A landmark study from University College London has put hard numbers behind a trend that anyone paying attention to British culture over the past few years could already see unfolding. Nicotine pouches — the small, tobacco-free sachets placed under the upper lip — have gone from virtually unknown to a half-million-user market in Great Britain, and the growth is being driven almost entirely by one demographic: young men.

The research, published in The Lancet Public Health and funded by Cancer Research UK, analysed survey data from 127,793 people across England, Scotland, and Wales between October 2020 and March 2025. The findings paint a detailed picture of who is using nicotine pouches, why, and what it means for public health policy at a time when the UK government is preparing sweeping new legislation.

The Numbers Behind the Surge

The headline statistic is striking. Around 7.5 percent of men aged 16 to 24 in Great Britain now use nicotine pouches. That is roughly one in every 13 young men. Among young women in the same age group, use sits at 1.9 percent — significant but far lower. Overall adult use across all age groups is around one percent, which translates to approximately 522,000 people.

What makes these figures remarkable is the speed of the change. Less than one percent of young men and women were using nicotine pouches in 2022. By March 2025, overall youth use had climbed to four percent, with young men accounting for the vast majority of the increase. Among adults over the age of 35, use has remained essentially flat and low throughout the entire study period.

Dr Harry Tattan-Birch, the UCL researcher who led the study, described the rise as being driven “almost exclusively” by young people. The data leaves little room for alternative interpretation — this is a youth-led trend, and within that youth market, it is overwhelmingly male.

Why Young Men Specifically

The study points to a clear explanation for the gender gap: marketing. Nicotine pouch brands have targeted channels and environments that disproportionately reach young men. Dr Tattan-Birch highlighted several specific examples in his analysis.

Formula 1 sponsorship is one of the most visible. Nicotine pouch brands have secured prominent placement on cars, driver suits, and trackside advertising in a sport whose fanbase skews heavily male and young. Music festival promotions represent another channel, with pouch brands setting up sampling stations and branded areas at events attended by exactly the demographic the data identifies.

Then there is the football connection. Reports of professional footballers using nicotine pouches — from Jamie Vardy’s Euro 2016 photographs to the Loughborough University study finding that one in five professional players use them — have created a powerful association between the product and elite sport. Young male football fans see players they admire using pouches, and that association drives curiosity and trial.

Social media influencer marketing completes the picture. Pouch brands have invested heavily in partnerships with male-focused content creators across platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube. The algorithm-driven nature of these platforms means that once a young man engages with nicotine pouch content, he is served more of it — creating a feedback loop of exposure that is difficult to replicate through traditional advertising.

The study describes this combined marketing approach as “aggressive and targeted,” and the data supports that characterisation. The growth curve among young men is far steeper than among any other demographic, and it aligns precisely with the timing and intensity of these marketing efforts.

Not Just Recreational — A Growing Cessation Tool

One of the most important findings in the UCL research is that nicotine pouches are not being used exclusively as a recreational product. A significant and growing number of people are turning to them as a tool to quit smoking.

The study found that 6.5 percent of all quit-smoking attempts in 2025 involved nicotine pouches. To put that in context, this is already higher than the proportion of quit attempts using the prescription drug varenicline, which sits at 1.1 percent, and higher than prescription nicotine replacement therapy at 4.5 percent. Only over-the-counter NRT products like patches and gums (17.3 percent) and e-cigarettes (40.2 percent) are used more frequently in quit attempts.

The trajectory is significant. The use of nicotine pouches as a cessation aid tripled over the study period. While it remains a minority approach compared to vaping, it is growing faster than any other cessation method in the UK market.

There are also early signals that pouches may be playing a role in helping people reduce or quit vaping — a particularly relevant finding given that vaping has become more popular than smoking among young people in Britain. The study notes a rise in nicotine pouch use in environments where smoking is banned, suggesting that some users may be treating pouches as a complement to or replacement for vapes in situations where vaping is impractical or prohibited.

Dr Tattan-Birch emphasised the need for further research to determine how effective pouches actually are as a cessation tool. The current data shows that people are using them for this purpose, but controlled studies comparing their efficacy to established methods like NRT and e-cigarettes are still lacking.

The User Profile — More Complex Than Headlines Suggest

Media coverage of nicotine pouches often frames the trend as non-smokers picking up a new nicotine habit. The UCL data tells a more nuanced story.

The study found that 69 percent of current nicotine pouch users also use other nicotine products — primarily cigarettes and vapes. This majority-user profile is someone who already consumes nicotine and has added pouches to their routine, either as a supplement or as part of an attempt to move away from more harmful products.

However, the remaining segment is worth noting. Around 16 percent of pouch users had never regularly smoked. For this group, nicotine pouches represent a first entry point into nicotine use. Whether that is a public health concern or a relatively low-risk behaviour compared to the alternatives depends largely on one’s perspective on nicotine itself — a debate that the study deliberately avoids resolving, instead calling for more research.

The age distribution is also telling. Nearly half of all nicotine pouch users in Great Britain are under the age of 25, and roughly three-quarters are male. This is a young, male-dominated market — a profile that looks very different from the traditional demographics of smoking and even vaping.

What Are Nicotine Pouches and How Do They Work

For readers who are still unfamiliar with the product, nicotine pouches are small, white sachets roughly the size of a thumbnail. They are made from plant-based cellulose fibres infused with synthetic nicotine, food-grade flavourings, and sweeteners. They contain no tobacco leaf whatsoever, which is what distinguishes them legally and chemically from traditional Swedish snus.

To use a pouch, you place it between your upper lip and gum. The nicotine absorbs through the oral mucosa directly into the bloodstream. The experience lasts anywhere from 20 to 60 minutes depending on the strength and the user. There is no smoke, no vapour, no need to spit, and no visible device — which is a significant part of their appeal in social and professional settings.

Pouches are sold in round, pocket-sized tins containing around 20 sachets, typically priced at about five pounds. They come in a wide range of flavours — mint, citrus, berry, coffee, and more — and in varying nicotine strengths. Entry-level products contain around 1.5 to 4 milligrams of nicotine per pouch, while the strongest products on the market claim concentrations of up to 150 milligrams, though mainstream brands sold through responsible retailers generally cap their ranges well below that level.

The Regulatory Gap — And How It Is Closing

One of the most remarkable aspects of the nicotine pouch market in Britain is how long it has operated in a regulatory vacuum. Unlike cigarettes, vapes, and alcohol, nicotine pouches have had no minimum age restriction for purchase. A 12-year-old could legally walk into a shop and buy them. Kate Pike, Trading Standards’ lead officer for tobacco and vaping, has publicly warned that children as young as 11 and 12 have been buying pouches from retailers.

There have also been no restrictions on nicotine strength, no rules governing how pouches are packaged or displayed in shops, and no limitations on advertising and sponsorship — the very marketing channels that the UCL study identifies as driving the surge in young male use.

That is about to change. The Tobacco and Vapes Bill, currently passing through Parliament, will introduce a comprehensive regulatory framework for nicotine pouches for the first time. The key provisions include a ban on sales to anyone under the age of 18, a ban on advertising and sponsorship of nicotine pouch brands, powers for ministers to regulate flavours and packaging to reduce appeal to young people, restrictions on point-of-sale displays in retail environments, a ban on free distribution and sampling, and a proposed cap on nicotine content at 20 milligrams per pouch.

These measures mirror the restrictions that already apply to cigarettes and, more recently, to vapes. The intent is clear: treat nicotine pouches as a regulated nicotine product rather than an unregulated consumer good.

Getting the Balance Right

The UCL researchers are careful to note that regulation needs to be calibrated thoughtfully. Dr Tattan-Birch’s central point is about balance: “The key is getting the balance right, discouraging uptake among young people, without making pouches so restricted that people are pushed back towards more harmful products like cigarettes.”

This is the core tension in nicotine pouch policy. On one hand, a product that is being marketed aggressively to teenagers and has no age restriction clearly needs guardrails. On the other hand, a product that is being used by a growing number of adults to quit smoking — and that carries significantly fewer health risks than cigarettes — has genuine public health value that overly restrictive regulation could destroy.

The UK appears to be aiming for a middle path. Age restrictions and advertising bans target the youth uptake problem directly, while keeping the product legal and available for adult consumers who choose to use it. Whether that balance holds as the Bill moves through its final parliamentary stages remains to be seen.

How Britain Compares Internationally

The UK’s approach sits in the middle of a broad international spectrum. At one extreme, countries like Germany, the Netherlands, and soon France have banned nicotine pouches outright. At the other, markets like the United States and Scandinavia allow relatively free sale with varying degrees of regulation.

Sweden, where the snus and nicotine pouch tradition originated, takes the most permissive approach and has achieved the lowest smoking rate in Europe as a result. The UK has historically looked to the Swedish model as evidence that harm reduction through alternative nicotine products can deliver population-level health benefits — a perspective that informed the relatively progressive stance on vaping and now appears to be shaping the approach to pouches.

The Tobacco and Vapes Bill reflects a government that wants to capture the harm-reduction benefits of nicotine pouches while preventing the kind of unregulated youth market that has developed over the past three years. Whether that regulatory sweet spot is achievable is one of the most important public health questions in Britain right now.

What This Means for Consumers

For adult consumers in the UK, the immediate practical impact of the upcoming legislation is relatively modest. Nicotine pouches will remain legal to buy and use. The most noticeable changes will be in how products are displayed in shops, the disappearance of pouch brand advertising and sponsorship, and potentially some reformulation if nicotine strength caps are enforced.

For anyone currently exploring nicotine pouches — whether as an alternative to smoking, as a step down from vaping, or simply out of curiosity driven by the cultural visibility the products now enjoy — the market remains fully accessible. Trusted online retailers like The Snus Outlet offer a wide selection of brands, strengths, and flavours, making it straightforward to find a product that matches your preferences and experience level.

The UCL study’s most important contribution may be its call for more research. The data shows clearly that nicotine pouches are here to stay in British culture. What we still need to understand better is exactly how effective they are as cessation tools, what the long-term oral health implications look like, and whether the regulatory framework about to be implemented strikes the right balance between protecting young people and preserving a harm-reduction option for adults.

The half-million people already using nicotine pouches in Great Britain — and the millions more who are aware of them — deserve answers to those questions. The UCL team has provided the most comprehensive baseline data to date. What comes next will determine whether nicotine pouches fulfil their potential as a public health tool or remain a source of regulatory anxiety.