By Timothy S. Donahue

Top Takeaways:

• More than vapes: Dortmund showed a nicotine ecosystem stretching from finished products to ingredients, materials and manufacturing.
• NGP presence: About 300 exhibitors showcased vaping, pouches and other novel nicotine products.
• Supply chain: InterSupply added about 160 exhibitors focused on production and processing.

InterTabac still has plenty of tobacco, but the industry’s future is taking up much more floor space.

At InterTabac, NUBIZ, and InterSupply 2026 in Dortmund, Germany, traditional tobacco shared 10 exhibition halls with an increasingly diverse mix of vaping products, nicotine pouches, ingredients, flavors, packaging, filters, and other technologies.

A report from Wingle Group Electronics, provided by Maryna Gudym, the company’s business development director, reinforced Nicotine Insider’s observations across the show floor: the nicotine business is becoming considerably broader than the finished products carrying the biggest brand names.

The show brought together an estimated 750 companies from 64 countries, according to organizer Messe Dortmund. More than 80% of the exhibiting companies were from outside Germany, with participants traveling from across Europe and from the United States, the United Arab Emirates, the Dominican Republic, India, China, and other markets.

InterTabac remained focused on tobacco products, smoking accessories, and retail. NUBIZ focused on next-generation products, including smoke-free alternatives, heated tobacco, vaping, and oral products. InterSupply covered the raw materials, components, machinery, packaging, and other technologies required to manufacture products.

About 300 exhibitors showcased vaping products, pouches, and other novel nicotine products. Messe Dortmund identified companies such as HQD, Vaporesso, Flerbar, Fumot, and AIRSCREAM among the vapor exhibitors, while SnusGlobe, Camo Snus, Premium Pouch Finland, Nicopods, and ALP Supply were among the oral-product companies.

But another story lay beneath those numbers.

Wingle counted 687 stands across InterTabac, InterSupply, NUBIZ, and CB Expo, down from 796 in 2025 and 804 in 2024. Its category analysis showed declines in exhibitors of vaping products from 166 last year to 129 this year, modern oral products from 122 to 81, and heated tobacco from 37 to 19. Wingle characterized the shift as moving from rapid category expansion toward consolidation and greater competition.

That does not mean next-generation nicotine is disappearing from Dortmund. Quite the opposite. It suggests the market is entering a new phase in which simply showing up with another vape or pouch is no longer enough.

Vape Isn’t Standing Still

The extent of vapor’s presence was immediately apparent.

RELX, Elfbar, Lost Mary, FEELM, ALD, Vaporesso, SKE, Geek Bar, HQD, Elux, Voopoo, Geek Vape, Joyetech, Artery, Uwell, and Smok were among the companies represented in Dortmund.

The products showed a vapor industry continuing to experiment with hardware even as regulatory pressure grows around disposable products, batteries, youth access and environmental waste.

If Dortmund had one unmistakable hardware trend, it was the removable battery.

Wingle identified Voom, AIRSCREAM, OXVA, ALD, Acoustic Arc, and Innokin as companies moving toward removable-battery designs. In many cases, manufacturers were adapting existing platforms to allow batteries to be separated from the device, while other companies indicated similar products were planned as European battery and recycling requirements approach.

RELX promoted its Infinity 2nd Pod and Somatch Pro. The Somatch Pro uses a removable 1,200 mAh battery, keeping the power source separate from the rest of the device rather than permanently embedding it in the hardware.

Innokin was advancing the concept with its Trine platform. The Trine Pod System uses a removable rechargeable battery that can be replaced when it reaches the end of its useful life, rather than requiring the entire device to be discarded. The system separates the pod, device, and battery into individual components.

The modular approach contrasts with the disposable format that drove much of the industry’s product development over the past several years.

Another emerging direction was making vapor less visible.

RELX showcased No Cloud, a closed-pod system that uses a formulation without vegetable glycerin and, according to the company, produces no visible aerosol. The product has been announced for France, and the No Cloud brand has been registered in the European Union and the United Kingdom. Wingle also identified Elfbar, Dekang and Heatx as companies working with vaporless technology.

Other manufacturers were questioning whether conventional thermal atomization itself must remain the standard.

Cool Waiv, a startup seeking investment, presented technology that generates aerosol using high-frequency mechanical vibrations rather than thermal evaporation. Wingle described the approach as surface acoustic wave (SAW-IDT) technology.

True tobacco extracts also appeared in vapor products. Wingle identified ALD, Same Taste, and Elfbar as companies presenting products that used tobacco or what manufacturers described as natural tobacco extracts.

Meanwhile, Philip Morris International brought a smaller hardware variant to Dortmund with Veev One Plus. The device includes storage for a second pod in its cap, allowing users to keep a replacement on hand or carry two different pod varieties without a separate container.

The concept is simple, but it illustrates another theme visible across the floor: manufacturers are seeking incremental ways to make closed systems more useful rather than simply increasing device size or puff counts.

The InterTabac World Alternative Awards highlighted some of that development. Greentank Technologies’ NURA ZERO was named Best Vape Device of the Year, and KIWI Vapor’s Spark 2 Series won Best Vape Innovation and Best Next-Generation Product. Greentank also received the Best Reduced-Risk Concept/Innovation Award for its Quantum Chip.

The awards do not determine where the market ultimately goes, but the types of products being recognized are revealing. Manufacturers are increasingly trying to distinguish themselves through delivery technology, device functionality and product engineering.

Heated tobacco had fewer exhibitors, but development there followed a similar path toward improving the user experience.

KT&G presented its Flex heating system, based on lil ABLE 3.0, alongside AIIM heated tobacco sticks. Flex features automatic stick detection, a mid-session pause function, puff optimization, and fast charging. Elsewhere, manufacturers displayed real-time status screens and showcased various approaches to induction and circumferential heating.

China Tobacco Jiangsu Industrial presented Celare heated tobacco sticks with the iRod heating platform, including the new iRod Magic Pro. The device uses circumferential conduction heating, automatically starts heating when a stick is inserted, and displays information such as battery level, temperature settings, and heating progress.

Nicotine Moves Between Categories

Another development visible in Dortmund was the growing difficulty in neatly dividing companies into “vape,” “heated tobacco,” and “nicotine pouch” businesses.

AIRSCREAM provided one example. Best known for vaping products, the company displayed M13 Cadence, a semi-gel oral nicotine product. The move places a company associated with e-cigarettes in an oral category that requires no device.

China Tobacco also displayed nicotine pouches alongside its heated tobacco products. Its Double Happiness brand was offered in four flavors, each with 6 mg of nicotine per pouch.

RELX went further, moving beyond nicotine.

The company displayed thin energy pouches containing guarana, taurine, L-theanine, and vitamins under its Inergy and Dosh brands, as well as thin nicotine pouches sold under Dosh and RELX. According to Wingle, the company plans to introduce both product types in Italy and Germany.

That crossover is becoming more common as nicotine companies seek growth across multiple delivery formats rather than relying on a single category. Wingle also found that companies are considering caffeine and other functional or “mood”-related oral products as potential diversification opportunities.

The same dynamic could be observed among suppliers.

Flavor companies that once might have focused primarily on tobacco or e-liquid were marketing formulations across several applications. Nicotine suppliers were doing the same. Companies are increasingly competing for consumers across formats rather than staying within traditional product boundaries.

Tobacco Technology Inc., for example, promoted flavor capabilities for tobacco, shisha, nicotine pouches, and other applications. That crossover is significant because it shows suppliers adapting to a market where a customer may manufacture several types of nicotine products.

Pouches Build Their Own Ecosystem

Nicotine pouches were everywhere, but the cans themselves told only part of the story.

What stood out was the increasingly visible infrastructure developing around them. One exhibitor specialized in nonwoven fabric, a key component of modern oral nicotine pouches. Its presence alongside suppliers of nicotine, flavor, and manufacturing illustrated how specialized the pouch supply chain is becoming.

The products themselves are changing as well.

Wingle identified semi-gel or higher-moisture pouch formats from companies including RELX, NicSelect and Huabao, as well as a broader trend toward thinner pouches and varied shapes. The idea is not merely cosmetic. Changes in pouch construction, thickness, moisture and formulation can affect how the product performs and releases its contents.

Flavor development was also moving beyond the usual mint and fruit assortment. Wingle said several large pouch manufacturers were testing flavors such as cucumber and lychee, along with spicy formulations featuring jalapeño and pepper.

Mint isn’t dead. It just apparently has to share the shelf with jalapeño.

Pouch manufacturers need more than nicotine and flavor. The material surrounding the formulation affects moisture, release and mouthfeel. Flavor systems must perform in an oral product rather than in an aerosol. Manufacturers also have to manage nicotine content, pH, moisture, stability, packaging and production consistency.

Those requirements are creating opportunities for suppliers who may never put their own brand on a can.

Nicotine itself was another link in that supply chain. NXT promoted nicotine with a stated purity of 99.9% for multiple applications. Other ingredients and flavor companies likewise offered products tailored to newer nicotine categories.

PouchXchange returned for its third edition at the show, providing a dedicated forum for the pouch and snus industry. Organized with the Global Institute for Novel Nicotine (GINN), the event focused on global market trends, regulation, and the category’s challenges.

Regulation was always central to the discussion.

European markets continue to take sharply different approaches to nicotine pouches, with countries considering or adopting varying rules on flavors, nicotine strength, packaging, and sales. That uncertainty has made the ability to adapt formulations and products to individual markets increasingly important for manufacturers.

Wingle’s discussions with exhibitors also showed an industry closely watching the United States. The report said exhibitors generally viewed U.S. entry as an attractive opportunity, although most still identified Europe as their primary market. Some were already operating in the United States directly or through distribution partners, while others were seeking opportunities to enter.

The World Alternative Awards also featured a dedicated Pouch Products category, another indication of how firmly oral nicotine has established itself in the next-generation products business.

The Factory Is Changing Too

InterSupply perhaps provided the clearest view into what is happening behind finished products.

According to Messe Dortmund, about 160 exhibitors from 38 countries participated in the production and supply show, with nearly 90% from outside Germany. The exhibitor list included established suppliers such as Universal Leaf Tobacco, Körber Technologies, Focke & Co., G.D., and Hertz & Selck, along with newcomers including Honeywell, Atlantic Chemicals Trading, and SYMETAL Aluminium Foil Industry.

The technologies covered virtually every stage before a finished product reaches the shelf.

InterSupply’s scope included raw materials, manufacturing and filling technologies, weighing and measuring equipment, packaging technologies and materials, production software, process optimization, and documentation and traceability.

DC Technology displayed automated equipment covering several stages of production, including bobbin changing, adhesive application to filter-tow rods, buffer systems, and automated loading and unloading.

Upperbond Industrial showcased filter manufacturing technology, while Nemuno Banga presented advanced filter rods. Other exhibitors specialized in flavor capsules, aluminum foil, packaging materials, logistics, and manufacturing equipment.

None of those products has the consumer recognition of a new vape or pouch brand. But collectively, they offer a useful indication of where manufacturers are investing.

Automation is becoming more important. So is production consistency. Packaging and traceability are becoming more sophisticated. Suppliers must also serve a market with a much wider range of products than the combustible cigarette-focused industry of the past.

For new nicotine companies, that may ultimately be more consequential than the latest device launch. A mature product category requires suppliers, machinery, substrates, flavors, packaging, testing, logistics, traceability, and production capacity.

And those supporting businesses are increasingly following the nicotine market wherever it leads.

Tobacco Isn’t Going Anywhere Yet

Traditional tobacco has not disappeared. Far from it.

Cigarettes, cigars, cigarillos, pipe tobacco, RYO and MYO products, papers, smoking accessories, and other established categories continued to account for substantial shares of InterTabac.

Cigars alone accounted for more than 170 exhibitors, according to Messe Dortmund, with the category concentrated primarily in halls 4 and 7. The cigar presence ranged from established manufacturers and brands to leaf suppliers, accessories, and other parts of the premium cigar business.

The sector also developed increasingly elaborate programming. About 250 people attended the six-hour Cigar Culture Summit, held before the trade show and featuring speakers from companies and organizations including J.C. Newman, Maya Selva Cigars, Vandermarliere Cigar Family, and Scandinavian Tobacco Group.

China’s cigar industry also had a significant presence as part of a broader effort by Chinese producers to improve domestic premium cigars and to expand internationally. That traditional tobacco presence matters because Dortmund did not appear to be an industry simply replacing one product with another.

It looked like an industry growing more complicated while competition within some of its newest categories is getting considerably tougher.

Traditional tobacco remains a substantial business. Vapor continues to evolve, with advances in batteries, atomization, and delivery technology. Heated tobacco manufacturers are refining the user experience. Oral nicotine is developing new formulations and a specialized supply chain. Ingredient companies are expanding across categories. Machinery suppliers are adapting their production systems. And consumer-product companies are increasingly unwilling to tie their futures to a single nicotine format.

The next generation of nicotine isn’t just appearing in new products anymore. It’s building a next-generation support system around those products.