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REVIEWS
ZYN NICOTINE POUCHES
By Benedict Jones
Many vapers probably don’t give a second thought to
alternative nicotine products and this is understandable.
Many of us quit smoking successfully using vaping and
continue to enjoy it as a method of ingesting nicotine,
with significantly less harmful chemicals than are found
in cigarettes.
When I quit smoking, I skipped straight past things like
gums, snus, and inhalers, and went straight for vaping
instead. It just seemed like the obvious choice. I’m sure
most of the people reading this can relate to that process,
but what about those times when you can’t vape?
Whether it’s in a work environment, a long journey or even a
trip to a country where vaping has been banned altogether,
there are situations when you can’t get your usual nicotine
fix, for a prolonged periods of time.
Enter ZYN. For the uninitiated, ZYN is a small, tobacco-free
pouch, which is flavoured and infused with varying levels
of nicotine. In terms of format, it’s essentially snus, without
the tobacco content. You place a pouch under your upper
lip and nicotine is delivered to your blood stream.
My first proper trial of this product was after The Vaper
Expo UK in October. I had a sample pack of strength 2
pouches and a four-hour journey ahead of me. On the first
leg of my journey, I placed a pouch under my lip as directed
and it eliminated any temptation to make a trip to the toilet
for a top-secret stealth vape. Something I would never, ever
do, or condone, of course. For someone who is a relatively
heavy user of nicotine, that was quite the first impression.
ZYN has just released two new varieties, Spearmint and
Espressino, which are available in strengths 1 and 2
respectively. With a positive first experience, I was intrigued
to try them.
Spearmint:
The Spearmint pouch has a light, sweet spearmint flavour,
which is more akin to a gum, than a herbal mint. I found
this to increase the tingle sensation provided by the
nicotine and the flavour consistently lasts for 20 or so
minutes per pouch. This is a strength 1 product, which
translates to 1.5mg per pouch. When compared to the
amount of nicotine I consume vaping, this does not appear
to be a high dose at all but still, I find a strength 1 pouch to
keep me satisfied for 20-30 minutes. This is likely due to
a different delivery mechanism to the blood stream and I
won’t pretend to be an expert on the subject. I see this as
a good option for low-to-moderate nicotine users, or light
smokers.
specifications
ZYN Spearmint:
- Strength: 1
- Nicotine content: 0.4% (1.5mg/pouch)
ZYN Espressino:
- Strength: 2
- Nicotine content: 0.75% (3mg/pouch)
Espressino:
Espressino has a more saturated flavour in my view. It’s
not a pure coffee flavour though, as there are notes of
cream and a pleasant level of sweetness. I would compare
it to the taste of a frappuccino. This is a strength 2 product,
which means 3mg of nicotine per pouch. I think this is
the sweet spot for me. I found each pouch to keep me
satisfied for 45 minutes to an hour, without the need for a
vape. Again, I won’t pretend to understand the correlation
in terms of nicotine dose, since I can easily go through
1.5-3ml of 3mg/ml e-liquid per hour when vaping.
I have no doubts that some people in the vaping
community will have a problem with me enjoying ZYN, or
merely writing about it. All the same, I think it has a very
important place in the market, for nicotine users who are
in situations where they cannot vape. Will ZYN replace
vaping for me? No, but that’s not the point.
The next time I take a long train journey or flight, you can
bet that I’ll be carrying some strength 2 ZYN with me and
that’s simply not an option I had before. Smokers who
want to quit, while avoiding inhalation will likely benefit
from products like this one too. As vapers, we should
welcome tobacco harm reduction in all its forms and I am
interested to see where ZYN will be in the market in five
years time. .
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