XQS

About XQS

XQS — pronounced "excuse" — was founded in Jämtland in northern Sweden in 2005 by two snus enthusiasts who wanted a tobacco-free alternative to traditional snus. The first XQS pouches contained neither tobacco nor nicotine; the nicotine-pouch range the brand is known for today followed in the 2010s, and XQS has since become one of the larger Swedish nicotine-pouch brands. It now sits within Scandinavian Tobacco Group, with XQS International AB as the operating entity.

Range and formats at 24Nico

The XQS range at 24Nico spans four strength tiers: Normal at 4 mg of nicotine per pouch, Strong at 8 mg, and two Xstrong variants at 9.6 mg and 11.2 mg per pouch. Some of the latter are labelled "Ultra Strong" by XQS itself — at 24Nico we classify by mg per pouch rather than brand label, so they sit in Xstrong.

The full catalogue is in the slim format.

Flavours

XQS leans on flavour breadth rather than format variety.

• Mint and cooling profiles include Cool Ice, Wintergreen, Arctic Freeze and Citrus Cooling.

• Fruit and berry options run from Apple Crisp, Twin Apple and Orange Apple through Black Cherry, Blueberry Mint, Raspberry Blackcurrant and Strawberry Kiwi, with Berrynana Twist (strawberry and banana), Hallonsoda (raspberry soda), Hallon Lakrits (raspberry liquorice) and Orange Squeeze rounding out the list.

• Tropical and more unusual blends include Tropical, Chili Mango, Fruzzle, Cactus Sour, Dark Banana, Elderflower and Fizzy Peach.

Where XQS sits in the wider Swedish landscape

XQS is a flavour-led brand within the Swedish nicotine-pouch category and, per its own corporate site, the second-largest pouch brand in the Swedish home market. It runs as its own brand line within Scandinavian Tobacco Group, alongside several other established nicotine and tobacco names at group level.

XQS pouches are tobacco-free, based on plant fibre with added nicotine and flavourings, and designed to sit under the upper lip during use.