March 5, 2026
Move Over, Snacks! Tech Startups Like Palantir Are Stocking Up On Tobacco Products To Boost Productivity
Alex Cohen, founder of Hello Patient, purchased a nicotine-pouch fridges for the company’s Austin-based office but had to stop because "I accidentally got addicted."
Remember when offices used to have snacks or soft drinks to boost productivity? Now, tech companies are switching gears and stocking up on tobacco products instead. But is it working?
Tech companies such as Palantir and Hello Patient have partnered with tobacco startups Lucy Nicotine and Seshare to stock office vending machines with products like oral nicotine pouches in an effort to increase productivity among employees, Fortune reports.
Inside Palantir’s Washington, D.C., office, employees can head to the vending machines for a midday or start-of-day pick-me-up. Seemingly paying homage to the days when offices would be filled with cigarette smoke, this is being labeled as a safer—and legal—alternative way of productivity boosting, with the pouches being available free of charge for employees age 21 and older.
Eliano A. Younes, head of strategic engagement for the data integration and analytics software company, showcased the machines inside the office on X, debating with critics under the post. One X user called it “completely inappropriate for the workplace.” Younes responded, “What about a speakeasy?”
While Lucy celebrates its products as a way for “adults seeking better ways to enjoy nicotine responsibly” and lists that their products “enhance focus, boost energy, or relax,” social media influencers aren’t feeling the new tobacco resurgence.
“Nicotine itself isn’t simply good or bad. Like caffeine, it’s a plant-defense-compound existing on a spectrum of risk and benefit,” herbalist-influencer Onjae Malyszka said, according to Inc. “When nicotine reaches your brain, it binds to nicotinic receptors [and] activates pathways tied to attention, memory, motor skills, and pleasure.”
Doctors and medical experts have also sounded the alarm on nicotine and tobacco products being a hindrance. The cons of vaping, such as the harmful substances it holds and its vast and addictive appeal to teens, have already caused issues. Inside offices. Vanderbilt University psychiatry and pharmacology professor Paul Newhouse said nicotine products are “very unlikely to help the cognitive function of someone who is functioning at their normal capacity.”
Jennifer Cofer of the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center said promoting products as “smoke-free” doesn’t knock out the possibility of addiction.
Just ask Alex Cohen, founder of Hello Patient, an AI-powered health care app. He purchased a nicotine-pouch fridge for the company’s Austin-based office and learned a hard lesson. “
“They were very productive, so I thought maybe there’s something here,” Cohen said. But after going through two or three pouches each day, he was forced to stop because “I accidentally got addicted.”
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