Zyn, But With Weed: The Pouch Craze Hits The Cannabis Industry

Forbes

Nicotine pouches have become a multibillion-dollar industry. Now Cannadips and other brands are putting their money where your mouth is.  Read the full story on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/willyakowicz/2025/01/31/zyn-with-weed-cannadips-pouch-craze-hits-the-cannabis-industry/  Subscribe to FORBES: https://www.youtube.com/user/Forbes?sub_confirmation=1  Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:  https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript  Stay Connected Forbes newsletters: https://newsletters.editorial.forbes.com Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes More From Forbes:  http://forbes.com  Forbes covers the intersection of entrepreneurship, wealth, technology, business and lifestyle with a focus on people and success.

Transcript

00:00Today on Forbes,

00:02Zin, but with weed.

00:04The pouch craze hits the cannabis industry.

00:08In October 2011, Cliff Samet and his friends

00:11pulled a Ford Escape into the Stanford football stadium parking lot

00:15and sparked a joint while they looked for a spot.

00:18The guys were all up from Santa Cruz for a game against USC.

00:22While hotboxing in the parking lot,

00:24they rolled down their windows and got dirty looks

00:26as they passed parents with young children.

00:29Samet, who was working at a hospital at the time

00:32and getting drug tested,

00:33couldn't hit the joint that was being passed around.

00:36Instead, he packed a pinch of Copenhagen's smokeless tobacco

00:40and tossed the tin on the dash.

00:42Then, in a nicotine-fueled buzz,

00:44he had an aha moment.

00:46He says, quote,

00:48I threw in a lipper and thought,

00:50why not put the pot in the chew?

00:52His friends, who were all glazed over at that point,

00:55naturally thought it was a brilliant idea.

00:58It would be another four more years

00:59until Samet ran into Case Mandel,

01:01an old high school buddy and cannabis entrepreneur

01:04who was running an illegal THC extraction lab

01:07in Humboldt County, California, at the time,

01:09and pitched him on his idea.

01:11Create a lip pouch laced with cannabis, not nicotine.

01:15This was before Zin,

01:17Philip Morris International's pouches,

01:19became a cult obsession in the United States.

01:22But Samet, a longtime dipper,

01:24had been introduced to snooze pouches,

01:26which contained pasteurized tobacco

01:28and pure nicotine products.

01:30His idea had coalesced over the years,

01:33and he realized pouches, not dip,

01:35would make for a better delivery system for THC.

01:38Mandel, who was 40 years old,

01:40and Samet, who was 38,

01:42and a small scrappy team

01:44decided to use the husks of coconuts as a filler.

01:47Coconut coir is incredibly absorbent

01:50and typically used by cannabis cultivators.

01:53By that time, Mandel's THC extraction business,

01:56Arcata X, was legitimate

01:58and had a license from the state,

02:00and they started infusing the pouches

02:02with THC distillate.

02:04In 2016, their new company,

02:06Cannadips, launched in California.

02:09Mandel says, quote,

02:11When we launched, it was for football players,

02:13baseball players, outlaws,

02:15country guys, NASCAR guys.

02:17You know, it was a redneck vice.

02:19Now, pouches are going crazy.

02:22Cannadips, which is based in Arcata,

02:24a town in California's Emerald Triangle,

02:27makes marijuana-derived THC pouches

02:30that are sold in dispensaries in California and Arkansas.

02:33With 15 pouches to a tin,

02:35Cannadips, like Zyn,

02:37comes in several flavors,

02:39including mint, tangy citrus,

02:41and orange creamsicle.

02:43Cannadips generated more than $7 million

02:45in revenue last year

02:47and hopes it can double that number this year

02:49when it expands to Missouri.

02:51The company is also in the process of expanding

02:53to Kentucky by the end of 2025.

02:56Cannadips also has a CBD

02:58and hemp-derived cannabinoids line,

03:00which is sold online thanks to the Farm Bill

03:03and in Sheetz gas stations in Pennsylvania and Ohio.

03:07Bolt Runners, the parent company,

03:09also manufactures other types of pouches,

03:11including ones infused with caffeine

03:13for Upper Deckies,

03:14the brand launched by Max van der Aarde,

03:16the social media Zynfluencer,

03:18better known as Chetty.

03:20Bolt Runners also manufactures

03:22its own nicotine pouch called Ammo

03:24and makes nootropic-filled pouches

03:26for companies like Aura and Revel.

03:29Mandel and Samet, of course,

03:31are hoping to replicate the massive success of Zyn,

03:34which dominates the multibillion-dollar

03:36nicotine pouch industry

03:38with nearly 70% market share.

03:40Zyn's shipment volume in the U.S.

03:42jumped 75% from 2022

03:45through the third quarter of 2024,

03:47and Philip Morris International

03:49is set to spending more than $800 million

03:51to build two new pouch factories

03:53to meet demand.

03:55Cannadips was the first pot pouch on the market,

03:57but it is not alone anymore.

03:59In Colorado, Jesse Loffman,

04:01a 47-year-old cannabis product manufacturer,

04:04launched Wannadips in 2024.

04:07Its first month on the market,

04:09Wannadips generated just $10,000 in sales.

04:12Today, the company is hitting $1.2 million a year.

04:17For full coverage, check out Will Yakowitz's piece

04:20on Forbes.com.

04:23This is Kieran Meadows from Forbes.

04:25Thanks for tuning in.

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