, she says, and pruned away later in life if they aren't used. Taken together, these factors make young adults more likely to both start Zyn-ing without thinking too deeply about it and to become addicted to nicotine. In fact, CDC data shows that people who begin smoking between ages 18 and 20 are more likely to develop nicotine dependence than those who pick up the habit later in life.
Facing the milieu of withdrawal—irritability, anxiety, restlessness—could hit even harder for a teen who's also dealing with the angsty, hormonal reality of puberty. Not to mention, rates of depression and anxiety are sky-high in young folks these days. While this might be the very thing nudging some of them toward nicotine pouches, Dr. Halpern-Felsher points out, it could also make them more vulnerable to the mental health effects of addiction and withdrawal.
To make matters worse, there's even evidence that nicotine use during adolescence can fry some of the ongoing development in brain areas related to attention and mood, Dr. Leventhal notes, increasing risk for things like attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and anxiety disorders. These effects are admittedly tough to study in people (ethically speaking, you can't supply nicotine to young folks and see what happens), but based on epidemiological research and animal studies, they're definitely a concern, he says.
Amid talk of mood boosts and focus, it can be easy to forget that nicotine is, at its core, a stimulant. Like any other drug in this class, it can raise your heart rate and blood pressure, which could make you jittery. Mark first realized he might be experiencing these effects when his Apple Watch notified him a couple months ago that his resting heart rate had been elevated over the prior month. When he looked at the analytics, he was surprised to find it had been notching up steadily since last year and was clocking in around 15 beats per minute higher than his norm. He now suspects that's been hurting his workouts: 'I feel more winded these days on runs, and I just can't get after it like I used to,' he says. 'I've also started to get a bit more anxious.'
Whether these effects of nicotine can harm your heart long-term is not totally clear. 'Much of what we know about the cardiovascular effects of nicotine comes from studies on smoking, which involves a bunch of other toxicants that contribute to adverse outcomes,' Dr. Keller-Hamilton says. 'When we look at lower-risk oral nicotine products that are similar to pouches, we do see some increased cardiovascular risk, but it's not a huge increase for major outcomes like heart attack and stroke.' That said, it's certainly possible that taking in a lot of nicotine from consistent pouch use could worsen your odds, she adds.
Another cluster of potential pouch effects spans the digestive tract, from mouth to stomach. Starting at the top, nicotine pouches can cause gum irritation and recession in the areas where they're used, Dr. Steinberg says, which can up your risk for gum disease. And moving downward, the sachets might also be linked with a sore throat, upset stomach, nausea, and other GI woes—all among the most commonly reported side effects. Some of this discomfort might spring from how nicotine can shift the release of certain chemicals in your gut (which could up your risk for an ulcer) or relax the valve between your throat and stomach, paving the way for acid reflux. As Dr. Steinberg notes, stomach issues can crop up or worsen with withdrawal too; cutting out nicotine may change the secretions in your GI tract and fry your nervous system (which syncs with your gut). Hence why it can be tricky to tell whether stomach issues are sparked by the nicotine or your body craving it—particularly when pain lingers both on and off of it, as in John's case.
Dr. Keller-Hamilton emphasizes that these products do have a less harmful profile than the tobacco-based products on the market. Which is to say: If someone who already uses a different nicotine item is going to continue regularly using a commercial nicotine product, fully switching to pouches would lower their overall health risk. They may also be cheaper, more accessible, or more palatable than nicotine replacement therapy for some people, or may just represent a new option for those who feel like they've tried everything to quit to no avail, she points out.
But it's equally important to remember that these pouches are not NRT (and don't have the same safety and efficacy bonafides). They also don't come with any guardrails around how to use them—what dosage, how many per day—to effectively quit smoking over a designated timeframe, Dr. Hrywna notes, which is all information you could get from a physician or pharmacist about NRT. So while Zyns might take the place of other nicotine items in your life (and some research is underway on their potential in this regard), they're not necessarily designed for this purpose.
And let's not forget how messaging around the pouches obscures a key detail—while they might have upsides compared to tobacco products, they're far from risk-free themselves. 'The narrative on this stuff is that…no one has side effects from it, it's good for you,' John says. But that can wrongly signal to people, especially young folks, that the pouches are a viable end game and could even encourage those who haven't used nicotine before to start with these. The same thing happened with vapes when they first hit the scene, Dr. Halpern-Felsher says. 'It was like, 'Well, we need to get [teens] to quit smoking. Oh well if they're on e-cigs forever.' But plenty of teens weren't smoking cigarettes, so it wasn't e-cigarettes versus cigarettes; it was e-cigarettes versus fresh air,' she says.
All that to say? We should be careful not to lose the plot with pouches too. As Dr. Halpern-Felsher reiterates, nicotine is a highly addictive substance that we should be wary of promoting in any form. 'I hope the word gets out, and people think twice about getting on these,' John says, 'or at least know what could potentially happen.'
*Some names have been changed or abbreviated for privacy reasons.
Related:
How to Quit Vaping When It's Really, Really Hard
Here's What Alcohol Withdrawal Symptoms Actually Feel Like
Is Smoking Weed Bad for Your Heart?
Get more of SELF's great service journalism delivered right to your inbox.
Originally Appeared on Self