High on snus in school: The hidden nicotine pouches shredding teens' gums

Finn picks up a small, white, teabag-like pouch from a round, brightly coloured tin and places it between his upper lip and gum.

He and his mates use nicotine pouches until they vomit, he tells me.

The strength of the nicotine - at 150mg a pouch - is enough, he says, to "immobilise" them - especially when they use two or three in one go.

"It's the burn at first," the 17-year-old explains. "You feel this burning sensation against your gums, and then you get the hit."

The hit, he says, is far stronger than any cigarette, and often he and his friends will lie down before they put the pouch in place, hidden under their lips.

Finn tells me how easy they are to use; they are so inconspicuous he even uses them at school.

"I've sat in class before and had one in my mouth that was so strong I was all over the place," he says. "I was sweating, salivating and struggling to concentrate."

In the end, he says, his teacher noticed he looked "bright green" and he made his excuses and bolted out of his maths lesson.

Finn, who only wants us to use his first name, is not boasting. In fact, he says, he regrets ever having started using pouches. He now sees himself as an addict and wants to warn others.

"I just got bored of vaping, and now I'm stuck on these."

A growing number of young people are using nicotine pouches - some swapping from vaping or smoking, others trying nicotine for the first time.

Figures seen by BBC News suggest there has been nearly a four-fold rise in use by 16 to 24-year-olds in the UK - from less than than 1% in 2022, to 3.6% in 2024.

The pouches are widely sold online, in supermarkets and in corner shops. Priced at around £5 for a pack of 20, they come in exotic flavours with varying nicotine strengths - from 1.5mg to claims of 150mg for a more "extreme" experience.

Anyone can buy them. There is no minimum age as with cigarettes, vapes and alcohol. Nor is there any restriction on the strength of the nicotine in the pouches.

"I've heard of children as young as 11 or 12 nipping to shops and buying them," warns Kate Pike, Trading Standards' lead officer for tobacco and vaping.

She says her organisation is receiving an increasing number of reports from parents and teachers that nicotine pouches are being sold to children.

"It is incredibly frustrating that there is nothing we can currently do to prevent them."

• Also known as white snus, they contain nicotine extracted from tobacco leaves, sodium carbonate, flavourings, and sweeteners

• They often have a high pH value, an effect of the ingredient sodium carbonate, which allows the nicotine inside the pouch to penetrate the soft lining on the gum more quickly and enter the bloodstream, resulting in stronger nicotine kicks

Source: Institute of Odontology, University of Gothenburg

Ms Pike is urging the government to prioritise the Tobacco and Vapes Bill, which, if passed, will make it illegal to sell these pouches to under 18s.

"We need to take action against those who either deliberately or uncaringly risk children getting hooked on a highly addictive product," she says.

Despite containing large amounts of the drug, nicotine pouches do not need to display the warning, "This product contains nicotine which is a highly addictive substance" on their packaging.

If the pouches have more than 16.7mg of nicotine, then under general product safety regulation, there should be a skull and cross bones symbol on the packaging and a list of the chemical components written in English.

This regulation, Ms Pike says, is increasingly being flouted, with Trading Standards officers seizing thousands of illegal products across the UK.

The pouches are significantly less harmful than cigarettes, and because chemicals do not enter the lungs, they may carry fewer risks than vapes.

Harry Tattan-Birch, a senior researcher from University College London, says pouches are the "least harmful way" to ingest nicotine.

"If they were used to stop people smoking or vaping, they could have a positive public health effect - but it would only be positive if they were used by those wanting to quit, not those who are trying nicotine for the first time."

While they may carry fewer health risks than cigarettes and vapes, there are cardiovascular risks for people using pouches with high quantities of nicotine - and there is growing concern over the damage nicotine pouches do to gums.

Finn has been using pouches for more than a year and says he reached a point where his "mouth was shredded to bits" and, on one occasion, he "peeled half [his] gum off".

Dr Patric Saraby, a Swedish dentist based in Bournemouth, has treated patients who are nicotine pouch users with gum lesions so deep it's possible to see the root of the tooth.

"The long-term damage of these products is extremely worrying," he says.

One of his patients, a 23-year-old student, started to develop lesions in his gums while studying for his exams. He was using five pouches a day to help him quit vaping and, he says, to help him focus on his studies.

"It started as a recreational thing, but it quickly took hold," the student says. "I became worried when a bit of my gum - where I had been placing the pouch - came off."

He's now nicotine-free and his gums are starting to heal after quitting vaping and pouches eight months ago.

Dr Saraby, who has carried out two years of research into nicotine pouches, says there is an increased risk of localised gum disease and localised bone loss.

He is worried that the "tidal wave of nicotine pouch use" that has hit Sweden - the home of the original, tobacco-based snus - will soon hit the UK. There, 25% of 16 to 29-year-olds are users and dentists are seeing increasing numbers of patients with painful inflammation that is taking months, sometimes years, to heal.

A five-year study has just started at the University of Gothenburg into why white snus is leaving such damage compared to the tobacco-based products.

Dr Gita Gale, a specialist in oral medicine who is leading the study, says it's "alarming" how many people are using this product given how little is known about the long-term consequences of its use.

The government says its "landmark" Tobacco and Vapes bill, which is currently making its way through the House of Lords, will ban the sale of nicotine pouches to under 18s and prevent vapes and nicotine products from being deliberately promoted and advertised to children.

"It will stop the next generation from getting hooked on nicotine and put an end to the cycle of addiction and disadvantage," a government spokesperson added.

Finn says many of his school friends have moved from vaping to nicotine pouches. He did the same but feels he has had enough, and is trying to cut back.

"All I could think about was how much I needed it - it got too much," Finn says. "Snus is so much harder to kick than vaping.

"My advice? Don't bother with any of it in the first place. Nicotine traps you."