Oregon’s tax on Zyn is $0.65 per package of 20 or fewer pouches, effective January 1, 2026. Larger containers are taxed at $0.0325 per pouch, rounded to the nearest whole cent. The tax is collected from distributors, so it is built into the shelf price rather than itemized on your receipt.
What You Pay by Can Size
House Bill 3940 created ORS 323.508, which sets two rates based on how many pouches are in the package:1Oregon State Legislature. Oregon Code 323 – Cigarettes and Tobacco Products – Section: 323.508
- 20 or fewer pouches per package: $0.65 per package.
- More than 20 pouches per package: $0.0325 per pouch, rounded to the nearest whole cent.
A standard can of Zyn holds 20 pouches, so the state tax is $0.65. A 40-count container works out to $1.30. Because the rate is flat, it doesn’t move with wholesale price swings. If a distributor’s cost goes up or down, Oregon still collects the same per-package amount.
Who Actually Pays the Tax
Oregon imposes the tax at the distributor level, not the register. When a licensed distributor ships or delivers pouches into the state’s market, the tax is owed at that point.1Oregon State Legislature. Oregon Code 323 – Cigarettes and Tobacco Products – Section: 323.508 That cost is passed through to the retailer and then to you in the sticker price. You won’t see “oral nicotine tax” broken out separately on your receipt.
Distributors file quarterly returns with the Oregon Department of Revenue, due by the last day of January, April, July, and October for the preceding quarter.2OregonLaws. Oregon Code 323.510 – Dates for Payment of Tax; Returns; Extension; Interest The first returns reporting the new oral nicotine tax covered the first quarter of 2026.3Oregon Department of Revenue. Tobacco Products Tax and Licensing – Section: New Oral Nicotine Products Tax
Why the Rate Changed in 2026
Before 2026, tobacco-free nicotine pouches sat awkwardly in Oregon’s tax code. Measure 108, passed by voters in 2020, raised the tax on other tobacco products to 65% of the wholesale price and pulled e-cigarettes into the taxable category for the first time.4Oregon State Legislature. Legislative Revenue Office Research Brief – Measure 108 Tobacco Tax Increase Pouches contain no tobacco leaf and aren’t inhaled, so they didn’t cleanly match the definitions for smokeless tobacco or inhalant delivery systems.
HB 3940 closed that gap by creating a new category. Oregon law now defines an “oral nicotine product” as any noncombustible product that contains nicotine and is meant to be consumed through the mouth rather than inhaled. That covers Zyn and similar brands. The legislature also rewrote ORS 323.505 so its title now reads “Tax imposed on distribution of tobacco products other than oral nicotine products,”5Oregon State Legislature. Oregon Code 323 – Cigarettes and Tobacco Products – Section: 323.505 which makes clear that nicotine pouches no longer pay the 65% wholesale rate. They pay the flat per-package tax instead.
How Zyn’s Tax Compares to Other Nicotine Products in Oregon
Oregon taxes each category of nicotine product differently:
- Cigarettes: $3.33 per pack of 20.6Oregon Department of Revenue. Cigarette Tax and Licensing
- Moist snuff: $1.78 per ounce by net weight, with a $2.14 minimum per retail container.5Oregon State Legislature. Oregon Code 323 – Cigarettes and Tobacco Products – Section: 323.505
- E-cigarettes and other inhalant delivery systems: 65% of the wholesale price.7Oregon Department of Revenue. Tobacco Products Tax and Licensing
- Cigars: 65% of wholesale price, capped at $1.00 per cigar.
- Nicotine pouches: $0.65 per package of 20 or fewer pouches.1Oregon State Legislature. Oregon Code 323 – Cigarettes and Tobacco Products – Section: 323.508
A can of Zyn carries a notably smaller state tax than a pack of cigarettes. Public health groups have criticized that gap as an incentive to switch rather than quit, while supporters of HB 3940 described the bill as closing a loophole rather than setting rates equal to cigarettes.
What’s Exempt
Some nicotine products aren’t taxed at all. The statute excludes anything the FDA regulates as a drug or device under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.8Oregon State Legislature. Oregon Code 323.500 – Definitions for ORS 323.500 to 323.645 Nicotine gum, patches, FDA-cleared lozenges, and prescription cessation medications fall outside the “oral nicotine product” definition and owe no tax.
Zyn does not qualify. It’s sold as a consumer nicotine product, not a therapeutic one, and has no FDA drug or device approval. The rule is simple: if the FDA regulates it as medicine, it’s tax-free; if it’s sold as a consumer nicotine product, the tax applies.
Where the Money Goes
Revenue from the oral nicotine products tax is directed to wildfire-related purposes.9Oregon State Legislature. HB3940 2025 Regular Session That is a different destination from the broader tobacco tax revenue raised through Measure 108, most of which supports Oregon Health Authority programs.
No Federal Tax on Top
There is currently no federal excise tax on nicotine pouches. Cigarettes and smokeless tobacco have long carried federal excise taxes, but tobacco-free pouches have not been brought into the federal system. Proposals have surfaced, including a Build Back Better Act provision that would have taxed nicotine products at roughly $50.33 per 1,810 milligrams of nicotine, but none have been enacted. For now, the only excise tax on a can of Zyn in Oregon is the state tax under ORS 323.508.