The U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted marketing orders for 24 Velo nicotine pouch products on Friday, October 30, 2026, a decision that hands Reynolds American a significant regulatory win as the company ramps up pouch production at its Tobaccoville, North Carolina operations. The authorized lineup covers eight product varieties across three packaging configurations, with every pouch containing 4 milligrams of nicotine.
Modoral Brands Inc., the Reynolds American operating company behind Velo, announced it had received the marketing granted orders, according to a company statement distributed via PR Newswire. The decision brings the total number of FDA-authorized nicotine pouch products nationwide to 67, as reported by Tobacco Reporter. The same outlet noted that the eight product varieties, spread across three packaging types, together constitute the 24 newly authorized items.
The Winston-Salem Journal reported that a Reynolds American subsidiary received the authorization Friday. Reynolds first submitted a group of premarket tobacco product applications covering Velo pouches back on Sept. 1, 2020, according to a company announcement at the time archived on Reynolds American's own newsroom.
What the FDA Actually Said About Safety
Federal regulators were careful to frame the authorization as a regulatory milestone, not a safety endorsement. Per Tobacco Reporter, the FDA said the newly authorized Velo products contain lower levels of harmful and potentially harmful constituents than cigarettes and smokeless tobacco products. The agency also emphasized, in the same report, that marketing authorization does not mean the products are safe, and that users must switch completely to realize any potential health benefit.
That distinction matters because mixed use, rather than full switching, undercuts the point of the authorization pathway. Separately, the FDA's own documentation on legal pouch sales states that only nicotine pouch products listed on its authorized products registry may be lawfully sold in the United States, underscoring why premarket clearance carries such weight for manufacturers like Modoral Brands.
Reynolds' North Carolina Expansion Continues
The FDA decision lands as Reynolds American is pouring resources into expanding its smokeless-tobacco manufacturing base in North Carolina. The company said it is confident in the science supporting its submissions and looks forward to additional authorizations, per the PR Newswire statement. Reynolds American also disclosed a planned investment of more than $3.2 billion beginning in 2024, expected to support more than 2,000 direct and indirect jobs across its operations and U.S. supply network, according to the same release.
That investment has already translated into hiring. Reynolds announced 200 new manufacturing roles for 2026 at its Operations Center in Tobaccoville, according to a company newsroom post. The same posting noted that Reynolds added 800 jobs from 2024 to 2025, bringing its recent role additions to more than 1,000.
Retooling the Tobaccoville Plant
Reynolds is preparing its sprawling Tobaccoville manufacturing plant for a historic shift in its product mix. The retooling is aimed at accommodating rising demand for synthetic Velo Plus nicotine pouches.
The plant's sustainability efforts are also part of its broader profile. Reynolds' WaterHub initiative at Tobaccoville is projected to recycle more than 60 million gallons of water annually, the Journal reported, a figure tied to the facility's ongoing operational footprint even as its product lines shift toward pouches.
A Growth Engine for British American Tobacco
The authorization also fits into a larger growth story for Reynolds' British parent company. British American Tobacco told investors that Velo delivered continued strong growth and share gains globally in its first-half 2026 trading update, according to the company's own pre-close statement. BAT reported that Velo's volume share rose 5.7 percentage points in total oral and 7.4 percentage points in modern oral across its top markets, and that Velo Plus specifically drove a 10.4-percentage-point increase in total U.S. modern-oral volume share.
BAT also told investors it now expects mid-teens revenue growth for its New Category business across both the first half and full year of 2026, per the same trading update. For a company whose American subsidiary just cleared a major FDA hurdle, that kind of growth trajectory gives the Velo authorization added weight beyond North Carolina's factory floors.
