Start with what costs nothing. The U.S. Census Bureau's foreign trade data and the FDA's market and distribution resources give you total import and export volumes. That's a solid baseline for seeing whether the category is growing or shrinking overall.

Industry newsletters and trade associations also publish free summaries of market trends. They won't give you a breakdown by product type—say, disposables vs. pods vs. nicotine pouches—but they can tell you which direction the wind is blowing.

What you won't get: channel-level splits (online vs. retail), brand-level shares, or consumer demographics. If you need to know how many units move through convenience stores in Ohio, free data won't cut it.