Global nicotine pouch retailer Haypp is urging its customers to boycott champagne and avoid traveling to France as a holiday destination in response to the nation’s decision to impose a total ban on nicotine pouches and other oral nicotine products beginning in March 2026. While describing the campaign as “tongue-in-cheek,” Haypp’s head of legal and external affairs Markus Lindblad said France is removing safer alternatives for its roughly 23% smoking population, while allowing cancer-causing chewing tobacco to remain on the market.
The ban, announced by the French government on September 5, will cover pouches, gums, and liquids unless classified as medicinal products or medical devices. Critics, including Sweden, Italy, and Greece, have warned that the move is disproportionate and undermines smoking reduction efforts. Lindblad is one of those critics, arguing the new law will criminalize possession as well as sale, meaning both residents and tourists could face fines or imprisonment for carrying nicotine pouches in France. U.K. holiday travelers and other visitors, he said, risk prosecution if caught with the products.
Haypp also warned that prohibition could fuel black markets, driving nicotine pouch demand underground into unregulated channels, raising further health risks.