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. You put it under your upper lip, leave it there while the flavour releases, and then throw it 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-style flavour profile such as LEWA CLASSIC Taste of Tobacco No Nico or Zeronito Stark Original.

"Nicotine-free" and "tobacco-free" are descriptions of what is in the can.

Why "nicotine free snus"?

In Ireland, "snus" is often used loosely for anything that sits under the lip, and you will also see the word nicopods. Strictly, snus is a Swedish tobacco product, and tobacco snus cannot be sold anywhere in the EU outside Sweden, Ireland included. The white tobacco-free pouch is a different thing. When people search for nicotine free snus, they almost always mean the product described here: the white pouch format with neither tobacco nor nicotine in it. Our snus vs nicotine pouches article explains where the word comes from and why the two are not the same product.

The three families

The nicotine-free range on 24Nico sorts into three families by 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. Of those, ZERONITO alone accounts for 14, 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, POWER) are how the maker signals each product's positioning, and 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. And VELO Zero is sweetened with xylitol (E967), which some shoppers 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 your 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 you keep a pouch in is up to you; most people take it out when the flavour has gone. Some manufacturers print a recommended time on the can. If you are new to the format, 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 isn't

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 (sweetness comes from sweeteners), nothing that needs to be heated, burned or inhaled. E-numbers can look alarming on a short list, but they are a 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 came out of Sweden, where snus has been used under the lip for generations. Nicotine pouches took the pouch and dropped the tobacco; nicotine-free pouches then dropped the nicotine too. 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, and the what are nicotine pouches? article in our Nic-Guide covers the nicotine side on its own terms.

Formats, sizes and counts

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

Within Slim, the weights step in small increments: 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, 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

A caffeine pouch carries an ingredients list and the caffeine figure the manufacturer declares, as declared at the time of printing. Under EU food labelling law, which applies in Ireland, a food with added caffeine is labelled "Contains caffeine. Not recommended for children or pregnant women"; whether a pouch counts as a food is unsettled. Rules can change.

On 24Nico, prices are in euro with VAT included, and as Ireland is in the EU there are no customs charges or duties 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.