Silicon Valley has a new office accessory: refrigerators and vending machines stocked with free nicotine pouches. Once pitched mainly as a smoking-cessation tool, the tiny, flavored sacks of nicotine, tucked between gum and cheek, are catching on as a focus aid among some tech workers and founders, even as health experts warn they can hook a previously nicotine-free crowd, the Wall Street Journal reports. At Palantir's Washington, DC, offices, branded machines from startups Lucy Nicotine and Sesh dispense complimentary pouches to employees and guests over 21; the company pays to keep them filled. Other founders say they now keep "nic fridges" in their own offices.
Austin-based startup founder Alex Cohen says he first noticed Zyn tins on his engineers' desks, saw how hard they were working, and tried it himself. He now uses two to three a day himself—there's a nic pouch fridge in his office kitchen—and says, as someone with ADHD, the stimulant effect helps him concentrate. Fellow tech founders describe switching from afternoon coffee to nicotine to avoid caffeine's longer-lasting buzz. "I'm a bit of a health nerd and track all my biomarkers monthly, as well as my blood pressure and sleep data," Cohen tells the New York Post. "So far, none of it has been impacted by pouch use."
Users describe the nicotine use as part of a culture of "bio-hacking," but some medical researchers are concerned. Nicotine pouches are considered less harmful than smoking because there's no combustion, but University of Wisconsin tobacco expert Dr. Michael Fiore warns they can still raise blood pressure and potentially increase the risk of heart attack and stroke, and they may serve as a gateway to more dangerous nicotine products. "I suspect most of these tech workers aren't users, so it could be causing addiction in a population that's not currently using it," he said. The FDA has allowed pouches on the market but emphasizes that doesn't make them safe.
Venture capital, however, is all in: Sesh recently raised $40 million led by 8VC, whose co-founder keeps his own nicotine fridge and says dozens of founders have asked how to get vending machines installed, the Journal reports. Lucy's co-founder, John Coogan, who once helped launch Soylent, says the tech world's nicotine chatter is unusually scientific—but even the pouch makers say they legally can't claim any productivity benefit.
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