The product
Snus
Lawful and federally regulated as a smokeless tobacco product, sold to over-21s.
Nicotine pouches
Lawful for authorised products only. The FDA regulates nicotine pouches as tobacco products because the nicotine is intended for human use, and products need clearance through the Premarket Tobacco Product Application pathway — the agency authorised twenty ZYN products in January 2025. Authorisation is not approval and does not mean a product is safe, and it covers only the specific products listed.
How you may sell it
From a machine
LimitedMay it be sold from a machine?
Open, but the venue rule is the whole story. Under 21 CFR § 1140.16 a vending machine may only stand in a qualified adult-only facility — one where no person under 21 is present or permitted to enter at any time. Everywhere else, sale must be a direct face-to-face exchange. In practice that means age-restricted bars, nightclubs, casinos, cigar lounges and certain private clubs, and not a hotel lobby, a gym or a shop. Federal authorisation does not override state or local law: some states define tobacco product broadly enough to catch tobacco-free pouches, others use a separate alternative nicotine product category, and at least one prohibits nicotine vending outright. Check the state and the municipality before siting anything.
On display
LimitedMay it be shown — shelves, cases, branded coolers?
Restricted by the same rule. Self-service displays are not a permitted general method of sale for these products either — they are allowed only in the same qualified adult-only facilities. A branded cooler a customer can open in an ordinary convenience store is therefore not the available route, whatever the state position on the product itself.