What Is XQS? XQS Nicotine Pouches Explained For South Africa

XQS is a brand of tobacco free nicotine pouches, and our South Africa shelf holds 11 XQS products from 6mg to 17mg of nicotine per pouch. XQS nicotine pouches sit within the Scandinavian Tobacco Group, which bought the brand in 2023, and each can is packed with 20 pouches.

We deliver to South Africa. Everything we sell is meant for adults, so you need to be 18 or over to buy.

What is XQS, and what does a can actually hold?

XQS is a nicotine pouch brand, which means each can holds 20 small prepared portions that sit under the upper lip. Tobacco free describes the filling, so there is no tobacco leaf inside, but the pouches still contain nicotine, and the figure printed on the can tells you how much. Reading that figure properly is the whole skill, and it takes about a minute.

A reader in South Africa usually meets the name in one of two ways: as a flavour on a shelf, or as a number on a can. Both are useful, though they answer different questions. The flavour name tells you what the pouch is meant to taste of, while the mg figure tells you how much nicotine one pouch contains. Treating the two as a single piece of information is the most common slip, and it is easy to get right once you know to look for it.

The table above lines the range up by nicotine per pouch, so you can see at a glance which flavours share a level. It works rather like a Springbok team sheet: the shirt number and the player are separate details, and you want both in front of you before you say anything about the match.

Who makes XQS?

XQS belongs to the Scandinavian Tobacco Group, which completed its purchase of the brand on 31 May 2023. The brand itself is Swedish, and its makers date its beginnings to 2005 in Jämtland. Beyond that, the can in your hand carries the facts that matter from day to day: the flavour name, the strength in mg and the pouch count.

Knowing the owner is handy context when you compare brands on the same shelf, since every maker labels its cans in its own way. Within XQS the labelling is consistent. The flavour name sits on the lid, the nicotine content is stated in mg, and each can is packed with 20 pouches, so a can of The Spearmint and a can of Black Cherry can be compared on exactly the same terms.

That consistency is useful for anyone shopping from Johannesburg, Cape Town or Durban, because the label reads the same wherever the can ends up. The owner's name explains where the brand sits; the product name and the mg figure explain what is inside.

Which XQS strengths are on the South Africa shelf?

Our South Africa shelf carries XQS at 6mg, 8mg, 10mg, 11mg and 17mg per pouch. Those numbers describe one pouch rather than the whole can, so keep the words per pouch attached to them. The page on XQS strengths and mg levels in South Africa sets each level beside its flavours in full.

Here is how the shelf breaks down. The Spearmint is the single product at 6mg. At 8mg you find Berrynana Twist, Black Cherry and Tropical. The 10mg group is the largest, with Blueberry Mint, Citrus Cooling, Raspberry Blackcurrant, Strawberry Kiwi and The Peppermint. Then The Menthol appears twice, at 11mg and at 17mg, which makes it the one flavour on the shelf that you can choose at two different levels.

An mg figure measures nicotine, not flavour. A 10mg fruit pouch is not a sweeter or fruitier pouch than an 8mg one, and a 6mg mint tells you its nicotine content and nothing about how minty it tastes. Whether you are shopping from Pretoria or Port Elizabeth, the useful habit is to settle the nicotine content you already use, then compare flavours at that level.

How long does an XQS pouch last?

Most people leave an XQS pouch in place for somewhere between 30 and 60 minutes, as they prefer. That is a period of use, and the page on how long an XQS lasts in South Africa goes into the difference between time in place and how long a flavour stays noticeable.

The two ends of that range suit different routines. Someone after a short session may take the pouch out toward the half hour mark, and someone who prefers a longer one may leave it nearer the hour. Neither end is a target. The nicotine content printed on the can stays the same either way, since it describes the pouch and not the clock.

A can of 20 pouches gives you a clear count to plan around, but how quickly a can goes depends on how often you use it, and that is personal. There is no fixed timetable worth quoting. What does help is checking the flavour name and mg figure when you pick up a replacement can, because several of the mint names look alike at a glance.

How do you use an XQS pouch?

Place the pouch under your upper lip, leave it there for the length of time you prefer, then remove it and dispose of it. The filling stays inside the pouch throughout, and moisture helps the nicotine and flavour release while it sits in place. The page on how to use XQS in South Africa walks through placement and removal step by step.

The pouch material and the filling have different jobs. The outer material holds the portion together, while the filling carries the nicotine, the flavouring and the other ingredients in the recipe. That is why the ingredient description is worth a glance even when the product name already sounds familiar, and why a pouch is a prepared format rather than a loose pinch of anything.

Storage is simple. Keep the can at room temperature and tightly closed when you are not using it. The pouches do not need to be kept in a fridge, so a drawer or a bag pocket does the job, whether you are in Gauteng or the Western Cape.

Which XQS flavours are there, and how do they differ?

XQS flavours fall into mint and menthol names on one side and fruit names and fruit pairings on the other, with a cooling option sitting between them. The page on which XQS flavour is best considers those preferences across the whole range, while the names below give you a straightforward way to browse.

Which XQS flavours are mint or menthol?

The Spearmint, The Peppermint and The Menthol are the three straight mint names, and each one appears with a stated nicotine content of 6mg, 10mg or 11mg per pouch, with The Menthol also at 17mg. Blueberry Mint and Citrus Cooling blend mint or cooling wording with fruit, so they suit a reader who wants a hint of freshness without going fully minty. Names help you build a shortlist, but they do not measure cooling or sweetness, so read the individual description beside the mg figure.

Which XQS flavours are fruit?

Berrynana Twist, Black Cherry, Tropical, Raspberry Blackcurrant and Strawberry Kiwi make up the fruit side. A paired name such as Strawberry Kiwi or Raspberry Blackcurrant gives you two fruits to picture, which can make a choice feel more concrete when both appeal. These fruit options span 8mg and 10mg per pouch on the shelf, so a reader in Durban weighing Tropical against Strawberry Kiwi has two separate decisions: the flavour they like, and the nicotine content they already choose.

What are the two XQS ranges, and what do their pouches weigh?

The XQS cans on our shelf split into two pouch formats: the three mint cans (The Spearmint, The Peppermint and The Menthol) use a heavier pouch, while the fruit cans described below use a lighter one. The page on the two XQS ranges on the South Africa shelf brings those differences together. Pouch weight is the mass of one portion, whereas mg per pouch is its nicotine content, and those two measurements answer different questions even when they sit side by side in product information.

What do the three mint cans weigh?

XQS The Spearmint 6mg, XQS The Peppermint 10mg and XQS The Menthol 11mg each weigh 0.75g per pouch, with 15g of contents per can. Their nicotine contents are 6mg, 10mg and 11mg per pouch respectively, so a shared pouch weight does not mean a shared nicotine content. All three are slim pouches, with 20 to a can.

What do Berrynana Twist and Black Cherry weigh?

XQS Berrynana Twist 8mg and XQS Black Cherry 8mg each weigh 0.5g per pouch, with 10g of contents per can and 20 pouches. XQS Tropical 8mg is a third fruit name at 8mg per pouch, and XQS Blueberry Mint 10mg is listed at 10mg per pouch on our South Africa shelf. Slim describes the shape of a pouch, and it says nothing about nicotine quantity, so the mg figure still needs its own check.

How do you read an XQS can?

Read the complete flavour name first, then the nicotine amount and its unit, then the ingredient and format information. A prominent number only becomes useful once you know what it measures, and for comparing portions the relevant quantity is mg per pouch.

Milligrams per gram describe nicotine concentration by weight, which is a different measurement. Nicotine content in mg per pouch equals nicotine concentration in mg/g multiplied by pouch weight in grams. That is why a heavier pouch and a lighter pouch can share a concentration yet differ in how much nicotine each holds, and why pouch weight is worth knowing whenever a label gives you a concentration rather than a per pouch figure.

The maker has changed the XQS can design over time, so an older lid and a current one can look quite different on the shelf. The flavour name and the mg figure are the details to rely on, particularly for The Menthol, which exists at both 11mg and 17mg per pouch. Check those two details when you replace a can, and the design on the lid matters much less.

Where can you buy XQS in South Africa?

You can buy XQS through our South Africa collection, using the individual product pages to compare flavour, nicotine content and format. The page on where to buy XQS in South Africa brings the shopping question together. We deliver to South Africa, and we deliver to Johannesburg and Cape Town as readily as anywhere else on the list.

Keep your chosen nicotine content in view while you compare flavours, especially when moving between the fruit cans and The Spearmint, The Peppermint or The Menthol. A saved flavour name is a good start, but the complete product name with its mg figure is a firmer reference when you come back to the range. Confirm that the can matches the amount per pouch you intended before you check out.

For a wider comparison, you can buy nicotine pouches across the whole shop using the same per pouch measurement. The homepage gathers nicotine pouches for anyone who wants to browse beyond a single brand, and the XQS collection is the place to return to once you know the level and the flavour you are after.