NEW YORK — Governments around the world have tried to kill the tobacco industry. Zyn, the brand of flavored oral nicotine pouches that comes in small, round containers resembling breath mints, is its latest strategy.
While it’s ultimately owned by tobacco giant Philip Morris International, Zyn is a tobacco-free product. White pouches similar in size to a piece of chewing gum send more nicotine than what’s in a cigarette right into the bloodstream. Unlike traditional chewing tobacco, you don’t have to chew the pouches or spit the build-up of tobacco juice.
Several trends have driven a surge in Zyn’s relatively wild popularity, from what users feel is its convenience and subtlety, to a flood of online advertising positioning Zyn as a healthier, smoke-free alternative to cigarettes. The brand’s success shows how tobacco companies have diversified their business models from cigarettes to tobacco-free products like vapes, snus, nicotine gums, and inhalers. Researchers have called this the “pharmaceuticalization” of the tobacco industry.
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