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Youth Tobacco Use Takes a Tumble, While Zyn Goes for Gold (and Silver and Bronze)
It’s a happy day in the land of public health! As the sun set on tobacco’s reign over teens, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) revealed that the use of tobacco products among middle and high school students has plummeted to a staggering 25-year low. Apparently, kids today are more interested in scrolling through TikTok than toking up—who would have guessed?
According to the latest National Youth Tobacco Survey, only 2.25 million students admitted to using any tobacco product in the past month, down significantly from 2.8 million in 2023. That’s a decrease you can almost hear the collective sigh of relief coming from the White House. But wait, there’s more! E-cigarette use fell like a rock from 2.13 million to just 1.63 million. Maybe someone finally informed them that inhaling vapor doesn’t guarantee a spot at the cool kids’ table.
Brian King, the big cheese at the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products, declared to the press, "We’re headed in the right direction," which sounds a lot more optimistic when you ignore the fact that "the right direction" used to be straight to the corner store for a pack of smokes. But hey, let’s not throw a party just yet—King also cautioned against complacency, advising, "Continued vigilance is needed." Because, of course, a little nicotine pouch in every teenager’s pocket can ruin all that hard work in an instant.
Speaking of pouches, let’s take a moment to celebrate the triumph of Zyn, the reigning champion of nicotine pouches, which recently snagged a whopping 68.7% of the pouch market share. That’s right, it’s cleaned up while the other brands (we’re looking at you, On, with your measly 14.2%) are left wondering if Zyn has some secret TikTok strategy to lure in the youth. We’ll call it, #NicotineGoals.
The irony? Nicotine pouch use among students actually grew from 1.2% to 1.8%, which, considering it’s akin to your pizza slice going from one bite to one-and-a-half bites, isn’t exactly crushing it—but it’s also not a total washout. “Youth tobacco products remain unsafe,” cried Deirdre Lawrence Kittner from the CDC, as if waving a white flag to a group of rebellious teens who consider rules to be mere suggestions.
Now, while our future generation is supposedly steering clear of the bad stuff (or at least swapping it for different bad stuff), companies like Philip Morris International are capitalizing on the rise of Zyn like it’s the gold rush. After witnessing the brand’s meteoric rise into the social media stratosphere, Philip Morris decided to pop open the piggy bank, announcing a robust $600 million investment to ramp up production. That’s right, they’re betting big on the hope that teenagers will continue to “choose the pouch” over the old-school cig.
So, what does this all mean? While overall tobacco usage is trending down, we find ourselves in a new world where the kids aren’t smoking but are still getting their nicotine fix—just now through a more Instagrammable product. And as the nicotine pouch market continues to flourish like an annoying TikToker whose relentless videos you can’t help but watch, we’re left wondering if we’ve won the battle just to lose the war—and what exactly the next decade will hold for the great American tobacco saga. But hey, at least we’re all still laughing (and maybe gagging a little) at the absurd twists this story keeps taking!
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