How Did Nicotine Pouches Come to Be?

Nicotine pouches have been on the market since around 2020 and have really changed the face of smokeless tobacco use.  For one, nicotine pouches contain no tobacco at all but have piggy backed the famous snus pouch format, which is essentially a modern form of Swedish snus, originally only found in loose format.  Modern industrialization changed the way in which snus was presented and offered a new alternative by creating ready-to-use portions already weighed out at one gram, in most instances.  The development of snus portions have encouraged more smokers to buy oral tobbaco online and created the stepping stone from which nicotine pouches would emerge decades later.  

Snus and Nicotine Pouches – Similarities

Nicotine pouches have a lot in common with snus and that is why some manufacturers call them tobacco-free snus, although that term is really an oxymoron because snus is tobacco, for all intents and purposes.  What makes it snus is the way the tobacco leaves are cured, cut and flavored with salt and other flavorings.  The result is a mud-like concoction that you can tuck under your lip as a “prilla”.

As described earlier, snus has come a long way since its creation, and today’s snus presents a variety of portion formats, types, flavors and strengths.  Nicotine pouches have jumped on the snus bandwagon and are essentially a snus copycat devoid of tobacco.  Therefore, tobacco-free snus is a common way to describe nicotine pouches. 

Snus and Nicotine Pouches – Differences

Along with similarities between the two, nicotine pouches behave very differently from snus.  Described below are some advantages of nicotine pouches in comparison to snus:

  • No Drip
  • No Bulk
  • No Staining
  • No Tobacco Breath
  • Lasting freshness (longer shelf life)
  • No EU Ban 
  • Cross-Border Shipping (much less restrictions by customs) 
  • Higher Nicotine Strength (regardless of pouch size)
  • As Light or as Strong as Needed

Snus portions are a perishable item since they contain tobacco leaves.  Even though the tobacco leaves are dry, there is more natural moisture that is released through the portion pouch with snus than you would have with nicotine pouches that contain nicotine salts, resulting in more drip.  

The nicotine salts in nicotine pouches can be a natural tobacco plant derivative or artificially created in-lab.  Either way, the absence of tobacco allows the nicotine concentration to vary without affecting the volume or size of the portion. Nicotine pouches are often referred to as all-white portions since they do not contain any tobacco and are composed of nicotine salts and flavorings instead.  The flavorings can also be derived from a natural plant as an essential oil or chemically created in a lab. What’s important to note is that they are created to be colorless so as to keep the contents of the nicotine pouch white, clean looking and aesthetically pleasing.  

If you’ve ever used extremely strong snus, like Siberia Red White Dry -80 Degrees for example, you can be sure that all that strength was not solely the result of the tobacco in the pouch.  Even in really strong snus, there is only so much tobacco you can stuff into a small pouch, as large as it is.  This is why even some snus which contain tobacco, also contain some nicotine salts for a stronger effect than can be achieved with tobacco alone. 

Let’s talk regulation.  

We all know how smoking has been prohibited in public places for the past two decades.  Well, what about tobacco products at large?  When it comes to tobacco, the WHO has exerted great amounts of pressure on tobacco companies by limiting advertising and the promotion of tobacco products extensively.  Governments worldwide, including the EU, have set up tobacco laws and regulations regarding the use and sale of tobacco products; including import and export, be it for personal use and for business purposes, and have widely crippled the shipping of all tobacco products across the globe through excise and other taxes.  

Sometimes, packages never even arrive at their destination because they are sent back to the seller, or are simply destroyed at customs.  This does not apply to nicotine pouches since they are tobacco-free.  Some governments have even started restricting or even banning the use of vapes in their countries.  Once more, this does not apply to nicotine pouches since the use of nicotine pouches does not create serious waste problems like e-waste does, and since nicotine pouches are discrete and do not create any visible signs of use like vapor. This is also a caracteristic that enables the transport and use of nicotine pouches on a plane.

Nicotine Pouches VS. Vape

Let’s compare nicotine pouches to the vape, as another smokeless nicotine medium. Here are some of the benefits of using nicotine pouches over vaping:

  • No Special Equipment (e-liquid, vape pen, battery…)
  • No Steam/No Inhaling 
  • No Possible Respiratory Complications
  • No Visibility (High Discretion) 
  • Less Waste (plastic from cartridges or pods, hazardous and electronic waste from batteries) 
  • Lower Costs

Nicotine pouches have combined the best characteristics of snus and vape and have become, as a result, one of the most sought-after mediums for nicotine use.  Snus companies, and even tobacco companies, have seen the great potential in nicotine pouches and have created an extensive array of brands, all with their unique can design and flavors.  

Some brands are more popular than others and have made their mark, while some newer brands are quickly climbing the popularity ladder due to their high-quality, great taste and even the extreme strength of some of their products.  

In addition, some brands focus on sweet flavors like Bubblegum, Cherry Cola and other favorites; while others are all about bold nicotine strength.  And yet other brands are all about that icy mint freshness some snus users have grown accustomed to and cannot live without, coupled with the tingling, freezing and numbing feeling that accompanies such products.  

What kind of nicopod user are you?  

To keep with the growing trend, we’ve added an extensive variety of nicotine pouches to our snus shop . New brands include XQS, VOLT, VIKA, VID, Après and many more…

Let’s not forget the brands that put nicotine pouches on the map and are still consumer favorites and our top sellers:

  • Pablo – Originally created for mindblowing nicotine strength and ice cold mint flavor.
  • White Fox – All White Fox flavors are extra strong and have a minty fresh flavor, with the exception of White Fox Black, a tobacco-free nicotine pouch with tobacco flavor.
  • Killa – Icy mint freshness coupled with juicy, fruity, sweet or icy mint flavors in a super strong nicopod.
  • Lyft – A Global best seller, loved for its variety of delicious flavors and high quality Swedish manufacturing and ingredients. From light to extremely strong nicotine.
  • Velo – Lyft rebranded. Some new flavors are exclusive to the Velo brand and did not exist before the switch.

The popularity of these brands speak volumes about what consumers of nicotine pouches really want: extremely strong tobacco-free nicotine.

NGP Empire manufactures both Pablo and Killa, two of the strongest nicotine pouch brands out there. NGP Empire has just expanded the Pablo line with Pablo Exclusive, a nicopod with 50 mg/g of knock-out nicotine power!

GN Tobacco, a top snus manufacturer based in Sweden, has also expanded the best-selling Siberia snus line and created Siberia nicotine pouches, an all-white tobacco-free version of Siberia Red.

Come get your snus online at Snusline and get blown away by the variety of nicotine pouches we offer.  At Snusline, there’s so much to choose from, you’ll wanna get it all !

.

Leave a Reply