Nicotine pouch news: Velo joins the US legal list — 1 November 2026
Velo became the third brand of nicotine pouch that may lawfully be sold in the United States, ending a duopoly that had held since the first authorisation in January 2025. In Britain, selling a pouch to anyone under 18 became a criminal offence on 29 October — and a Budget the day before left pouches as the only significant UK nicotine category paying no duty at all.
Two top-tier events in two jurisdictions inside twenty-four hours, both changing what an adult can buy and how. Previous issue: 25 October.
FDA authorises 24 Velo pouches, and a third manufacturer appears
On 30 October the FDA issued marketing granted orders for 24 Velo nicotine pouch products made by Modoral Brands Inc., taking the authorised list from 43 products to 67 in a day. The agency’s framing on the list page: There are 67 nicotine pouch products authorized by the FDA. These are the only nicotine pouch products that may be lawfully sold in the United States.
Four things matter for anyone buying. The strength: The authorized products are made by Modoral Brands Inc. under the Velo brand and are all listed as containing 4 mg of nicotine.
Only 4 mg — every stronger Velo remains unauthorised. The flavours are Crema, Lime, Orange Crema, Passion Fruit and Cinnamon, which is a notable signal about what FDA will clear. None of the 24 is mint, so the mint picture is unchanged. And the headline number is softer than it looks, by FDA’s own explanation: These eight product names are shared across the three different types of packaging, resulting in a total of 24 unique tobacco products.
The stated basis was constituent chemistry — Notably, these products contain no measurable levels of several carcinogenic HPHCs, including those linked to an increased oral cancer risk in smokeless tobacco users.
— alongside certified child-resistant packaging on all three pack types.
Read FDA’s standing caveat alongside that, because it is the agency’s own and it is categorical: While these products are authorized to be sold in the United States, it does not mean these products are safe, nor are they “FDA approved.” All tobacco products are harmful and potentially addictive. Those who do not use tobacco products shouldn’t start.
Modoral’s parent issued its own statement the same afternoon, quoting chief executive David Waterfield on the orders demonstrating FDA leadership in accelerating progress toward a Smokeless America
— company language, but it signals further applications pending, which is the only forward-looking line available to anyone waiting for their own strength to become legal.
Britain: pouches get a statutory age limit, vending machines go, free samples become an offence
Parts 1 to 4 of the Tobacco and Vapes Act 2026 came into force on 29 October, six months to the day after Royal Assent, by automatic commencement written into the Act: Parts 1 to 4 of this Act (sale and distribution etc) come into force at the end of the period of 6 months beginning with the day on which it is passed
. The legislation database now annotates the relevant sections in force at 29.10.2026
.
Section 10(1) is the one that bites: It is an offence to sell a vaping product or nicotine product to a person who is under the age of 18.
A nicotine product is defined to reach nicotine, or any substance containing nicotine, which is intended to be delivered into the human body
, which is how a tobacco-free pouch is caught. Vending machines went the same day under section 12, and Scotland and Northern Ireland extended their retailer registers to nicotine products by separate instruments. The Department of Health and Social Care put it plainly: But from today, products that were not previously covered by existing age-of-sales rules, such as nicotine-free vapes and nicotine pouches, strips and pearls, will become illegal.
Two things this is not. It is not the generational tobacco ban — that sits under a different commencement provision and has not started. And it is not retail licensing in England, which awaits regulations with no appointed day. Anyone telling you the generational ban began last week is wrong.
The UK Budget left pouches untaxed, and almost nobody noticed
The Budget landed on 28 October, and the pouch story in it is an absence. The dutiable tobacco categories in its own rates annex are cigarettes, hand-rolling tobacco, other smoking and chewing tobacco, tobacco for heating, and vaping liquid. Chewing tobacco pays £248.07 a kilogram, heated tobacco £426.47, and vaping liquid £2.20 per 10ml of Vaping liquid
since 1 October. Tobacco-free pouches appear nowhere in the table and pay nothing — which is why a UK tin has not moved in price while vape prices jumped this autumn.
The thing to watch is upstream. The government will consult on the design of a Nicotine Approval Scheme ( NAS ) to introduce controls on the supply of high-strength nicotine from 1 April 2028.
, aimed in its own words at protecting vaping duty revenue. It is a consultation on a proposal — not a draft instrument, not law — it closes on 20 January 2027, and it does not mention pouches anywhere. It does consult on which forms of nicotine fall in scope, which leaves a door open rather than walking through it.
Altria: pouches are now 61.2 per cent of US oral tobacco
Altria’s third-quarter results, published 29 October, record the crossover in the incumbent dip maker’s own numbers: The nicotine pouch category was 61.2% of the oral tobacco category, an increase of 5.8 share points versus the prior year and 1.3 share points sequentially.
on! shipments rose 13.3 per cent to 47.8 million cans while total oral tobacco fell 4.3 per cent, Copenhagen down 10.1 and Skoal down 12.6 — and Altria’s own brand is losing share of the growing category, at on! retail share of the nicotine pouch category was 13.5%
, down 1.3 points. Also sourced, for anyone tracking what is coming: Helix recently expanded its on! PLUS portfolio with two new flavors, Blueberry Mint and Mango Pineapple, across 6-, 9- and 12-milligram nicotine strengths.
The share figures are Altria’s own reading of commercial retail data, not an independent measurement, and the document reports the quarter to 30 September rather than this week.
Sweden: two motions, and that is all they are
Two private members’ motions on nicotine pouches were filed in the Riksdag on 27 and 29 October, both by a single Christian Democrat backbencher during the general motion period. One asks that samma tillståndsplikt som för försäljning av tobaksvaror bör krävas för försäljning av tobaksfria nikotinprodukter, elektroniska cigaretter och påfyllnadsbehållare
— that pouches require the same sales licence as tobacco. The other carries a compliance figure worth recording: I kontroller som genomfördes av kommuner under 2024 såldes nikotinpåsar till unga utan att legitimation efterfrågades i 35 procent av de kontrollerade butikerna.
Age checks failed in 35 per cent of shops tested by municipalities in 2024.
These are not government policy, not bills and not drafts, and most such motions die in committee. They are here for the age-check figure, which is published in a parliamentary document, not because the proposals are likely to pass.
Three new papers, reported rather than interpreted
Three peer-reviewed papers carry a publication date inside the week. A survey in Addiction on 28 October reports that Ever nicotine pouch use increased from 16.4% in 2021 to 31.1% in 2024, and current use increased from 3.0% to 10.2% among adult tobacco users.
— a repeated cross-sectional online panel, not a cohort, with different eligibility between waves, and those figures are among adult tobacco users rather than all adults; the record carries no conflict-of-interest statement, which is not a declaration of none. A Pediatrics paper issued 1 November asks why American adolescents who use pouches say they do, on a small frequent-user sample: the most common reasons were experimentation (32.3%), nicotine buzz (30.5%), relaxation (22.7%), appealing flavors (17.4%), convenience (16.5%), socializing (16.0%), boredom (11.7%), and ability to conceal use (11.0%)
. And a laboratory study of 30 October applied pouch extracts to human stem cells differentiating toward bone, finding Wintergreen 6 mg had among the greatest transcriptomic potency metrics.
— cells in a dish, saying nothing about what happens in a person; the authors declare no competing interests. The health literature gets proper treatment on its own pages, not here.
And what did not happen
The Federal Register was silent on nicotine all week. I pulled the metadata for every issue from 26 to 30 October and searched all five for “nicotine” and “tobacco products”: zero hits, while the same files return dozens of Food and Drug Administration items on other subjects. No notice, no rule, no guidance.
No US state measure on oral nicotine commenced on 1 November — the nearest candidates all fall outside the window, New York’s wholesale tax on 1 September, Pennsylvania’s vape-only directory on 19 October, South Dakota’s retailer licensing not until 1 January 2027.
Three stories circulated that we could not source and so are not reporting as fact: that Sweden will oppose the EU tobacco tax reform over pouches (no government position paper, no Council document, nothing on tobacco tax in the Riksdag record for the week); that an EU compromise text sets phased pouch duties (no reachable Council document dated in the window); and any movement on the Tobacco Products Directive revision (no document in the window, no published proposal to cite). We also could not sweep the courts beat at all, because the case-law search we use refused access — a gap in our coverage, not a finding that nothing happened.
What is next
Whether FDA’s Velo decision extends to stronger products and to mint, which is the question the 4 mg ceiling raises; whether the UK’s Nicotine Approval Scheme consultation brings pouch manufacture into scope before 20 January 2027; and the English retail licensing regime, passed but with no commencement date. The standing legal position lives on the regulation tracker.
Sources
- FDA, FDA Authorizes Marketing of 24 Velo Nicotine Pouches, 30 October 2026. fda.gov.
- FDA, Nicotine Pouch Products Authorized by the FDA, content current as of 30 October 2026. fda.gov.
- Reynolds American Inc., Velo Nicotine Pouches Receive US FDA Marketing Authorization, 30 October 2026. company release.
- Tobacco and Vapes Act 2026, c. 18, sections 10, 12, 51 and 175, with in-force annotations. legislation.gov.uk.
- Department of Health and Social Care, Under-18 sales ban extended to nicotine products and all vapes, 29 October 2026. gov.uk.
- The Tobacco and Vapes Act 2026 (Commencement No. 1) Order (Northern Ireland) 2026, SR 2026/152. legislation.gov.uk. Scottish commencement: SSI 2026/210.
- HM Treasury and HMRC, Budget 2026: Annex A, rates and allowances and Overview of Tax Legislation and Rates, 28 October 2026. gov.uk.
- HMRC, Nicotine Approval Scheme consultation, 28 October 2026, closing 20 January 2027. gov.uk.
- Altria Group, Inc., third-quarter 2026 earnings release, 29 October 2026. investor relations.
- Sveriges riksdag, motions 2026/27:132 and 2026/27:147, Dan Hovskär (KD), 27 and 29 October 2026. 2026/27:132, 2026/27:147.
- Merianos AL et al., Addiction, 28 October 2026, doi 10.1111/add.70671. PMID 42949787.
- Chang C et al., Pediatrics 2026;158(5), doi 10.1542/peds.2026-076821. PMID 42927773.
- Bertotto LB et al., Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology, 30 October 2026, doi 10.1016/j.taap.2026.118096. PMID 42963005.
- Federal Register issue metadata, 26 to 30 October 2026, searched for nicotine and tobacco products. govinfo.gov.
