Under the appearance of a “well-being” innovation, the brand Friss, recently launched in Europe, introduces oral sachets based on caffeine, nicotine-free or tobacco, but in format identical to that of nicotine or pacnops. Carried by the Hungarian manufacturer Continental Tobacco Group, this initiative is part of a broader strategy of diversification of the tobacco industry towards oral products with variable compositions, aimed at normalizing uses, bypassing the regulations in force and recruiting new audiences, especially among young people[1].
Whether they contain nicotine, its derivatives or a stimulating substance like caffeine, these products are based on the same logics of behavioral marketing and raise important public health issues.
A new range of oral consumption carried by the tobacco industry
The thrill brand, marketed since the summer of 2025, offers oral sachets containing 50 mg of caffeine, a dose equivalent to a double espresso. Presented as vegans, sugar-free and calories, these products are made in Denmark and initially distributed in Hungary, with a deployment provided in the United Kingdom and Germany. Their packaging in Slim format, to be placed under the lip, reproduces the characteristics of the nicotine sachets marketed by large tobacco companies. Their appearance, their use and their distribution circuits (online sale, press points, service stations) are part of a logic of continuity with Nicotine products already present on the European market.
Behind this brand is Abel Santa, a graduate in neuroscience at the University of Southern California, and heir to the Continental Tobacco Group (CTG), one of the largest independent manufacturers of tobacco products in central and eastern Europe. Founded in 1996, the Hungarian family business produces and exports a wide range of cigarettes, cigarillos, rolling tobacco and tubes, in more than 25 countries. The introduction of Friss is part of an explicit strategy of diversifying its activities, by investing an emerging market little supervised by existing regulations, while capitalizing on the industrial and commercial know-how acquired in the tobacco sector.
Apparently distinct from products containing nicotine, the thrilling bags actually extend a commercial dynamic aimed at maintaining a strong presence of the tobacco industry in oral consumption practices, by exploiting a regulatory vacuum and by legitimizing uses close to those of addictive products.
A proliferation of new oral products with vague positions
The commercial success of oral sachets has led to a rapid multiplication of brands and formats available on the European market, whether they contain nicotine or not. Alongside traditional nicotine sachets, we now observe the appearance of products containing nicotine analogues, such as 6-methyl-nicotine[2]whose pharmacological effects are close but whose regulatory status remains uncertain in many countries. At the same time, other segments emerge around alternative molecules such as caffeine, tea or certain so -called “energizing” extracts, promoted as solutions of cognitive or physical stimulation.
These products are part of a common commercial strategy: to expand the target of consumers as much as possible by adapting marketing discourse to contemporary expectations in terms of well-being, performance or lifestyle. Some highlight arguments related to sport, endurance or concentration; Others bet on values of naturalness or health, like Friss who claims a formula without sugar, vegan and calories. Behind this apparent diversity, promotion techniques remain comparable to those historically used for tobacco and nicotine products: trivialization of the gesture, attractive formats, segmentation of audiences, voluntary vague on real effects and risks.
They help blur public health messages by installing behavioral and symbolic continuity between very heterogeneous products in terms of composition, but similar in their mode of administration and their marketing staging.
A worrying development calling for a suitable regulatory response
The introduction of Cabinet Sétaine sachets illustrates a new step in the tobacco industry adaptation strategy in the face of increasing regulatory pressure. By investing in a market segment not yet framed by specific rules-that of nicotine-free oral stimulants-, traditional tobacco manufacturers, like Continental Tobacco Group, intend to preserve their influence by widening their product portfolio beyond tobacco and nicotine.
In this context, it seems essential that the public authorities, both national and European level, anticipate current market developments. The current absence of a specific regulatory framework for these products, combined with the direct involvement of actors from the tobacco industry, justifies reinforced vigilance. A regulatory reflection is essential to prevent these products from becoming a vector of normalization of oral consumption and a lever for recruiting new users, especially among young generations. The challenge goes beyond the sole question of caffeine: it is a question of maintaining an overall coherence in public health policies, prevention of addictive behaviors and consumer protection in the face of adaptation strategies of a sector historically marked by disinformation and the capture of vulnerabilities.
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[1] Tobacco-free generation, California-Born chips nicotine-free debates Caffeine Pouches in Europe, radar, published on July 29, 2025, accessed July 31, 2025
[2] Tobacco-free generation, 6-methyl-nicotine: a synthetic molecule present in vaping products and oral sachets, published on March 31, 2025, consulted on July 31, 2025
National Committee against smoking |