Most people who try a nicotine pouch once and never touch one again did nothing wrong except pick the wrong strength. A 6mg pouch and an 18mg pouch look identical, sit under the lip for the same length of time and cost the same. What separates them shows up in the first five minutes, and by then it is too late.
What a nicotine pouch actually is
A small white cushion of plant fibre, nicotine, flavour and humectants. It sits between your upper lip and gum, releases nicotine there for about half an hour, and then goes into the lid of the tin.
No smoke, no vapour, no spitting. And no tobacco leaf, which is the real difference from traditional snus.
You do not chew it. The pouch simply sits there, and after a couple of minutes most people forget it is in.
How the nicotine reaches you
Through the lining of your mouth, not through your lungs. That sounds like a detail. It is the reason a first pouch goes wrong for so many people.
Smoking delivers nicotine almost instantly. Through the gum it takes longer, usually a few minutes before the effect is clear, then it stays fairly steady across the time the pouch is in and tails off at the end.
If nobody tells you that, you put in a second pouch after two minutes because apparently nothing is happening. Then both arrive at once and the evening is over. One pouch, thirty minutes, wait.
What 6mg, 12mg and 18mg actually mean
On an ALP tin the number is the nicotine in a single pouch. Six milligrams means six milligrams per pouch. No conversion needed.
That is not the standard everywhere. Some brands print milligrams per gram instead, which produces a far bigger number for the same content. Others use dots on the lid and never say what a dot is worth.
So check what the number refers to before you compare two tins. Per pouch and per gram are two different scales.
| Strength | Who it suits | What to expect |
|---|---|---|
| 6mg | First time with pouches, occasional use, anyone who cares more about flavour than about the hit | Clearly noticeable but mild. Comfortable for a whole session without turning harsh |
| 12mg | Regular use, people moving across from cigarettes or vaping, anyone who finds 6mg fades too fast | Noticeably stronger through the middle of the session. The usual step up |
| 18mg | Experienced users with an established tolerance | Strong from the first minute. Not a starting point |
If you are between two steps, take the lower one. Moving up costs you one tin. After a pouch that was far too strong, most people put the category away for weeks.
Why two pouches with the same number feel different
The milligram figure says how much is in there. It does not say how much arrives, or how fast. Four things shift the result.
Release speed. How quickly the nicotine leaves the pouch decides how hard the first minutes feel. A fast release reads as strong even when the total content is modest.
Moisture. A dry pouch needs saliva before anything happens at all. One that arrives moist starts working straight away and stays comfortable instead of turning scratchy halfway through.
Flavour. Cooling amplifies the sensation. A sharp mint feels stronger than a fruit pouch at the same milligrams, because the cooling and the nicotine tingle land in the same place at the same time.
Format. A slimmer pouch sits closer to the gum across its whole surface. Same content, different contact.
What is on an ALP tin
- Strengths
- 6mg, 12mg and 18mg per pouch, across the whole range.
- Per tin
- 20 pouches.
- Labelled
- Milligrams per pouch, not per gram.
- Time in place
- Up to 30 minutes, then take it out.
- Tobacco leaf
- None.
Nicotine pouches and snus are not the same thing
In Switzerland both words get used for the same thing, and there is a reason for that: real tobacco snus is available here, unlike in most of the EU. So when somebody says snus, they are not necessarily talking about the same product.
Snus contains ground tobacco. The pouches are brownish, they stain more and they taste of tobacco.
Nicotine pouches, often called All White, contain no tobacco leaf. The filling is plant fibre and the nicotine is added separately. The pouches are white and the taste comes entirely from the flavouring.
Where the word comes from and how the formats differ is covered on our page about what snus is. The practical differences in daily use are on snus without tobacco.
How long does a pouch stay in
Up to about thirty minutes. Most of the nicotine has left the pouch well before that, and what remains after is mainly a soggy pouch under your lip. When the flavour has gone, so has the point.
The lid of the tin has a second compartment for used pouches, so you are not looking for a bin halfway through a train ride.
How to store them
Cool, dry, lid closed. That keeps the moisture where it belongs. A tin left open on a warm windowsill dries out, and a dry pouch is a worse pouch regardless of what it says on the lid.
Who nicotine pouches are not for
They contain nicotine, and nicotine is highly addictive. They are intended for adults aged 18 and over who already use nicotine. If you do not use nicotine today, this is not a good place to start.
The ALP range
ALP makes mint and fruit pouches, each in 6mg, 12mg and 18mg, with 20 pouches per tin. The full line-up is in our nicotine pouch overview, the fruit side sits in the Fruit Line, and if you want to try several at once there are the bundles.