Nowadays, you can’t be too careful when trying to avoid animal products. If you are not too busy worrying about whether your restaurant meal is being made with bacon grease or chicken stock, you’re worrying about whether your shampoo, fabric softener, or even medicines have animal sources. There really is a multitude of daily items that are not vegan. Thankfully, the growing popularity of veganism has sparked more vegan alternatives as well as better labelling as to whether a product is truly vegan. This is especially helpful for the products that you might assume to be vegan, but instead have hidden animal-based ingredients. One product like this is nicotine. You really don't want to be worrying about whether your cigarettes or nicotine pouches have animal products when you just need a quick kick.

What is Nicotine?

Nicotine is the active ingredient in tobacco plants. It’s made by Nicotiana Tabacum plants in their roots and from there, it moves to accumulate in the leaves. This is where it is extracted to be used in a wide variety of products. Nicotine acts as both a sedative and a stimulant. When absorbed, nicotine increases your adrenaline and dopamine, which interact to give you a pleasurable kick. This kick is why so many people indulge in and enjoy different forms of nicotine. Available in cigarettes, snuff, chewing tobacco, pouches, and gum, consumers can customize their consumption to attain the alertness, euphoria, and relaxation that come from nicotine.

What does it mean to be Vegan?

The word “vegan” is very often used to describe an individual’s diet, but it can also be used to specify that some product, food or otherwise, is vegan. The vegan diet is one that includes zero animal products. Vegans stray away from meat, fish, dairy, eggs, and animal-derived products such as honey or gelatin.

There are several motivations behind this diet including the environment, one’s health, and even one’s beliefs. People who choose to be vegan tend to change their lifestyle in order to avoid all animal-derived goods. This may include changing hair products or using leather that isn’t really from animals. Several ingredients make something not-vegan besides the obvious meat and dairy: animal fats, beeswax, cholesterol, bone char, and blood. These ingredients are harder to identify on nutrition labels and tend to be used in somewhat random items like shampoos, sugars, or razors. This is precisely why clear labelling is super important.

What makes some tobacco products not vegan?

Determining whether your tobacco product is vegan can be a little tricky. This is because it depends on everyone’s definition of vegan. Most of the online vegan blogs and forums will tell you that smoking is not vegan because of its history with animal testing and cruelty. While animal testing is scary and disturbing, it is kind of up to you to decide if this makes the product inherently non-vegan. Some vegans still use animal tested products, so this may be another one of those particularities that doesn’t fit into your definition of veganism. 

When it comes to the ingredients that make up tobacco products, cigarettes tend not to be 100% vegan. They contain many ingredients, which are not all listed on the packaging, which makes it hard to tell if a brand is vegan or not. Some cigarettes actually use the animal products of beeswax, glycerol, and castoreum. These ingredients are not vegan, so you must research before buying to rule out the brands that include these ingredients. Vaping also has some grey areas when it comes to veganism. On the base level, the ingredients of the vape juice are vegan. However, sometimes the flavorings can contain castoreum, an animal derived ingredient. Also, vapes can have chemicals that are commonly tested on animals.

How to tell if your tobacco or nicotine product is vegan?

Top 3 products for vegan smokers or nicotine users

Rush Nicotine Pouches

A great alternative to cigarettes for nicotine users looking for a vegan option is Rush’s nicotine pouches. These pouches are vegan, cruelty-free, eco-friendly, and tobacco free. Whether you are vegan for environmental reasons or for your morals regarding animals, Rush nicotine pouches perfectly align with your needs. Rush pouches’ ingredient list is rather simple and small compared to that of a cigarette, which is really what you want when you are going to consume anything. All of the ingredients are vegan as well, including the rich flavorings of wintergreen, citrus, ice cold mint, and cinnamon. On top of this, these Rush nicotine pouches are not tested on animals, making them cruelty free.

Another reason Rush pouches are great for vegans, especially those concerned about the environment, is how they are super eco-friendly. Each nicotine pouch is crafted from plant fibers, which makes them biodegradable. The can that the pouches come in is recyclable also! Additionally, if you aren’t near a recycle bin when you finish your pouches, each ruch can has a storage compartment for used pouches. This gives you a convenient way to avoid littering your surroundings, as one might do with cigarette butts.

American Spirits cigarettes

However, if you still crave cigarettes as a vegan, a good option for you is American Spirit’s cigarettes. The company that produces American Spirit cigarettes is Santa Fe Natural Tobacco. This company has actual policies against testing on animals, which is confirmed by PETA. While they may not be as good for the environment as nicotine pouches, American Spirit Cigarettes are a good cruelty free option of cigarettes for those who prefer smoking over other forms of nicotine consumption.

Wild Hemp CBD cigarette

If you enjoy the act of smoking, but can live without tobacco and nicotine, you should try out Wild Hemp’s CBD cigarettes. CBD cigarettes allow you to ingest CBD by inhalation in order to achieve the benefits of hemp-derived CBD including calmness, reduced anxiety, and pain relief. These effects are different from the effects of nicotine, but they are still enjoyable and beneficial.

Wild Hemp’s CBD cigarettes are perfect for vegans. They use organic, domestically sourced hemp that has not been tested on animals. The hemp is encased in hemp paper and coupled with an acetate filter. All these components combined allow for an easy way to smoke hemp in a super raw and pure form. You get fresh hemp flower in a smooth smoke with the flavor choices of menthol, pineapple, sweet, or unflavored.

As for the ingredients, they are all vegan as well. The flavors of the CBD cigarettes are terpene based, which comes from plants. As a bonus, the CBD cigarettes have phytonutrients in them due to their natural components, which are great to include in your diet.