Palantir and other tech companies are stocking offices with tobacco products • Hacker News Board

Re: Palantir and other tech companies are stocking offices with tobacco products

#41

Post by adhoc_slime » Thu, Mar 05, 2026, 4:01 PM UTC

aduffy wrote: post #18

It's even funnier actually. Yes, Palantir does have free Zyn vending machines in every office, but the Zyn is only for visiting customers. Employees are explicitly prohibited from using the machines. Just vice signaling all the way down.

>The pouches are available for free in Palantir’s offices for employees and guests over the age of 21, a Palantir spokesperson told the Wall Street Journal. Palantir, which did not respond to requests for comment, pays to stock the products.

Is the article wrong in this statement?

Re: Palantir and other tech companies are stocking offices with tobacco products

#42

Post by temp0826 » Thu, Mar 05, 2026, 4:02 PM UTC

chasebank wrote: post #10

cush wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Coffee doesn’t give you mouth cancer

Does nicotine?

Cancer no, but nicotine is implicated in heart disease and other cardiovascular issues.

Re: Palantir and other tech companies are stocking offices with tobacco products

#43

Post by D-Machine » Thu, Mar 05, 2026, 4:05 PM UTC

Seems a good time to link to Gwern's well-researched notes on why nicotine, when consumed in purer forms (e.g. patches, gum), may be pretty useful and not really as harmful nor as addictive as one might think.

https://gwern.net/nicotine

Re: Palantir and other tech companies are stocking offices with tobacco products

#44

Post by dfxm12 » Thu, Mar 05, 2026, 4:05 PM UTC

The article specifically mentions Lucy & Sesh. A quick Google search confirmed some suspicions:

Sesh (2025): Max Cunningham is the Founder & CEO of Sesh, a nicotine pouch startup. In September 2025, Sesh raised $40 million in funding from investors including 8VC, a firm co-founded by Peter Thiel.

David Renteln is the ceo of Lucy. I couldn't find a direct link between Thiel and Lucy, but it looks like Thiel has been friends with Renteln for a while and invested in Renteln's Soylent.

Re: Palantir and other tech companies are stocking offices with tobacco products

#45

Post by cm2012 » Thu, Mar 05, 2026, 4:06 PM UTC

Nicotine is highly addictive but also relatively harmless. I would appreciate it provided by an employer though even though I wouldn't normally use it.

Re: Palantir and other tech companies are stocking offices with tobacco products

#46

Post by Spivak » Thu, Mar 05, 2026, 4:07 PM UTC

Georgelemental wrote: post #19

jdross wrote: post #4

“While the pouches are considered a tobacco product, they don’t contain any tobacco, and are instead made from the plant fiber cellulose” It’s just Zyn, which doesn’t seem that dramatically different than coffee. But maybe that’s because I don’t drink coffee or use nicotine

Nicotine is addictive, much more so than coffee

Nicotine is depending on how you measure the 3rd or 4th most addictive substance on the planet. It's up there with Heroine, Fentanyl, Cocaine, and Meth.

If you consider heroine a "not even once" type of drug then nicotine should give you pause.

Re: Palantir and other tech companies are stocking offices with tobacco products

#47

Post by giraffe_lady » Thu, Mar 05, 2026, 4:08 PM UTC

poplarsol wrote: post #31

They're "tobacco products" in the same sense that Diet Coke is a "cocaine product".

Or more literally in the sense that cocaine is a narcotic. This is the legal category, not the medical one.

Re: Palantir and other tech companies are stocking offices with tobacco products

#48

Post by mikestew » Thu, Mar 05, 2026, 4:08 PM UTC

sph wrote: post #38

Georgelemental wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nicotine is addictive, much more so than coffee

Utter nonsense. I have replaced my ADHD prescription with nicotine patches, and in my experience I have had worse withdrawals, and greater desire to consume caffeine than either dermal nicotine or dexamfetamine. And I’m only a cup a day kinda guy, and I used to be a heavy smoker for years, so I know how dangerous the stuff can be. If we’re talking about smoking or vaping, or nicotine pouches, sure, but mode of admini…

Utter nonsense

Got something other than anecdata? Because a web search returns a list of contrary sources as long as my arm.

But, hell, if we are trading stories, I dipped snuff for 30 years and I’ve consumed coffee since middle school. I can go days without coffee, even if I might not be happy about it. Quitting tobacco, OTOH, that was tough, with multiple starts and stops until success.

Re: Palantir and other tech companies are stocking offices with tobacco products

#49

Post by D-Machine » Thu, Mar 05, 2026, 4:08 PM UTC

stringfood wrote: post #23

SpicyLemonZest wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These kind of synthetic nicotine products aren't carcinogenic. They were originally developed as a safer replacement for the traditional Swedish practice of stuffing a bag of tobacco in your mouth, although after acquisition by Phillip Morris they've become common among people who never used tobacco in the first place. (As the article gestures towards, they are "tobacco products" under US law because of their nicotin…

they are horrendously addicting though which is the huge difference between nicotine and caffeine. Even though I love caffeine I can go days without it no problem (besides being slightly more tired). Habitual nicotine users tend to need to re-up every hour or so

I'm not sure it is actually all that clear that pure nicotine products really are so addictive as people believe. E.g. most studies claiming such addictiveness may simply be because those that get addicted to patches / gum were already addicted to cigarettes (or other classic tobacco product) prior. See e.g. Gwern's notes on the topic.

https://gwern.net/nicotine#habit-formation

https://gwern.net/nicotine#dependence

Re: Palantir and other tech companies are stocking offices with tobacco products

#50

Post by butterbomb » Thu, Mar 05, 2026, 4:10 PM UTC

Funny. At least since Covid, I’ve noticed a number of employers, often at municipalities or other governments, but sometimes at private companies, are adding terms that employees cannot use any nicotine products whatsoever. What’s even stranger is the always go out of their way to explicitly note that non tobacco cessation aids are not allowed either. Seems like pure virtue signaling, though at least one person has suggested to me that the companies engaging in this are serious and go as far as blood testing.