Short answer
A nicotine patch does not break the fast, because it goes on the skin. A nicotine pouch such as Zyn, or snus, does break it, because the nicotine and flavour dissolve into your saliva and are swallowed. Many Hanafi muftis treat using a pouch on purpose in Ramadan like smoking.
Skin patches do not break the fast, as nothing enters through an opening. Pouches, snus, chewing tobacco and naswar placed in the mouth break the fast. Many Hanafi muftis treat deliberate use during a Ramadan fast like smoking, for which the Hanafi texts require qada and kaffarah.
Other madhhabs
- Shafi'i, Hanbali
- A pouch whose juice is swallowed breaks the fast, with one day of qada and no kaffarah.
Explanation
Nicotine reaches the body in different ways, and the ruling follows the route. The fast is broken by something reaching the throat or stomach through the mouth or another open passage. It is not broken by what is absorbed through the skin.
- Patch: sits on the skin. It does not break the fast, like any cream or medicated patch.
- Pouch, snus, chewing tobacco, naswar: sits in the mouth and releases nicotine and flavour into saliva that you swallow. It breaks the fast.
- Nicotine gum or lozenge: breaks the fast. See chewing gum.
- Cigarettes and vapes: break the fast. See smoking and vaping.
What you owe. The later Hanafi scholars held that deliberately smoking during a Ramadan fast requires qada and kaffarah, because people take tobacco out of craving and enjoyment. Hanafi muftis apply the same reasoning to oral tobacco and pouches. Some scholars say only a make-up day is due. Either way, the day is lost.
Using Ramadan to quit. Many people find that a patch in the daytime makes the fast easier and helps them quit for good. If you use pouches, switch to a patch during fasting hours and keep anything else, if at all, to the time between iftar and suhoor. Speak to your doctor about a plan.
Ask a mufti about your own case. This answer explains the general ruling. When the details of your situation matter, as they do here, ask a qualified mufti and give them the full facts. Where to ask a scholar.
The evidence
Quran, Surah Al-Baqara 2:187
أُحِلَّ لَكُمْ لَيْلَةَ ٱلصِّيَامِ ٱلرَّفَثُ إِلَىٰ نِسَآئِكُمْ ۚ هُنَّ لِبَاسٌۭ لَّكُمْ وَأَنتُمْ لِبَاسٌۭ لَّهُنَّ ۗ عَلِمَ ٱللَّهُ أَنَّكُمْ كُنتُمْ تَخْتَانُونَ أَنفُسَكُمْ فَتَابَ عَلَيْكُمْ وَعَفَا عَنكُمْ ۖ فَٱلْـَٰٔنَ بَٰشِرُوهُنَّ وَٱبْتَغُوا۟ مَا كَتَبَ ٱللَّهُ لَكُمْ ۚ وَكُلُوا۟ وَٱشْرَبُوا۟ حَتَّىٰ يَتَبَيَّنَ لَكُمُ ٱلْخَيْطُ ٱلْأَبْيَضُ مِنَ ٱلْخَيْطِ ٱلْأَسْوَدِ مِنَ ٱلْفَجْرِ ۖ ثُمَّ أَتِمُّوا۟ ٱلصِّيَامَ إِلَى ٱلَّيْلِ ۚ وَلَا تُبَٰشِرُوهُنَّ وَأَنتُمْ عَٰكِفُونَ فِى ٱلْمَسَٰجِدِ ۗ تِلْكَ حُدُودُ ٱللَّهِ فَلَا تَقْرَبُوهَا ۗ كَذَٰلِكَ يُبَيِّنُ ٱللَّهُ ءَايَٰتِهِۦ لِلنَّاسِ لَعَلَّهُمْ يَتَّقُونَ ﴿١٨٧﴾
It has been made permissible for you the night preceding fasting to go to your wives [for sexual relations]. They are clothing for you and you are clothing for them. Allah knows that you used to deceive yourselves, so He accepted your repentance and forgave you. So now, have relations with them and seek that which Allah has decreed for you. And eat and drink until the white thread of dawn becomes distinct to you from the black thread [of night]. Then complete the fast until the sunset. And do not have relations with them as long as you are staying for worship in the mosques. These are the limits [set by] Allah, so do not approach them. Thus does Allah make clear His ordinances to the people that they may become righteous.
Nothing may be taken in through the mouth from dawn until sunset.
Sahih al-Bukhari 1894
Sahih... يترك طعامه وشرابه وشهوته من أجلي ...
"He leaves his food, his drink and his desire for My sake."
The fast includes leaving the things one craves, nicotine among them.
Where the ruling is recorded
- Radd al-Muhtar (Ibn Abidin), Kitab al-Sawm, chapter on what breaks the fast and what does not. Deliberately drawing in tobacco smoke while fasting breaks the fast with qada and kaffarah.
- Radd al-Muhtar (Ibn Abidin), Kitab al-Sawm, chapter on what breaks the fast and what does not. What is put on the skin, such as oil, does not break the fast even if its effect is felt inside.
Checked by our team. For a more accurate answer to your own situation, consult a scholar. Quran translation by Sahih International. Hadith Arabic from the standard editions of the six books and the Muwatta, with gradings as recorded there; the English is our own rendering. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.