New CEH Report Uncovers Big Tobacco’s Evolving Plan to Hook Kids
The sweet smells of artificial fruit and burnt sugar hit me as soon as I enter the smoke shop. There are no Prop 65 warnings posted, and I only see mint and original flavors of nicotine products on display.
I ask the clerk if there are any fruit flavored nicotine pouches available. He pauses for a moment, lets me know that he has some blackberry and citrus flavors in the back, and that these flavored products would be more expensive. He also points out that one of the products on display is actually watermelon flavored even though the package lists the flavor as “LUSH.”
I ask for one LUSH/watermelon flavored nicotine pouch and one blackberry flavored nicotine pouch. He grabs the LUSH/watermelon flavored nicotine pouch, walks to the back of the store — to an Employees Only section out of view of the customers — and returns with the blackberry flavored nicotine pouch I requested.
The clerk does not scan the products’ bar codes, but instead types in a custom amount for $25 dollars on the POS system. He flips the screen around and I press the “print receipt” option, because I need a receipt to document the nicotine pouch investigation we’re doing at work. The receipt is printing as he begins to call up the next customer, and I quickly ask for it.
“No receipts for fruit flavored products,” he tells me, so I make up an excuse and claim my roommate needs to Venmo me and ask if I may take the receipt just this time. “Nope,” he says. “That will incriminate me.”
I try again to get a receipt. This time I suggest that I take a picture of the receipt because that way the physical copy will not leave his shop. He pauses and looks me up and down. “How about this?” He asks as he rips the portion of the receipt off, so all that is displayed is the $25.00 total amount.
I take the ripped portion of the receipt, thank him and start to walk away. “It is nothing personal, just that these are fruit products, and they are illegal in California,” he tells me as I leave the store, which is less than one mile from an elementary school.
He’s right. It is illegal to sell fruit and candy flavored nicotine products in California as of 2025. I wish I could say this store was unique in breaking the law, but 45 percent of the California stores CEH visited sold us flavored nicotine pouches illegally.
I’m buying these nicotine pouches as evidence to investigate as part of my job at the Center for Environmental Health, specifically for a report we just launched called A Candy Shop of Deception: From Vaping to Nicotine Pouches — Big Tobacco’s Evolving Plan to Addict Generations of Users.
Nicotine pouch use among kids has increased 125% over the last four years according to the FDA. Using flavors to addict youth to nicotine products is a well-documented phenomenon, which is why California banned retailers from selling flavored varieties of tobacco products.
Our report found that Big Tobacco is using nicotine pouches in the same way it used e-cigarettes a decade ago: as a discreet, flavored way to consume nicotine — which makes these nicotine pouches all too tempting to kids who have seen the TikTok videos promoting Zyn brand nicotine pouches that have skyrocketed in popularity recently. In fact, the top 100 videos under the hashtag “#ZYN” on TikTok were viewed by more than 400 million people. 79 percent of the videos portrayed nicotine pouches in a positive light, while only 17 percent provided disclaimers about the harm that could be caused by nicotine pouch use.
To counteract these harmful videos and irresponsible retailers, we’re asking CEH supporters to talk to your kids (or other youth in your life) about the dangers of using nicotine pouches. If you take the pledge, we’ll send you 11 tips developed with input from Truth Initiative to help you have that conversation. You can also read our full report on how Big Tobacco has been hooking young people through e-cigarettes and now nicotine pouches, and what we’re doing at CEH to stop them.
CEH has taken Big Tobacco to court before and won, forcing the industry to stop promoting e-cigarettes to youth. We know we can get nicotine pouch companies in line using a similar strategy. Stay tuned as we employ a multipronged approach to get Big Tobacco to stop marketing nicotine pouches to kids.