PouchXchange 2026 | Dortmund
I feel like Shem gave me a really great intro, as did my colleague there. This is not what I had signed up for, but we’re here!
So, I’m hoping, if you allow me 10 minutes, I’ll give you a bit of a view from us at Dholakia Tobacco and RUSH: how we see pouches in 2026, how we’re moving and evolving with the category, and what comes next, which I’m sure is part of a lot of the discussion happening in the room today.
There have been a lot of thanks, but I’ll just continue that and say thank you to the PouchXchange team, thank you to the team at Messe Dortmund, GINN, and all of our fellow sponsors. It’s great to see lots of familiar faces and lots of new faces in the room. I think that tells you a lot about how the category is changing and moving, and we’re really happy to welcome new people into this category, as well as some familiar faces and old friends.
When Shem and the PouchXchange team asked me to do something around the state of pouches, it was such a big catchment, such a big space, that it was really difficult to say: where do I start, and how do we do something about it?
So there’s really one question I want to try and address in the next 10 minutes. Perhaps it will spark some debate and discussion between you as we network throughout this evening and into the party.
I think it’s safe to say we’re all pretty clear that demand in this category is very much real. We can see consumers choosing this product. We can see the growth of the market across the world. But it’s up to all of us in the room as manufacturers, as brands, as retailers, and as those who work in the science and manufacturing, to ensure that we realise the potential that we actually have in this market and in this category. And we have to do so responsibly as well.
So, if you’ll allow me, I’ll spend the next eight minutes or so giving you a bit of an insight into how I think we can answer that question and hopefully spark a little bit of debate for the rest of the evening as well.
The first thing is that, since we started making nicotine pouches at Dholakia Tobacco, we’ve worked in pouches for about the last 10 years, when we first started, it was a category that was small but growing. People still asked the question, “What is a nicotine pouch?” And I think a lot of people, both in large and small organisations, were unsure whether this would continue at the rate we started to see.
I think it’s 2026, Shem, the state of pouches is that it’s here, and it’s here to stay, for sure. I think that’s definitely the number one thing we can say, and I’m sure you’ll all agree with me on that as well.
A couple of interesting stats that I’ll just throw out to you, you might know some of this already. If you look at some of the very traditional markets for anything in a pouch, like Sweden and Norway, since last year nicotine pouches, non-tobacco white pouches, have become the majority of all nicotine products being sold in the market: 55%.
If that’s not showing what demand looks like in what is a very competitive, very traditional market, nothing else will for us.
And also in the US, such a huge market, we see what the potential is there. Retail sales over the last two years have jumped something ridiculous like 250%.
Again, when consumers are asking for something and they’re coming back for something, that’s no longer a trend or a fad. That is a category that’s very much here to stay.
I think this will be a bit of a topic for this evening. It’s really easy to get somebody to pick up and try a product for the first time. Most people are pretty open-minded; they’ll try something, especially an adult nicotine consumer.
But the real test for us as manufacturers, brands and retailers is: will they choose it again? Do they come back? Do they repeat that purchase? And do they stick to the category?
Really, that is where we’re able to realise the growth. That’s something at RUSH and at Dholakia that we take really seriously.
When we’re looking at the markets that we’re in around the world, we’re looking at not only how we introduce this better alternative to nicotine users, but how we get them to understand that this is a better way forward for the future. We are tracking how repeat business is coming in and how we’re moving people from trial to becoming loyal, not necessarily just to the brand, but to the category as a whole.
I think that’s something that, if you’re a retailer, online, offline, whatever you are, is really going to stand the test of time when we’re trying to sell this product.
I think the second thing, and we’ve seen this a lot probably over the last 12 months, is that there’s a real tension. The tension is between: how do you move at pace and scale in emerging markets without cutting corners?
Us, alongside, I’m sure, everyone in this room and all of our sponsors, we’re all responsible brands and manufacturers. We want to do things the right way. We want to give adult nicotine users an option that’s better than what they’re using right now.
You can’t cut corners if you’re going to do that. And you can’t cut corners if you want to stay in a category that’s going to be here for the next hundred-plus years as well.
The tension is moving into spaces where regulation hasn’t quite yet caught up to what consumer demand looks like. What do you do in those cases? How do you operate? Where do you set your own boundaries?
Because if we don’t set them for ourselves, regulation comes in with an incredibly heavy hand and gives people less choice in that market.
I have a list of countries to reel off, and I’m sure none of them are going to be new for any of you, but from the Philippines to the UAE, from Argentina and Chile to the UK and Sweden included, regulation is moving and changing shape constantly.
The speed at which it’s moving creates opportunity for those who are ready and willing to take that opportunity.
What I’d encourage you all to do throughout the conversations you have this evening is to discuss those things, share and learn from each other about how that regulation is moving, because there are patterns across markets and across regions.
Regulation moves at a certain speed in certain areas and in different regions of the world. If we’re able to learn the lessons from what’s come before, we’re going to be better prepared for what’s next and move with that regulation.
We’re very happy to be founding members of GINN, as an example, because it allows us to be in a conversation with policymakers very early on and to say: we’re not anti-regulation. We’ve never been anti-regulation. We are pro-regulation that allows adult nicotine users choice in a very safe way.
I was at PouchXchange two years ago, and I’m here again in 2026. The shape of the event, how we run this event, and the kind of people who come to this event have also changed shape.
This has gone from being a Wild West category to something with serious professionals, with brands that have harm reduction at the core of what they’re trying to do.
For me, that is a category I’m proud to be in and one that I really want to be in. I think if we hold that at our core as we move into new markets, wherever they may be, we can lead with a step forward when it comes to regulation and giving adult nicotine users a choice.
And the last one is surviving scrutiny.
If you look at the US, regulation has become more like a moat than it is a barrier. What I mean by that is brands that are able to move at a pace that keeps up with the regulation, adheres to the regulation and works with the rules that are in that market will be protected for the future. Brands that don’t will suffer and fall into that moat.
So we don’t see regulation as a barrier to entry, really, into any market. We see it as an opportunity for us to adhere to those rules and still be successful.
When it comes to defending the category, defending the product and defending the brand, it’s clear to me that it’s a combination of multiple things.
At Dholakia, when we’re looking at RUSH, but also with some of our friends and colleagues who are in the category, we’re very clear that it takes more than one thing to be able to defend this category.
It’s about the science: what is in the pouch? How does it work? How does it supply what users are demanding?
Then it looks at manufacturing: how do you make this product? What are quality standards? What does GMP actually mean? And how do you create a product that you can be confident in?
Once you’ve got those two things, you’re then looking at your brand building. You’re looking at how you’re going to market. You’re looking at being able to defend that in a way that is sensible, appropriate and specifically giving adult nicotine users an alternative to what they have at the moment.
Those things, for us, are a way for you to build evidence to be able to defend yourself under that scrutiny.
And scrutiny is welcome if you’re doing the right things. Nobody minds getting scrutinised a little bit because that’s actually how we make sure we all get better.
When we look at it from a brand perspective, when it comes to RUSH, as a brand we are looking at opportunities and markets across the globe as consumers start to demand this product and are looking for alternatives.
These are the capabilities that we look at as a brand to ensure that we’re giving a sensible solution at a rate that is required by users and consumers that will build us longevity in the category.
What I’d say to you all, and I’ll leave you with this before I finish, is to think about your positioning. Go from “How do I just sell the most products?” to “How do I build a brand that’s going to stand the test of time amongst these issues, including regulation and scrutiny?”
Only if you’re able to build a brand that is going to be able to last through those things are you really in the business of pouches and in this category.
For me, I think we are all big believers that there’s room for everyone in this category. As much as everyone here are healthy competitors, we actually welcome it in the same way, because the more of us who are rowing in the right direction when it comes to harm reduction, the better it is for those people who are using the product and also better for us as businesses as well.
The work that Shem is doing and Mónica is doing at ABN, Considerate Pouchers and other organisations in this space, we really welcome those voices in the room. We like to join those voices in the room, and I think more voices who can join them are going to help this category grow globally and make sure we have PouchXchange 2036, 2046 and onwards.
For us at Dholakia, we have a very clear line. At the core of everything we do, we’ve been a smokeless company for a very, very long time, since we started, is harm reduction and public health at the centre of everything that we do. That has always been our core mission and core motto.
At the moment, RUSH and nicotine pouches are where that solution looks like it lives. In 20 years’ time, it might be something else, but that is where we’ll also be, because that is, at the core, what we’re trying to achieve.
So I hope that’s given you just a very short bit of information about what we’re doing, where we see pouches at the moment, and hopefully it will spark some discussion for you moving forward this evening as well.
I just want to thank you all again for being here. Thank you for listening to me ramble on for a few minutes.
Thank you so much.
