Exclusive | The Zyn-ifcation of wellness: Caffeine, melatonin and even vitamins now come in pouches but do they work?

Zyn may have taken nicotine pouches mainstream, but we’ve come a long way since the brand popularized the “lip pillow.”When the company hit US shelves more than a decade ago, it helped kick open the door to a booming new market for tobacco alternatives.Now, everyone wants a piece of the pouch.Brands are repurposing the under-the-lip delivery system for everything from caffeine and cannabis to vitamins and melatonin.The trend “was almost inevitable,” Stephanie Boyd, a consumer-focused researcher and marketing expert, told The Post.

“Consumers are consistently looking for products that can fit seamlessly into their existing lives without extra preparation, equipment, calories or having to go outside,” she said.Then there’s the stealth factor.Chances are, you’ve had a conversation with someone with a pouch tucked under their lip and never even knew it.“I think that discretion is one of the most underestimated drivers of this category,” Boyd said.

“Smoking announces itself.A pouch doesn’t.”And that may be the key to understanding why the pouch has escaped the nicotine aisle.Though Zyn and its competitors certainly popularized pouches, they didn’t invent them.

Oral snus — a moist, powdered tobacco product traditionally placed between the gum and cheek or upper lip — has been used in Sweden for centuries.They took off in the US after Swedish Match introduced Zyn in 2014 (the brand has since been acquired by Philip Morris International).An alternative to smoking for nicotine users, some of the appeal is that they may have a “lower risk of mouth cancer, heart disease, lung cancer, stroke, emphysema and chronic bronchitis,” according to the FDA.But the wider cultural impact has gone beyond fueling a potentially less risky nicotine habit: Zyn helped normalize the pouch itself.Smoking was once an easy, relatively cheap way for young people to look “older and sexier” while signaling rebellion and belonging, said cultural specialist ...