The nicotine pouch revolution in the United States has a timeline that is easy to trace. ZYN, the Swedish-made pouch that would come to dominate the American market, launched in the US in 2014. For the first few years, it grew quietly among niche communities. Then a wave of celebrity adoption sent sales into orbit. By early 2024, Philip Morris International was shipping 131.6 million cans of ZYN to the American market in a single quarter — an 80 percent increase from the same period the year before.
That kind of explosive growth does not happen through shelf placement alone. It happens when the right people use a product in front of the right audience. And in the United States, the celebrities who embraced nicotine pouches had audiences numbering in the tens of millions.
Joe Rogan — The Biggest Endorsement Money Cannot Buy
No single person has done more to popularize nicotine pouches in America than Joe Rogan. The host of The Joe Rogan Experience, consistently the most listened-to podcast on the planet, has been seen reaching for a ZYN pouch during episodes watched by millions. Rogan never signed a sponsorship deal with ZYN. He simply used the product on camera, talked about its focus-enhancing effects, and let his enormous audience draw their own conclusions.
For Rogan’s core demographic — men between 18 and 45 with an interest in fitness, performance optimization, and unconventional health practices — seeing him casually tuck a pouch under his lip during a three-hour conversation was more persuasive than any advertisement could ever be. Rogan has discussed nicotine as a cognitive tool on multiple occasions, placing it alongside the nootropics, supplements, and training protocols that are regular topics on his show.
The ripple effect extended through Rogan’s orbit. UFC commentator and former fighter Matt Serra tried ZYN for the first time on Rogan’s podcast and became an open advocate, regularly using the 6mg strength variant. Comedian Joey Diaz, another frequent Rogan guest, has spoken about his own use. Political commentator Hasan Piker, sometimes described as the “Joe Rogan of the left,” also became a visible ZYN user, demonstrating that the product’s appeal crosses political and cultural lines.
Tucker Carlson — From Fan to Founder
Tucker Carlson’s nicotine pouch story took an extraordinary turn that no one in the industry anticipated. The conservative media figure was one of the most vocal public supporters of ZYN, praising the product on air and discussing how it helped him with focus and concentration. His endorsement carried significant weight with his audience, and ZYN became something of a cultural totem within conservative media circles.
Then, in late 2024, Carlson launched his own competing brand — ALP Nicotine Pouches. Available in four styles, ALP was positioned as a direct competitor to ZYN, and the launch made national news. NBC, CBS, and dozens of industry publications covered the announcement. When a media personality with Carlson’s platform decides a market is worth entering personally, it sends an unmistakable signal about how mainstream the product category has become.
The move was reportedly motivated in part by a dispute with ZYN’s parent company, Philip Morris International, but the commercial logic was straightforward. The American nicotine pouch market was growing at a rate that made it one of the most attractive consumer product categories in the country, and Carlson had a built-in audience of millions ready to try whatever he put his name behind.
Hollywood’s Quiet Adoption
The entertainment industry’s relationship with nicotine pouches tends to be quieter than the podcast and media world, but it is just as real. Brad Pitt, one of the most famous actors alive, reportedly turned to snus as part of his long effort to quit smoking. For someone whose career spans decades of physically demanding roles and gruelling press tours, eliminating smoke inhalation while keeping nicotine was a practical decision that aligned with the health-conscious image Hollywood increasingly demands.
Ashton Kutcher, the actor and Silicon Valley tech investor, was photographed by the Daily Mail purchasing snus during a trip to Copenhagen. Kutcher sits at the intersection of Hollywood and the tech biohacking culture that has embraced nicotine pouches as a productivity tool. His dual identity makes him a natural bridge between two communities that have independently discovered the same product.
Josh Brolin delivered perhaps the most candid celebrity testimony about nicotine pouches when, in November 2024, he revealed the extent of his use on a podcast. Brolin admitted that he keeps a pouch in 24 hours a day — including while sleeping. He described switching to pouches after nicotine lozenges caused significant dental damage, calling the pouches a more comfortable delivery method. Brolin’s openness about using the product around the clock gave the public a rare unfiltered look at how deeply nicotine pouches can integrate into daily life.
The Sports World Goes All In
American professional sports have become one of the most visible stages for nicotine pouch use. The moment that crystallised the trend for many viewers came in October 2024, when NFL quarterback Baker Mayfield was caught on camera placing a ZYN pouch under his lip on the sideline during a Tampa Bay Buccaneers game. The footage spread instantly across social media, sparking debates about nicotine use among professional athletes and introducing the product to a massive football audience.
Mayfield’s on-camera moment was significant because the NFL reaches roughly 200 million American viewers each season. A single sideline clip, replayed millions of times on TikTok, X, and Instagram, functioned as organic marketing that no brand could have orchestrated deliberately.
In golf, Brooks Koepka has been seen using ZYN during professional tournaments. Golf is a sport where mental composure, sustained focus over four to five hours, and steady nerve control are everything. For a player competing at the highest level, the cognitive effects of nicotine — improved alertness and reduced anxiety — have an obvious appeal. Koepka’s use normalised the product within a sport that reaches an affluent, health-conscious demographic.
Dave Asprey, the entrepreneur behind Bulletproof Coffee and one of the most influential figures in the American biohacking movement, has publicly discussed nicotine as one of his favourite cognitive tools. Asprey has invested in the nicotine pouch brand Lucy and regularly discusses the performance benefits of controlled nicotine use on his platforms. His endorsement carries particular weight because his audience specifically seeks out products for mental and physical optimisation.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — The Political Moment
One of the most talked-about nicotine pouch moments of 2025 had nothing to do with sport or entertainment. During his Senate confirmation hearing for the position of Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was caught on camera appearing to place a nicotine pouch under his lip. The footage went viral within hours.
The image of a public health nominee using a nicotine product during a formal government proceeding generated an avalanche of commentary. Supporters framed it as evidence that nicotine pouches are a legitimate, mainstream product used by serious people. Critics questioned the optics. Either way, the moment inserted nicotine pouches into a political news cycle seen by tens of millions of Americans who might never have encountered the product otherwise.
Why America Fell for the Pouch
The American celebrity embrace of nicotine pouches reflects broader shifts in how the country thinks about nicotine. For decades, nicotine was inseparable from cigarettes in the public imagination. Smoking rates declined steadily, and nicotine carried the stigma of an outdated, harmful habit. Vaping began to change that perception by separating nicotine from combustion, but vapes brought their own controversies — youth usage concerns, flavour bans, and questions about long-term lung effects.
Nicotine pouches arrived as a third option that sidestepped many of those concerns. No smoke, no vapour, no device, no lung involvement at all. For celebrities and public figures who operate under constant scrutiny, the discretion factor is enormous. A pouch is invisible during a podcast recording, a film shoot, a press conference, or a sideline interview. There is nothing to hold, nothing to charge, and nothing for a camera to catch unless the timing is very specific.
The performance angle also resonates deeply in American culture. The United States has a long history of embracing productivity tools, biohacks, and anything that promises a competitive edge. When figures like Rogan, Asprey, and Carlson frame nicotine pouches as cognitive enhancers rather than tobacco products, the product shifts categories in the consumer’s mind — from vice to tool.
For anyone curious about the products that these American celebrities have been seen using, exploring a dedicated retailer like The Snus Outlet is a practical starting point. The range of brands, strengths, and flavours available today reflects a market that has matured rapidly, driven in no small part by the visibility that high-profile users have provided.
The Numbers Tell the Story
The celebrity effect on the American nicotine pouch market is not just anecdotal — it is measurable. ZYN sales surpassed one billion dollars in 2024. New brands are entering the market monthly, from Carlson’s ALP to dozens of smaller competitors. The category is growing faster than any other segment in the nicotine industry, and analysts consistently point to organic celebrity visibility as one of the primary growth drivers.
Whether this trajectory continues depends on regulatory decisions, public health research, and shifting consumer preferences. But the foundation that American celebrities have laid — through podcast appearances, sideline moments, candid interviews, and even launching their own brands — has already transformed nicotine pouches from a niche Scandinavian import into one of the defining consumer products of the decade.
