What are nicotine-free pouches?

What a nicotine-free pouch is

A nicotine-free pouch is a pre-portioned pouch of microcrystalline cellulose (plant fibre), water, salt, flavourings and sweeteners, sealed in a thin, porous, paper-like material. It is placed under the upper lip, left there while the flavour releases, and then thrown away. Nothing is chewed, swallowed, heated or inhaled.

Every product in this family shares two facts that are printed on the can:

• 0 mg nicotine. The pouch base is plant fibre with no nicotine added at any stage.
• No tobacco. Nothing in the pouch comes from the tobacco plant, including products with a tobacco flavour profile such as LEWA CLASSIC Taste of Tobacco No Nico or Zeronito Stark Original.

"Nicotine-free" and "tobacco-free" describe what is in the can.

The three families

The nicotine-free range on 24Nico divides into three families according to what the pouch carries besides flavour. All three are made the same way and used the same way; the difference is on the ingredients panel.

The first family is the largest: 34 of the 50 nicotine-free products we list contain no caffeine. ZERONITO alone accounts for 14 of them, from Icy Mint and Cola to Lakrits, Espresso, Jalapeno and Blueberry Chilli. The caffeine family covers 16 products across LEWA, CAFERO, CAMO and Hicaff. The functional family is a subset of the caffeine family rather than a separate shelf. LEWA's names, BURN, FOCUS, GLOW and POWER, are how the maker signals each product's positioning; the panel lists what each one actually contains.

Two notes on the panels. LEWA CLASSIC No Nico lists yerba mate, a South American plant that naturally contains caffeine, but LEWA prints no caffeine figure for it. VELO Zero is sweetened with xylitol (E967), which some buyers prefer to sucralose; the two are listed side by side on the VELO panel.

You can browse by purpose on the zero-nicotine pouches page, the caffeine pouches page or the focus pouches page.

How a pouch is used

The routine is the same for all three families.

1. Open the can. Most lids have a small compartment for used pouches.
2. Take one pouch and place it under the upper lip, against the gum. Left or right side is a matter of preference.
3. Leave it still. A pouch is not chewed and not swallowed. The flavour comes through the pouch material on its own.
4. When the flavour fades, take the pouch out and put it in the lid compartment or a bin. Do not flush it.

How long a pouch stays in is up to you; most people remove it when the flavour has gone. Some manufacturers print a recommended time on the can. If the format is new to you, a Slim pouch of around 0.5 g to 0.7 g is the usual starting size; the Large format, at 0.8 g to 0.9 g, sits more noticeably under the lip.

What is inside, and what is not

A typical nicotine-free pouch lists six categories of ingredient. The exact wording and order vary by brand, but the panels in our range all follow the same pattern.

Caffeine pouches add caffeine to that list, and functional pouches add the vitamins, minerals or extracts named on the panel.

What is not inside: no nicotine, no tobacco leaf, no sugar (the sweetness comes from sweeteners), and nothing that needs to be heated, burned or inhaled. E-numbers can look alarming on a short list, but they are regulatory shorthand for additives assessed for use in food. E460 is plant fibre. E422 is glycerol. E500 is sodium carbonate, a pH regulator.

The ingredients panel on the can is the source of truth.

For a line-by-line breakdown with every E-number explained, read the nicotine-free pouch ingredients guide.

Nicotine-free pouch vs nicotine pouch, snus and gum

The format comes from Sweden, where snus has been used under the lip for generations. Nicotine pouches kept the pouch and dropped the tobacco; nicotine-free pouches then dropped the nicotine as well. The result shares its shape with all of them and its contents with none.

If you know the nicotine pouch format and want the same thing with nothing active in it, the zero-nicotine family is the direct match: Slim format, 20 per can, mint and fruit flavours, white dry pouch. If you want something in the pouch, the caffeine family is the route. The caffeine pouches vs nicotine pouches guide sets the two side by side.

Formats, sizes and counts

Format describes the size of the pouch, not its strength. Two formats exist in the nicotine-free range.

Within Slim, the weights rise in small steps: Après Zero at 0.55 g, LEWA caffeine pouches at 0.6 g, LOOP Ice Cool Mint Zero at 0.625 g, CAFERO at 0.65 g, and most of ZERONITO, LEO, VELO, Onico and Hicaff at 0.7 g. The net weight per can follows from that: a 20-pouch can of 0.7 g pouches is printed as 14.0 g, and an 18-pouch can of 0.6 g LEWA pouches as 10.8 g.

Filter the range by Slim or Large, or by flavour family such as mint or coffee.

How they are labelled

Caffeine pouches are generally sold under food rules, as foods or food supplements, with the exact classification depending on the country. That is why the can carries an ingredients panel and a nutrition-style label stating the caffeine content. Rules differ between countries and can change, and the label on the can reflects what the manufacturer has declared.

24Nico ships worldwide from Sweden. All taxes and duties are included in the price you see, nothing extra on delivery. Delivery details are on the delivery page.

How to read the can

Three lines on the can tell you most of what you need.

• Nicotine. Every product here prints 0 mg or "nicotine free". If a can does not say so, it is not in this family.
• Caffeine. If the pouch contains caffeine, the mg per pouch is printed as a number: 20, 50, 77, 80 or 100 in our range. No figure means no caffeine.
• Ingredients. The panel lists everything in descending order by weight. Plant fibre and water come first; sweeteners and regulators come last.

The brand pages, such as ZERONITO, LEWA and VELO Zero, carry the same figures as the can. The ingredients panel on each can is the source of truth.

For the nicotine version of the same format, see what nicotine pouches are.