Nicotine pouches helped me quit vaping – but now I’m addicted

Johnpaul began using nicotine pouches to help him get off vapes – but says it just led to another addiction.

At one stage he was using 15 pouches a day, although the 16-year-old has now cut back to five.

Health experts say the pouches – small sachets that fit between the top lip and the gum, nicknamed “snus” by some teenagers – are addictive and may have other harmful side effects.

They are largely unregulated in the UK and there is currently no law to stop children buying them.

Some campaigners fear that the ban on disposable vapes which comes into effect on 1 June could see more young people turning to the stronger nicotine pouches.

Johnpaul started using the pouches as a coping mechanism, and to help him get off vapes.

“It just led to another addiction,” he said. “It’s just an instant hit. It makes me forget my surroundings.

“I’m not going to say I don’t enjoy that, I do, but there are still a lot more negatives to it than there are positives.”

Johnpaul is working with other young people to raise awareness about nicotine pouches as part of a project with the charity Fast Forward and the Skills Training Programme at West Lothian Council.

While packs contain age restriction warnings, Johnpaul says he has no problem buying them.

“At the moment, I really don’t want to stop, but I definitely want to cut down and cut down the amount of milligrams I’m taking.

“Just keep it as low as I can, so it’ll be a lot easier to quit when I feel that I’m ready to.”

Lee, 16, says he and most of his friends use nicotine pouches – although he wishes he had never started.

“Most times people wouldn’t know because it’s tucked away in your gum and sometimes you can push it up so people really can’t see it,” he said.

“I’ve tried to stop before, but it’s something you can get highly addicted to, which is quite a bad thing.

“If I could go back and not start, I would.”

Aleksandra, 16, has tried nicotine pouches, but says they’re not for her.

“It was fine for the first five minutes and after you swallow your spit it doesn’t taste good.

“It burns and it makes you feel sick. It wasn’t great.”

She says the products are marketed towards young people on social media and given away at railway stations, where they can easily be given to teenagers who look older.

Leigh Ronald from Fast Forward, which offers health and wellbeing support, says young people are increasingly talking about pouches and looking to find out more information.

She says it is likely that they will look for alternatives, like nicotine pouches, when the ban on disposable vapes comes into effect across the UK on 1 June.

Most pouches contain six to 20 milligrams (mg) of nicotine, while some contain 50mg – about five times stronger than an average cigarette.

The pouches are often referred to as snus, although that is a different product which contains tobacco and has been banned in the UK and EU since 1992.

The general use of nicotine pouches remains low in Great Britain.

Research suggests that about 5% of adults and 3% of under-18s have tried them – but use appears to be increasing and is higher in some groups, particularly young men.

One popular brand reported a 121% increase in sales in 2023.

Retailers approached by BBC Scotland said they did not sell nicotine pouches to under-18s.

Alan McLevy is head of manufacturing at VPZ, which sells vapes, pouches and other nicotine products.

He says his firm operates a Challenge 25 policy and that its aim is to help people quit smoking.

He said: “If you’ve not smoked before, if you’ve not vaped before, there’s absolutely no need to buy a pouch. None whatsoever.

“It’s a harm reduction technique and it’s for current smokers to find a way to stop using combustible cigarettes.”

Dr Richard Holliday, senior lecturer at the School of Dental Sciences at Newcastle University, says nicotine pouches are less harmful than cigarettes – but not risk free.

His team recently published an article on nicotine pouches in the British Dental Journal that was downloaded more than 250,000 times.

It says more research is needed and that there may be an impact on oral health – such as gum recession.

“The paper has obviously touched a nerve. I think a lot of people are looking for information on this topic,” he says.

Dr Zoe Coyle, a lecturer at the Dental Institute in Edinburgh, also warned that repeated use of nicotine pouches can lead to gum recession and other issues with teeth and lips.

“I would be concerned particularly about young people using nicotine pouches,” she says.

Sheila Duffy, chief executive of anti-smoking charity Ash Scotland, says teachers have raised concerns about the pouches, which retail at “pocket money prices”.

“It’s very fast absorbed, it can easily be twice the level of nicotine in nicotine replacement therapy. So this is very highly addictive,” she said.

“Addiction to nicotine in any form opens you up to the whole profile of products – industry knows this.

“So a kid that starts using nicotine pouches, which are easily concealed, which may be highly flavoured and attractive because they’ve been pushed through social media, that child is much more at risk of ending up as a smoker.”

UK-wide legislation is being proposed to ban the sale of nicotine products – including pouches – to under-18s.

The Tobacco and Vapes Bill would also stop free distribution and give ministers the power to regulate the flavours, packaging and display of all vapes and other nicotine products.

Ash Scotland say it is a step in the right direction, but fears that the introduction of new regulations will take too long.