( ENSPIRE Health ) ZYN: Empowering Men to Quit Smoking
It’s widely known that smoking can significantly impact one’s health. However, one thing that isn’t often regularly up for discussion is that the effects of cigarette use can vary per gender. Though women smoke for more internal, psychological reasons like emotional regulation, men do so in response to external environmental factors such as certain events or settings. That makes them more likely to smoke. In fact, over 13% of American men smoke cigarettes compared to 10% of the country’s women. From here, men increase their likelihood of developing several unique conditions detrimental to their health—and their gender can also determine how easy it is for them to quit.
Given these challenges, one product has emerged to meet men’s needs and preferences when it comes to switching away from cigarettes. The nicotine pouch continues to gain popularity for its discretion and ability to prevent relapse. In a pouch market worth nearly $4 billion, ZYN pouches stand out for single-handedly expanding alternative tobacco options for men.
To fully grasp how it’s doing so, here’s more on how smoking uniquely affects men—and how ZYN gives them more options to quit.
Smoking and men’s health
Societal expectations play a significant role in shaping the environmental factors that cause men to smoke. Masculinity is often associated with traits like toughness. As a result, our article for Men’s Health Month notes that men are more likely to engage in risky behaviors like smoking. In doing so, they expose themselves to several health conditions more prevalent among men than women.
Aside from lung cancer, male smokers have a higher risk of developing oral and throat cancer. However, they’re also 25 times more likely to develop lung cancer compared to the general non-smoking population. Men may also experience weight gain, especially in the torso, along with a heightened risk of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease—two chronic conditions they’re already more vulnerable to compared to women. Meanwhile, though cigarette use also causes hormonal imbalance in women, it manifests in men through lowered sperm counts, testosterone levels, and overall fertility.
According to a study from BMJ Open, men’s motivation for smoking also impacts their ability to quit. Since external factors ranging from certain foods, locations, and events to the number of smokers in their vicinity can “trigger” them into lighting a cigarette, they experience a significant number of physical barriers to quitting that can cause them to relapse. Men are also less likely to seek professional or group support than women and prefer cessation methods that offer incentives, limiting their options when it comes to turning away from cigarettes. That’s where ZYN pouches come in to expand their choices.
How ZYN pouches give men more alternatives
Though ZYN was introduced to the US market in 2014, sales only skyrocketed in the past couple of years. Already a leading pouch brand, ZYN gained further exposure after its parent company, Swedish Match, was acquired by Philip Morris International in late 2022. The brand’s pouches were soon picked up by social media influencers or “Zynfluencers,” the majority of whom were men. That increased their popularity to the point that ZYN sold 131.6 million cans in the US in the first quarter of 2024—an 80% increase from the year prior. By mid-2024, the country started experiencing a ZYN shortage.
The reason why ZYN pouches are so popular among male smokers can be attributed to their diverse offerings and discreet nature. With variants ranging from 3mg to 6mg nicotine content and coming in flavors like cinnamon, mint, and coffee, ZYN aims to offer pouches for light and heavy smokers with varying tastes. Each pouch is as small as a gum pellet but slimmer, so they can easily fit between the gum and upper lip for nicotine release without being detected. That means they can be used in the face of the environmental factors that spur men to smoke, making it easier for them to curb withdrawal, refrain from cigarette use, and cease tobacco consumption in the long term.
Though the above features can be found in pouches from other brands, ZYN’s unique, all-white packets stand out for their high-tech distillation techniques to isolate nicotine from the tobacco plant and all-natural ingredients like flavorings. As a result, many ZYN users report that they are unable to switch to other brands due to the difference in pouch quality. ZYN pouches also remain accessible despite the shortage thanks to the brand’s partnerships with online retailers like Prilla, which supplements the lack of stocks in physical stores by selling ZYN’s entire range of pouch flavors and limiting purchases to 30 cans a month per consumer.
These features can further appeal to men, given ZYN’s unique rewards program. Each can of pouches comes with a QR code that can be scanned to increase one’s rewards balance, which can be used to redeem prizes ranging from gift cards and headphones to iPads and air fryers. ZYN users can also earn points by referring friends to its pouches and participating in the brand’s promotions. This scheme can further incentivize the process of switching away from cigarettes in line with men’s preferences and potentially motivate long-term cessation.
2022 research from Psychopharmacology reveals that the brand’s pouches are unlikely to support continued nicotine use, making them an acceptable alternative for smokers looking to stop using cigarettes. With a more recent study finding that over 59% of current pouch users are men—in a market where ZYN reigns supreme—it’s also clear that the brand has effectively helped expand the options available to men looking to cease tobacco smoking on the whole.
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