Nicotine pouches are products that are very similar to snus but they do not contain tobacco.
Finland brought nicotine pouches to the market in April 2023. Nicotine pouches are made of concentrated synthetic nicotine and flavoring. They resemble snus in many ways: the packaging, the pillow shaped portion bags and how they are both used by putting them under your lip.
The main difference between nicotine pouches and snus is that snus has tobacco in it. Sweden is the only country in EU that has exception permit that grants Sweden a right to produce snus.
Although, being illegal in Sweden’s neighboring country Finland, snus has been historically quite popular. According to the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, in 2022, six percent of men from 20-64 used snus daily and on percent of women in the same age group did so too.
Snus consumers and the fact it has been illegal, created a demand answered by the black market. This resulted in trafficking level reaching new heights in 2021 when Finnish Customs confiscated 9,104 kg of trafficked snus.
Shortly after the 2023 legislative change that brought nicotine pouches to the Finnish market, snus trafficking from Sweden declined radically. In 2022, Finnish customs confiscated 4,460 kg of snus while in 2023 the amount was only 857 kg.
A law that came into effect in the beginning of 2024 resulted in a rise in taxation of nicotine pouches, which of course, increased the prices.
In 2024, the amount of confiscated snus skyrocketed, between January and September. In 2024, the Finnish Customs seized 4,543 kg of snus.
The amount of confiscated snus in 2024 had already surpassed the level of 2022 by September.
The supervisory director of Finnish Customs, Jari Sinkkonen says that there must be many reasons why the trafficking of snus has turned to a rapid incline again.
“The time relation seems to be there”, Sinkkonen says, and adds that he will not speculate the reasons behind the increase.
The turbulent timeline of Finnish nicotine pouches
Finland brought nicotine pouches to the market in April 2023, when the Finnish Medicines Agency (FIMEA) changed its legislation for snus-like products.
The legislative change considered the status of nicotine pouches that contained more than 4mg of nicotine, as they weren’t seen as over-the-counter drugs anymore. Finnish retail stores got the right to sell nicotine pouches and many online businesses took the opportunity too.
The abolishment of the previous law on the pouches resulted in products with up to 50mg entering the market.
The temporary, almost non-existent legislation of nicotine pouches that was set in April got revised in June when the nicotine limit of 20mg was set.
Later that year by Finnish parliaments decision nicotine pouches were added under the tobacco law as “smokeless nicotine products”. The law came into effect in the beginning of the year 2024.
Now, during 2024 more restrictions are set to take place regarding the selection of flavors.
How taxation works is that tax paid account for 10 percent of the retail price and unit tax which is 10 cents per gram. The tax is at least 14 cents per can.
To put it simply, whereas before one pack of nicotine pouches would’ve cost 5€, now the price is 7,5€.