Philip Morris International is widening the U.S. ZYN range with new 1.5 mg and 8 mg nicotine strengths, while also preparing to increase the pouch count of its established 3 mg and 6 mg products.
PMI U.S. announced the expansion on September 9, saying its flagship dry ZYN range is expanding from the familiar 3 mg and 6 mg products to four nicotine levels: 1.5 mg, 3 mg, 6 mg and 8 mg per pouch.
The company also plans to move its 3 mg and 6 mg products to 20 pouches per can during the fourth quarter of 2026. PMI said its research indicates that legal-age nicotine consumers prefer the larger pack size.
Together with the recent U.S. launch of the higher-moisture ZYN ULTRA range, the changes significantly broaden the strength and format options available under the ZYN brand.
ZYN Expands in Both Directions
The addition of 1.5 mg and 8 mg products gives the standard dry-pouch range options both below and above its established 3 mg and 6 mg strengths.
The expansion addresses a gap that PMI itself has acknowledged. In its first-quarter 2026 results, the company said U.S. ZYN was growing despite an uneven competitive landscape in which it did not yet have access to all of the most dynamic strength and flavor segments.
The 8 mg product gives the standard dry ZYN range a stronger option without requiring a move to the higher-moisture ULTRA format. At the opposite end, the 1.5 mg version gives ZYN an unusually low-strength option in the U.S. market.
Low-strength ZYN is not new globally. PMI said in the same first-quarter update that 1.5 mg variants were already available in more than 80 percent of ZYN markets.
In an editor’s note accompanying its September announcement, PMI lists 13 ZYN dry-pouch varieties as commercially available across the expanded strength range, including Cool Mint, Peppermint, Spearmint, Black Cherry, Wintergreen, Citrus, Peach, Coffee, Cinnamon, Smooth, Chill, Menthol and Dragonberry.
Twenty Pouches Becoming the New Standard
The other significant change concerns the can rather than the pouch.
PMI says its 3 mg and 6 mg dry ZYN products will transition to 20 pouches per can in the fourth quarter. The established U.S. format has contained 15 pouches, so the change adds one-third more pouches to each can.
The move also brings the core dry range into line with ZYN ULTRA’s 20-pouch format. It leaves PMI with a more consistent package size as the ZYN portfolio becomes increasingly varied in terms of strength, flavor and moisture level.
PMI’s announcement does not specify what the change will mean for retail pricing.
The FDA Status of the New Strengths Is Unclear
One aspect of the announcement remains unresolved.
PMI identifies the new 1.5 mg and 8 mg dry-pouch products as commercially available. However, neither strength appears on the FDA’s current public list of authorized nicotine pouch products.
As of September 11, the FDA lists 43 authorized nicotine pouch products. The ZYN products on that list consist of the original 20 dry-pouch products in 3 mg and 6 mg strengths, along with 11 ZYN ULTRA products authorized in August. The agency says the products on the list are the only nicotine pouches currently authorized for lawful sale in the United States.
2Firsts highlighted the apparent discrepancy in its coverage of the announcement. The publication found that publicly available materials do not identify which premarket tobacco product applications cover the 1.5 mg and 8 mg products or their current stage of review.
That leaves an unusual gap in the public record: PMI is identifying the new strengths as commercially available, while the FDA’s current authorization list does not include them. Neither PMI’s announcement nor publicly available FDA records explain the discrepancy.
ZYN ULTRA Extends the Range to 11 mg
The dry-pouch expansion follows the introduction of ZYN ULTRA, a higher-moisture version of the product that also moves the brand further into higher nicotine strengths.
The FDA authorized 11 ZYN ULTRA products on August 21 through the premarket tobacco product application pathway. Ten contain 9 mg of nicotine per pouch, while ZYN ULTRA Smooth is also authorized at 11 mg.
With those products and the newly announced dry-pouch strengths, PMI now describes a U.S. ZYN portfolio extending from 1.5 mg at the low end to 11 mg at the high end, using both dry and higher-moisture pouch formats. FDA authorization currently covers only part of that stated range.
PMI Is Building Capacity Around ZYN
The wider portfolio is arriving alongside a substantial increase in U.S. production capacity.
PMI began commercial production at its new Aurora, Colorado, manufacturing campus in July. According to the company’s announcement of the facility’s opening, it expects capital expenditure on the site to total $1.2 billion between 2024 and 2028. The approximately 780,000-square-foot campus produces ZYN and joins PMI’s existing nicotine pouch manufacturing operation in Owensboro, Kentucky.
That investment follows years of rapid U.S. growth for the brand. In its second-quarter 2026 results, PMI reported U.S. ZYN shipments of 2.9 billion pouches, up 2 percent from a year earlier. The figure included initial shipments of newer products such as ZYN ULTRA.
The latest changes give PMI considerably more room to compete across strength and format without abandoning the dry mini-pouch that established ZYN as the U.S. category leader. The 20-pouch conversion also brings greater consistency to the range as that portfolio grows.
The commercial direction is straightforward. The regulatory position of the new 1.5 mg and 8 mg products is less so — and will remain worth watching until the FDA’s public records or PMI provide a clearer answer.