KARACHI: As global sales for oral nicotine pouches continue to increase, an analysis of the products sold in Karachi has revealed a wide variety of unregulated flavour chemicals, often combined with menthol.
The study was conducted by researchers from the Institute for Global Tobacco Control (IGTC) at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Portland State University, and published in the peer-reviewed journal Tobacco Control.
It called for regulating nicotine pouch ingredients, their sale, marketing and promotion, to prevent widespread addiction.
For the study, researchers procured 10 brand variants of nicotine pouches of a multinational tobacco corporation in 2022. Data collectors recorded the purchase price and photographed each package. The pouches were chemically analysed for nicotine and 180 individual flavour chemicals.
According to researchers, the work provides policymakers with potential targets that can help reduce use and improve the health of Pakistanis all over the country.
Existing research shows flavours can lead young people to try tobacco and nicotine products for first time, says co-author Dr Welding
“Existing research across all tobacco and nicotine products shows that flavours can drive consumer interest and lead young people to try these products for the first time,” said Dr Kevin Welding, associate director at IGTC and a co-author of the study. “The use of such a wide variety of levels and combinations of flavours raise concerns about expanding the nicotine market to young people.”
Oral nicotine pouches are small pouches filled with powdered nicotine that can be placed in the mouth, between the gum and upper lip, where the nicotine can be readily absorbed into the bloodstream.
Nicotine pouches commonly include a variety of flavour chemicals, filler material, other additives, and also have a range of nicotine strengths. The most popular brands globally are primarily manufactured by multinational tobacco corporations.
The analyses found measurable levels of flavour chemicals across all brand variants, and detected benzyl alcohol (cherry flavour), menthol, terpineol (cardamom flavour), and carvone (a mint flavour) in all 10 products.
The researchers found a wide variation in the levels of fruit, menthol, and non-menthol / mint flavour chemicals across products, suggesting that producing a spectrum of flavour chemical levels and combinations is a central component of marketing brand variants.
“To help improve the health of Pakistanis, we need to shrink the markets for nicotine products — even while the tobacco industry devises new ways to expand these markets,” said Syed Ali Wasif Naqvi from the Sustainable Development Policy Institute. “Flavour chemicals offer a target for policies that can be applied broadly and fairly, and we should consider how the regulation of flavours and ingredients in tobacco and nicotine products can help safeguard everyone’s health.”
Regulation of flavoured nicotine and tobacco products — and nicotine pouches in general — varies widely across the world. In Pakistan, the sale, marketing, and promotion of nicotine pouches is largely unregulated, and flavoured nicotine and tobacco products (including pouches) are not restricted.
In Pakistan, according to Euromonitor (a British market research company), “Volume sales of nicotine pouches are substantial,” with a multinational company commanding the largest brand market share of smokeless tobacco (including nicotine pouches), e-cigarette, and heated tobacco products in 2023, at 52.4 per cent (an increase of more than double from 2021, at 25.6 percent).
“These findings align with previous IGTC studies in Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam, where flavour chemical engineering was shown to support broader tobacco marketing strategies,” Dr Welding added.
“While policies addressing nicotine pouches have found traction in some European and Central Asian countries, Pakistan and the Southeast and South Asian markets have remained fertile ground for these products.
“Regulating both flavour chemicals and nicotine levels in oral nicotine pouches are powerful policy options to prevent widespread addiction.”
Published in Dawn, January 5th, 2026
