What Are Nicotine Toothpicks and How Do They Work?

A nicotine toothpick is exactly what it sounds like: a wooden toothpick that has been infused with nicotine and a flavor. You hold it or gently chew it the way you would any toothpick. While it’s in your mouth, the flavor and the nicotine release. There is no smoke, no vapor, no battery to charge and nothing to spit. When you’re done, you throw it away.

If you’ve only ever seen nicotine in cigarettes, vapes or pouches, the toothpick format takes a minute to get your head around. This guide covers how it works, how to use one, and what to expect.

How the nicotine gets to you

Nicotine can be absorbed through the lining of the mouth — that’s how nicotine gum, lozenges and pouches work too. With a toothpick, saliva draws flavor and nicotine out of the wood while the pick sits in your mouth, and the lining of your cheeks and gums takes it up. Nothing is inhaled, and there’s no need to swallow anything.

Because it works through the mouth rather than the lungs, the effect builds gradually over the time the pick is in, rather than arriving all at once.

How to use a Picnic pick

1. Flip open the tube and take out one pick.
2. Put it in your mouth and hold it, or chew it gently. Move it around now and then, the way you naturally would with a toothpick.
3. Keep it in as long as you like. The flavor tells you how much is left — when it fades, the pick is done.
4. Start with one. See how you feel before reaching for another.
5. Throw the used pick away where children and pets can’t reach it.

There’s no technique to learn. If you’ve ever had a toothpick after dinner, you already know how to use Picnic.

What’s a strength?

Picnic picks come in 3mg, 6mg and 9mg. The number is the labeled nicotine strength of each pick. How much you actually take in depends on how long you keep the pick in and how you use it. If you’re new to nicotine toothpicks, start with 3mg; our guide to choosing a strength goes deeper.

What to expect the first time

Expect a real flavor — Cool Mint is cool and clean, Sweet Whiskey is warm and sweet, Fire Cinnamon is hot. Expect a slight tingle where the pick rests; that’s the nicotine. Expect it to look like a toothpick to everyone around you, because it is one.

If you feel lightheaded or queasy, take the pick out. That’s a sign the strength is too high for you or you’ve kept it in too long, and it’s the reason we say to start at 3mg and start with one.

Where people use them

Anywhere a toothpick is acceptable and lighting up isn’t: at a desk, in the car, on a flight, at a table, in a meeting, on a long walk. The tube fits in a shirt pocket. Our customers tell us the appeal is that nothing about it needs explaining.

What nicotine toothpicks are not

Picnic is a nicotine product for adults 21 and over who already use nicotine. It is not a smoking-cessation product and is not intended to help anyone quit or to treat any condition. If you don’t use nicotine, this product is not for you.

Try one

Every Picnic flavor is available in 3mg, in flip-top tubes of 20 picks. Browse all Picnic picks.