Product Substitutability in the Nordic Nicotine Market: Reflections from the E-Cigarette Summit
12th Dec 2025
The 2025 E-Cigarette Summit on Science, Regulation, & Public Health brought together leading scientists, public health experts, and policymakers to explore the latest evidence and debate on nicotine, vaping, and tobacco harm reduction. This year’s (13th!) agenda included sessions covering regulatory developments, scientific advances, and public health impacts. It marks the last year of the meeting in this form, as it will be renamed The Nicotine Summit in 2026.
At this year’s meeting, Dr Karl-Erik Lund of the Norwegian Institute of Public Health delivered a compelling presentation on the history of product substitutability in the Scandinavian nicotine market, culminating in the rise of nicotine pouches in the last decade.
Dr Lund traced how different nicotine products have experienced periods of dominance in Scandinavia: from plug tobacco for chewing in the early 1900s, to pipe smoking in the 1930s, rolling tobacco in the 1960s, manufactured cigarettes from the 1980s, and then tobacco-based snus from 2015. Most recently, cellulose-based nicotine pouches (“white snus”)* have begun to outcompete traditional (brown) snus.
Starting with historical examples and including Haypp’s e-commerce sales data from Sweden and Norway collected from 2018 to 2025, Dr Lund illustrated the current market situation for nicotine pouches, discussed the inconsistent international regulatory landscape, examined the assumed harm potential and usage patterns, and highlighted ongoing knowledge gaps.
“This pattern of product substitution backs up Professor Michael Russell’s 1971 assertion that no population has dispensed with one form of tobacco use without replacing it by another. Despite a century of regulatory efforts and social pressures, the appetite for recreational nicotine use has persisted, with consumers continually shifting to new products. So why not give them the safest possible option?”, says Markus Lindblad, Head of Communications at Pouch Patrol.
* There is one caveat about Norwegian “white snus.” According to the Norwegian Tobacco Control Act (Tobakksskadeloven), which defines “snus” as an oral tobacco product, products sold as “snus” must, by law, contain tobacco. As a result, so-called “white snus” or nicotine pouches marketed in Norway must include a minimal amount of tobacco in their composition—even though similar products are entirely tobacco leaf-free in other countries. This legislative nuance means that, in Norway, “tobacco-free” pouches are not truly tobacco-free, illustrating how national regulations can directly shape both product formulation and consumer understanding.
