Flavour and Brand of Nicotine Pouches Used Most Often among US Adolescents, 2025

Sanchez LM, Miech RA, Bae D, Cho J, Chang YC, North C, Harlow AF, Li M, Sussman S, Dai HD, Masonbrink AR, Han DH, Meza LR, Leventhal AM.
Flavour and Brand of Nicotine Pouches Used Most Often among US Adolescents, 2025
Tob Control. 2026 Jul 1:tc-2026-060115. doi: 10.1136/tc-2026-060115. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 42414086.

Background: ZYN brand and non-tobacco-flavoured products capture most of the US nicotine pouch market. Evidence of which nicotine pouch flavours and brands US youth use is critical for informing youth regulatory protections, but currently lacking.

Methods: We analysed data from adolescents reporting lifetime nicotine pouch use in the 2025 Monitoring the Future study, a nationally representative, in-school, cross-sectional annual survey of US 8th-grade, 10th-grade and 12th-grade students. Prevalences of nicotine pouch flavours and brands adolescents reported using most often were estimated in the overall sample and stratified by demographic characteristics and past-30-day pouch use patterns.

Results: Among 472 youth who used nicotine pouches in their lifetime, 97.0% (95% CI 94.6% to 98.4%) reported using nicotine pouches with a non-tobacco flavour most often; non-tobacco flavoured pouch use prevalence exceeded 93% across all demographic and past-30-day pouch use-frequency categories studied. Mint was the most commonly reported flavour used (58.6%), followed by fruit (16.0%); use of original/unflavoured pouches was rare (3.0%). ZYN was the most common brand used, reported by 79.7% (95% CI 74.1% to 84.4%) of youth. Use prevalence of ZYN versus other pouch brands was lower among non-Hispanic Black versus non-Hispanic White, but did not vary by sex, grade, population density or pouch use frequency.

Conclusions: Among US adolescents reporting lifetime use of nicotine pouches in 2025, use of non-tobacco flavoured pouch products was nearly universal and ZYN was the predominant brand used. Prioritising regulatory policies on flavoured pouches, especially ZYN brand products, merits consideration to reduce youth nicotine pouch use.