Cigarettes are no longer vogue (sorry Lana.)
Vaping is now cringe (thank God).
When a new supreme rises, the old one fades away.
So, what is a Zyn (and why the hell does it have its own language)?
You heard that right.
Society has progressed past the need for smoking, apparently. But not the need for nicotine, though.
Zyn is a tiny white pouch, roughly the size and shape of a piece of gum that nestles neatly between your gum and lip. It's made of a permeable wrapper and stuffed full of nicotine powder, which slowly releases out of the wrapper, giving you a 'hit.'
Zyn's sold in circular tins containing 15-20 pouches, each of which contains anywhere from 1.5mg to 9mg of nicotine.
(By comparison, an average cigarette contains anywhere between 8mg and 20mg, but only 1-2mg is actually absorbed when smoking.)
Originally produced in Stockholm, the brand was sold to the American multinational Philip Morris International (PMI) for $16B in 2022.
David Dobbs, a 21-year-old student living in California broke it down for us ancients in an interview with The Guardian.
He cited all the reasons he loves Zyn, from the relatively low price to the range of flavours. 'If I start talking about Zyns, I sound like I'm a rep for them,' he laughs.
This is where things get Zynteresting.
The 'lip cushies,' as David calls them, have all kinds of slang, so buckle up.
Popping one feels amaZyn, even Zynful. Smack a BenjaZyn and take a trip to Zyn-babwe.
Then there's 'upper decking' and 'lower decking', depending on where in your mouth you place the pouch.
The enthusiasts will stop at no badly worded pun or reference.
Blame the Zynfluencers.
As with any tobacco or nicotine product, lawmakers and parents sound the alarm bells when the popularity of such products spikes among teens. The case with Zyn has been no different.
On TikTok, enthusiasts, often young men, talk about what Zyn flavour is their fave. They love to see how many pouches they can stuff into their mouths at once (not recommended use, obvs.)
There are currently just shy of 50,000 videos on the app under the hashtag #zyn.
Political commentator Tucker Carlson has called them a 'powerful work enhancer.' Joe Rogan discussed them on JRE. And viral Youtubers, the Nelk Boys, have promoted them. All this promotion has probably largely contributed to the majority male market that's adopted this product.
