ZYN vs VELO in Vietnam: Which One Publishes a Dose

The difference that decides this purchase is not flavour — it is whether you can read a dose. In the VinaPouches catalogue ZYN has 42 products and 41 of them carry a per-pouch milligram figure; VELO has 46 products and three do. For the other 43 VELO cans the maker publishes no dose at all. If you want to know exactly how much nicotine you are taking, almost the whole answer sits in those two numbers.

Everything below is a comparison of labelling, flavour, format and availability in Vietnam. It is not a comparison of the two brands' effects on anybody's body, and no line here says one is better for you than the other. Nicotine is addictive, and both brands are sold to adults aged 18 and over only.

The two deepest ranges on the site

Across 682 products from 49 brands, VELO is the largest single block at 46, with ZYN immediately behind at 42 and LOOP third at 38. They are also the two names most likely to be familiar before you arrive: ZYN through the American and Swedish markets, VELO through Europe and the rest of Asia.

ZYN is a Swedish Match brand. VELO is made by British American Tobacco. Both are white, tobacco-free pouches — nicotine, plant fibre, flavouring, sweetener and water in a fleece bag — whatever the word snus in the search box suggests.

ZYN: a scale that reads across to milligrams

ZYN does not print a milligram figure on the front of a European can. It prints a position on its own ladder, S1 through S6, and each step corresponds to a fixed per-pouch dose on that ladder. That is the figure shown on every ZYN product page here — read across from ZYN's scale, not copied off the tin.

• S1 — 3mg per pouch. Two products: Gentle Mint Mini and Spearmint Mini.
• S2 — 6mg. The largest group, 15 products.
• S3 — 9mg. Nine products.
• S4 — 12mg. Eleven products.
• S5 — 15mg. Blackcurrant Ice Slim and Menthol Ice Slim.
• S6 — 18mg. Cool Mint Ice Slim and Menthol Ice Slim, the top of the ZYN range here.

Added up, ZYN runs 3mg to 18mg per pouch: 2 products in the light band, 15 regular, 20 strong and 4 extra strong. Exactly one can sits outside the ladder — ZYN Lemon Spritz Slim — because the maker states no strength for it, and the field on that page is left empty rather than filled with a guess.

VELO: words on the can, numbers almost never

VELO goes the other way. Of its 46 products here, three carry a per-pouch figure:

• VELO Bright Spearmint 14mg — the only VELO can in this catalogue that states its milligrams outright.
• VELO Arctic Grapefruit Normal — 6mg, read across from VELO's own "normal" step.
• VELO Zesty Elderflower — 4mg, read across from the "low" step.

For the remaining 43 products the manufacturer discloses no per-pouch dose, so those pages show none. We do not convert, estimate, or borrow a figure from another can in the same family. Four of those 43 are the Zero line, which contains no nicotine and therefore has no dose to disclose.

In place of numbers, VELO uses vocabulary. Counted across the 46 titles, the words that appear are Normal, MAX, Ultra, High Nic, (ES) and Zero. Note what is not there: neither "Strong" nor "X-Strong" appears on any VELO can in this catalogue, although both are widely listed elsewhere as part of the ladder.

What the words can and cannot do

Inside VELO, the vocabulary is a real ranking. Freezing Peppermint, Freezing Peppermint MAX and Freezing Peppermint Ultra genuinely step upward in that order, and if you stay within one flavour family you can move through it sensibly.

Across brands it measures nothing. A word is not a unit. Two cans from two makers both marked Ultra can be a long way apart, and neither can be lined up against a ZYN S-number or against a printed milligram figure from anyone else. You will feel a difference between VELO steps; you cannot quantify it, and nor can we.

Flavour: 19 names against 35

ZYN has 19 distinct flavour names in this catalogue. VELO has 35. More interesting than the totals is how little the two maps overlap once you leave the middle.

Both lean heavily on mint: 20 of ZYN's 42 products carry a mint, menthol or spearmint name — nearly half the range — against 14 of VELO's 46. Outside mint they diverge sharply. ZYN holds the coffee and soft-drink corner with Coffee, Red Berry Fizz, Lemon Spritz and Red Fruits, none of which has a VELO counterpart. VELO holds the tropical corner — Tropical Mango, Tropical Ice, Guava Passionfruit, Mango Flame — and ZYN has nothing tropical at all.

VELO also has a heat line with no ZYN equivalent anywhere: Shift, five cans built around warmth rather than cold (Cool Peppermint, Hot Dragonfruit, Hot Grape, Hot Peach, Hot Spearmint), plus Guava Jalapeno and McLaren Spicy Papaya. And VELO has four nicotine-free products — Bright Peppermint Zero, Purple Grape Zero, Tropical Mango Zero and Wintery Watermelon Zero. All 42 ZYN products contain nicotine.

Put simply: if you want mango, guava or chilli heat, ZYN does not have it. If you want coffee, VELO does not.

Format: ZYN states it, VELO often does not

ZYN's 42 products split into 28 slim and 13 mini, with a single can — Watermelon Mint S2 — listing no format. VELO lists 10 slim and 8 mini, and 28 products, more than half the range, state no format at all.

This matters more than it looks. At the same nicotine level, a slim pouch generally registers faster than a mini because more of it is in contact with the gum. Six ZYN flavours exist in both shapes — Apple Mint, Black Cherry, Citrus, Cool Mint, Gentle Mint and Spearmint — so you can hold the taste constant and change only the format. Across VELO, exactly one flavour does that: Sour Lime.

One flavour at several strengths: only one brand does this

This follows directly from the labelling. 13 of ZYN's 19 flavours exist at two or more strengths, and seven exist at three: Apple Mint, Black Cherry, Citrus, Cool Mint and Red Berry Fizz at 6, 9 and 12mg; Spearmint at 3, 6 and 9mg; Menthol Ice at 12, 15 and 18mg.

If Cool Mint S2 suits you and you want one step up, you know precisely that you are moving from 6mg to 9mg with the flavour unchanged. The equivalent VELO move — Freezing Peppermint to Freezing Peppermint MAX to Freezing Peppermint Ultra — changes one word on the tin, and none of the three has a published dose to compare. You will notice the difference. You cannot measure it.

So which one

There is no universal answer, but there are two clear ones depending on what you need.

• ZYN, if you want a number to track. Our FAQ puts the usual starting point at 4–6mg per pouch, which is S2 on ZYN's ladder, with S1 at 3mg a step below it. Regular users mostly settle around S3 to S4, the 9–12mg band. Browse the ZYN brand page, or filter by band: light, regular, strong.
• VELO, if flavour range is what you are buying. Thirty-five names, including the tropical and heat lines ZYN has no answer to, plus four Zero cans with no nicotine in them. The trade is that most VELO tins hand you no figure at all. The full range is on the VELO brand page, and the availability detail is in our VELO buying guide.

If you are genuinely undecided: start on ZYN, where the scale tells you where you are standing, and move to VELO for the flavour range once you know. Both brands ship on the same terms — same day inside Ho Chi Minh City for orders placed before 2 PM on a business day, Hanoi 1–2 business days, Da Nang 2–3, other provinces 3–5, cash to the courier on arrival. Every product in the catalogue is ₫250.000 a can, so the choice between these two costs you nothing either way; the detail is in what pouches cost in Vietnam.

What this comparison does not say

Everything above compares labels, flavours, formats and what is on the shelf. Not one line says that ZYN or VELO suits your body better than the other, and nothing here sets either of them beside any other product on health grounds. VinaPouches is a retailer, not a medical provider, and makes no health claim about anything it sells. Questions about nicotine and your own body belong with a doctor or pharmacist.

The rest of the catalogue is in the shop, the makers are listed on the brands page, and the strength, storage and delivery answers are collected in the FAQ. If the strength numbers themselves are what you came for, the strength guide explains where they come from and what the big figures on some other brands' tins actually measure.

Nicotine is an addictive substance and raises heart rate and blood pressure. These products are for adults aged 18 and over who already use nicotine — not for anyone under 18, not for people who do not currently use nicotine, and not for anyone pregnant or breastfeeding. Keep away from children and pets: a used pouch still contains nicotine. If a pouch leaves you dizzy, sweaty or nauseous, remove it, rinse your mouth, drink water and sit down until it passes; seek medical help if it does not.

General product information, not medical or legal advice. Every figure on this page was counted from the VinaPouches catalogue on 6 August 2026, and where a manufacturer publishes no per-pouch dose we show none rather than estimating one. Prices and delivery terms can change, and the price that binds is the one shown when you place the order. Regulation of oral nicotine products in Vietnam is changing and should be re-checked after the National Assembly session of October 2026. Last reviewed: 06/08/2026.