Pick up two cans of nicotine pouches from two different brands, both labelled "strong", and you can easily end up with one that is twice the strength of the other. There is no shared standard. Each brand decides for itself what light, strong or extreme means, and they rarely agree. It is the most confusing thing about buying pouches, so here is how to cut through it.
The two numbers on a can
Strength is written one of two ways, and they are not the same thing.
mg/g is milligrams of nicotine per gram of pouch material. It is the concentration, and it is the figure we use across the shop, because it lets you compare any two products directly.
mg per pouch is how much nicotine sits in one individual pouch. It depends on the concentration and the size of the pouch together. A 0.6 g pouch at 15 mg/g holds 9 mg. So a can that says "9 mg" on the front and a can that says "15 mg/g" can be the very same product, just measured two different ways.
When a brand prints a single number on the front, check which one it is. A "9 mg" is usually per pouch; a "15 mg/g" is the concentration. Compare only the front numbers and you will get it wrong.
Why you cannot trust the word on the can
The words are marketing, not measurement. A few real examples from our own shelves:
- XQS sell a can they call "Ultra Strong". It is 16 mg/g, which by any sensible measure is a medium pouch. The word there is describing how cold it feels, not how much nicotine is in it.
- Siberia, one of the strongest brands we stock, runs from 33 mg/g up to 43 mg/g. That is genuinely strong.
- So one brand's "Ultra Strong" can be less than half the strength of another brand's ordinary can. The label on its own tells you almost nothing.
This is why we do not go by the brand's wording. We rate every product on our own scale, based on mg/g, so that medium means the same thing whether it is Velo, Pablo or Iceberg.
The Snusmania strength scale
Here is the scale we use across the whole shop. It is based purely on concentration, so any pouch can be compared to any other.
| Our band | Nicotine (mg/g) | Who it suits |
|---|---|---|
| Nicotine Free | 0 | Flavour and the habit, no nicotine |
| Light | 0 to 10 | New users, or an easy all-day pouch |
| Medium | 10 to 20 | Regular users, the most popular range |
| Strong | 20 to 30 | Experienced users who want a real hit |
| X-Strong | 30 to 50 | High tolerance, not a starting point |
| Ultra Strong | 50 to 100 | Very experienced users only |
| Danger Strong | 100+ | Extreme, well beyond everyday use |
These bands are ours. A brand may print a different word on the can, but on every product page we tell you the mg/g and the band it falls into, so you always have a like-for-like number to go on.
Which band should you pick?
Match it to your tolerance, not to the flavour name. If you are coming off cigarettes, most people land somewhere in Medium, around 12 to 20 mg/g. If you have never used nicotine, or you want something you can keep in all day without much of a kick, start in Light. If you already use pouches and find medium too soft, Strong and X-Strong are the next steps up.
The very top of the scale, Ultra Strong and Danger Strong, is a small corner of the market for people with a high, established tolerance. It is easy to buy something far stronger than you meant to when the can just says a flavour and a vague word, which is the whole reason we publish the numbers.
One more thing: the pouch size matters
Two pouches at the same mg/g can still feel different if one is a slim pouch and the other is a mini. A mini holds less material, so it holds less total nicotine even at the same concentration, and it sits more discreetly under the lip. If you want the strength but less bulk, look for a mini or slim format at the mg/g you are after.
The short version
Ignore the word on the front. Find the mg/g, check whether a single front number is per gram or per pouch, and match it to our scale. Every product page on the site shows both the flavour and the honest strength, so you are never guessing.
