Initial validation of oral nicotine pouch purchase tasks in a crowdsourced sample of adult pouch consumers

Abstract Introduction Oral nicotine pouches (ONPs) are rapidly proliferating in the market. While pouches are often viewed as a harm-reduction option, these products may elicit greater nicotine exposure and are linked to negative oral health effects. Behavioral economics provides a framework for studying the reinforcing value of these products; however, there are no validated measures for assessing demand for nicotine pouches. Methods This study evaluated behavioral economic purchase tasks for nicotine pouches. A crowdsourced sample of 147 adult pouch consumers (40% women; age, M(SD) = 36.2(10.9); past-month pouch use, M(SD) = 15.7(9.36) days; Fagerström Test for Nicotine Dependence-Smokeless Tobacco Version, M(SD) = 3.8(2.3)) completed 2 hypothetical purchase tasks for individual pouches (free–$5/pouch) or tins containing 20 pouches each (free–100/tin) to be consumed over a 1-week period. Results Task responding was prototypical with a similar percentage of nonsystematic data across versions. Participants consumed approximately 26 tins or 76 pouches when products were free (intensity), spent a total of $128 on tins or $46 on pouches (Omax), and had a breakpoint of $128/tin or $46/pouch. Observed and derived metrics exhibited expected within-task intercorrelations. After multiple comparison correction, significant correlations were observed for Fagerström Test for Nicotine Dependence and tins breakpoint (r = .23), tins and pouch elasticity, and pouch Omax with past month pouch quantity-frequency (rs = 0.25–0.31). Conclusions This proof-of-concept study provides initial validation of 2 versions of nicotine pouch purchase tasks. Future studies with larger samples reporting a broader range of pouch use are necessary to replicate and extend these preliminary findings. Implications This study is the first to develop simulated purchase tasks to measure behavioral economic demand for ONPs in adult pouch consumers. Results revealed prototypical demand across pouch and tin-based task versions with some evidence of significant correlations with ONP use and nicotine dependence. Although the findings require replication and expansion to other samples of pouch consumers, this research provides initial proof-of-concept for a novel method of examining reinforcing value of ONPs in addiction and tobacco regulatory research.