Nicotine pouch use in New Zealand jumped from 1% to 14% in one year
University of Auckland researchers found pouch awareness and use among NZ smokers surged in a year, with 68% buying in ordinary retail and 95% seeing illegal promotions — just as the government plans over-the-counter sales from 2027.
New Zealand's nicotine pouch market went from a curiosity to a habit in a single year: reported current use among adults who smoke jumped from 1% to 14%, and awareness climbed from 22% to 37%. That is the headline finding of a new Public Health Communication Centre briefing from University of Auckland researchers, published this week.
The timing matters. The Government has signalled plans to allow oral nicotine pouches and other reduced-harm nicotine products to be sold over the counter from 2027. The researchers' point is blunt: there is still no definitive clinical trial evidence that pouches are safe, acceptable and effective for smoking cessation — and the market is already running ahead of the rules.
What happened
The briefing draws on survey data tracking adults who smoke in Aotearoa New Zealand between 2025 and 2026. Beyond the headline growth numbers, two details stand out:
- Where the products come from. Of those currently using pouches, 68% said they bought them from a dairy, petrol station, vape shop or tobacco store in New Zealand. This is not an import-only grey market — it is ordinary retail.
- Promotions everywhere. 95% reported that coupons, sales or other promotions were available when they purchased — despite such promotion being illegal.
Co-author Professor Chris Bullen of the University of Auckland says the findings show greater vigilance is needed to identify illegal sales and promotion, and that monitoring will be essential as availability grows — both for people who smoke and for those with no history of nicotine use.
The researchers also note the flip side: some people used pouches to go smoke-free or nicotine-free or to cut down cigarettes, while others stopped because the products were not satisfying or did not help them quit.
Why it matters
New Zealand is running a live experiment that the rest of the pouch world should watch. Most markets that have seen rapid pouch growth — the US, Sweden, the UK — already had a legal retail channel. New Zealand's pouches are technically restricted, yet use multiplied fourteenfold in a year, retail access is widespread, and promotions are nearly universal.
The government's plan to move pouches to over-the-counter sale from 2027 would formalise that reality. The researchers' warning is that the policy is being considered without definitive cessation-trial evidence — so the 2027 decision will lean partly on observational data like this briefing. If New Zealand does legalise OTC pouch sales, it becomes one of the first jurisdictions to do so explicitly as a harm-reduction policy, with obvious implications for how regulators in Europe and North America frame the same question.
What's next
Watch three things: whether enforcement catches up with the 95% promotion figure, whether the OTC policy survives consultation, and whether the next survey wave shows growth flattening once the novelty fades or accelerating as retail access normalises.
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