In this guide
The short version
- ZYN is a regular-size pouch, VELO Plus and on! Plus are slim, and standard on! is a mini. The format changes how a pouch feels more than the brand does.
- Most cans hold 20 pouches, but ZYN Spearmint and Smooth hold 15 and on! Plus holds 14, so a 5-pack is 70 to 100 pouches depending on what you pick.
- ZYN leans mint and bold fruit, VELO leans icy fruit, on! leans classic wintergreen, citrus, coffee and cinnamon.
- All three are tobacco-free and final sale: buy the strength you already use, or one step below, when switching brands.
ZYN, VELO and on! are the three nicotine pouch brands people ask us about most, and they are more different than their cans suggest. The biggest gap is not strength, which all three cover from light to strong, but the pouch itself: ZYN sells a regular-size pouch, VELO's current line is slim, and standard on! is a mini. Add the fact that a can holds anywhere from 14 to 20 pouches and the "same" 5-pack can mean 70 or 100 pouches. Here is how the three compare on format, can count and flavor, taken from the product data for what we stock, and which one to try first.
Three brands, three pouch formats
The format is the size and shape of the pouch, and it changes how a pouch feels under the lip more than the brand name does. A regular pouch is the fullest; a slim pouch is longer and flatter, so it sits lower on the gum; a mini is the smallest and the least noticeable, which some people like and others find too light in the mouth.
- ZYN pouches in the lines we carry are the regular format. Fresh Mint comes 20 to a can; Spearmint and Smooth come 15 to a can.
- VELO Plus pouches are slim, 20 to a can. The single-strength VELO flavors such as Frosty Lemon are slim as well.
- on! pouches are the mini format, 20 to a can. on! Plus moves to a larger slim pouch made from a soft mesh the brand calls NICOSILK, and drops to 14 to a can.
Brand and line | Pouch format | Pouches per can | Pouches in a 5-pack |
|---|---|---|---|
ZYN Fresh Mint | Regular | 20 | 100 |
ZYN Spearmint, ZYN Smooth | Regular | 15 | 75 |
VELO Plus | Slim | 20 | 100 |
on! | Mini | 20 | 100 |
on! Plus | Slim, larger pouch | 14 | 70 |
Every product in this post is a tobacco-free nicotine pouch sold as a 5-pack of cans. The counts above come from our product listings; check the can count on the product page before you compare prices per pouch.
ZYN: mint first, then bold fruit
ZYN's lineup is built around mint. Fresh Mint is crisp peppermint with a menthol cooling finish, and it is the one to start with if you want a straightforward mint pouch. It comes in 6mg or 11mg, 20 pouches to a can, so a 5-pack is 100 pouches. Spearmint is softer and slightly sweet, and Smooth is a near-neutral flavor with very little sweetness or cooling, for people who do not want to taste much at all.
Above the standard cans sits ZYN Ultra, a 9mg line with its own set of mint-leaning flavors: Arctic Mint, Peppermint Frost, Fresh Spearmint, Wintergreen Blast, Menthol Ice, Chill Mist, Citrus Zest and Signature Smooth. If the standard 6mg feels light but 11mg is too much, Ultra is the step in between.
ZYN's fruit side is bolder than the other two brands. Black Cherry, Peach, Dragonberry, Red Fruits, Sour Ruby, Guava Spice and Cactus Spice are all in the ZYN collection at the time of writing, along with the frosted fruit flavors (Blueberry Frost, Black Currant Frost, Icy Blackcurrant) that pair fruit with a cooling finish at 12.5mg to 13.5mg.
VELO: slim pouches and an icy fruit lineup
VELO Plus is the brand's slim-format line and it covers the classic flavors: Mint, Spearmint, Peppermint, Wintergreen and Smooth, plus a few that the other brands do not do, such as Cappuccino, Tropical Heat and Dragon Fruit. Plus Mint sits between soft spearmint and sharp peppermint and comes in 6mg or 9mg. Plus Wintergreen is the widest spread in the VELO range at 3mg, 6mg or 9mg, which makes it the easiest VELO flavor to move up or down in strength without changing flavor.
Where VELO stands apart is fruit with an icy finish. Mango Ice and Blueberry Ice run 8mg, Strawberry Ice and Frosty Lemon run 10mg, and the Ice Variety bundle puts one can each of Mango Ice, Strawberry Ice, Wintry Watermelon, Peach Ice and Cherry Ice in a single 10mg order. Frosty Lemon is the odd one out: zesty lemon layered over menthol rather than a sweet fruit, and the one we point people at who find mint boring and fruit too sweet. The whole range is in the VELO collection.
A variety bundle is the cheap way to find out which fruit you actually like before you commit to five cans of one flavor.
on!: the mini pouch and the Plus upgrade
Standard on! is the smallest pouch of the three, a mini that sits almost unnoticed under the lip. The flavor list is the most traditional: Wintergreen, Mint, Citrus, Coffee, Cinnamon, Original and Tropical Spice. Wintergreen is crisp and slightly sweet without the sharp edge of a peppermint, and it comes in 4mg and 8mg. Citrus, lightly tart and the brand's best non-mint pick, comes in 2mg, 4mg and 8mg. Every standard on! can holds 20 pouches.
on! Plus is a different product in the same brand. The pouch is larger and slim rather than mini, the material is the soft NICOSILK mesh, and the can holds 14 instead of 20. The flavors are Wintergreen, Mint and Tobacco, in 6mg and 9mg. If you have tried a standard on! and found the mini pouch too small to notice, Plus is the answer; if you liked the mini for being discreet, stay with the standard can. Both are in the on! collection.
Strengths side by side
Milligrams are per pouch, and the three brands label the same numbers differently, which is covered in detail in our nicotine pouch strengths guide. For the products in this post, the ranges are:
- ZYN Fresh Mint: 6mg or 11mg. ZYN Ultra: 9mg. ZYN frosted fruit: 12.5mg to 13.5mg.
- VELO Plus Wintergreen: 3mg, 6mg or 9mg. VELO Plus Mint: 6mg or 9mg. VELO Ice flavors: 8mg or 10mg.
- on! Wintergreen: 4mg or 8mg. on! Citrus: 2mg, 4mg or 8mg. on! Plus: 6mg or 9mg.
Only on! starts as low as 2mg, and only ZYN goes past 10mg in the lines above. VELO Plus Wintergreen is the one product here that lets you move three steps without changing flavor. A pouch format also changes how a strength feels: a mini on! 8mg and a regular ZYN 6mg are closer in the mouth than the numbers suggest, because the smaller pouch releases over a smaller area.
Nicotine is addictive. Nicotine pouches are final sale, so if you are switching brands, buy the strength you already use, or one step below it, rather than guessing upward.
Which one to start with
If you have never used a pouch and want the most forgiving start, on! Citrus or Wintergreen at 4mg in the mini format is the lowest-commitment way in, and 2mg Citrus exists if you want lighter still. If you already use a 6mg pouch and want the fullest mouthfeel, ZYN Fresh Mint 6mg in the regular format is the benchmark most people compare everything else to. If you want a slim pouch with the widest strength ladder, VELO Plus Wintergreen covers 3mg to 9mg in one flavor.
For flavor, the shorthand is mint and bold fruit from ZYN, icy fruit from VELO, and classic wintergreen, coffee and cinnamon from on!. Whatever you pick, start with one 5-pack, not three, and give a new pouch its full time in the mouth before deciding it is too weak. All three brands, and the smaller ones we carry, are in the nicotine pouch collection.
Questions people ask
Which brand has the smallest pouch?
Standard on! is a mini pouch, the smallest of the three. VELO Plus and on! Plus are slim, and ZYN is a regular-size pouch.
How many pouches are in a 5-pack?
It depends on the can. ZYN Fresh Mint, VELO Plus and standard on! hold 20 per can, so 100 in a 5-pack. ZYN Spearmint and Smooth hold 15 (75 total) and on! Plus holds 14 (70 total).
What is the difference between on! and on! Plus?
on! Plus uses a larger slim pouch made from a soft mesh the brand calls NICOSILK, comes in 6mg and 9mg, and holds 14 pouches per can. Standard on! is a mini pouch, 20 per can, in 2mg to 8mg depending on the flavor.
Which brand has the widest range of strengths in one flavor?
Among the products here, VELO Plus Wintergreen, which comes in 3mg, 6mg or 9mg. ZYN Fresh Mint comes in 6mg or 11mg, and on! Citrus in 2mg, 4mg or 8mg.
Can I return a can of nicotine pouches I do not like?
Nicotine pouches are final sale. If you are trying a new brand, start with one 5-pack or a variety bundle rather than several cans of one flavor.
