Pablo Ice Cold Nicotine Pouches

Two figures appear on the can and in every listing, and they describe the same thing from different angles. 30mg/g is the concentration: thirty milligrams of nicotine in every gram of pouch material. 24mg per pouch is what you get in one, because each Ice Cold pouch weighs 0.8g. Twenty pouches make a 16g can.

Where that sits: a strong ZYN is around 9.5mg a pouch, a Nordic Spirit Max is 17mg, and Killa (from the same Danish factory) is 12.8mg. Ice Cold at 24mg is above all of them, and it arrives fast, because Pablo pouches run moist and the menthol opens the gum up. The first two minutes bring a hard, peppery sting alongside the cold, and a head rush by five for anyone not used to this level. It holds for a good forty minutes, well after the mint has faded.

Above it sits only the Exclusive line at 30mg. The Exclusive pouch is smaller (0.6g) and more concentrated (50mg/g), which makes it hit harder and quicker again. Ice Cold is the sensible top for most heavy users; Exclusive is for the few who find even this polite.

Peppermint, cold and clean, with menthol underneath doing the freezing. There is no sweetener to speak of, no spearmint softness, and no fruit. The opening is the coldest part: a sharp, almost eucalyptus-like chill that spreads across the gum and up into the sinuses within the first minute, riding on top of the nicotine sting so that the two arrive together. It is a lot, and it is meant to be.

Once the first few minutes pass the menthol settles to a steady, deep cold and the peppermint sits on top as a crisp, slightly dry mint. Some people pick up a faint sweetness at the very back; most do not. The whole thing reads as a serious, adult menthol, closer to a strong Swedish white portion than to a mint sweet.

The mint fades around the thirty-minute mark and leaves a cool, faintly numb mouth for a while after the pouch is out. The nicotine outlasts the flavour by a distance, which is why most regulars take it out at twenty-five to thirty-five minutes rather than chasing the taste to the end.

Three cans in the original Pablo line, all at the same 24mg and 30mg/g, all 0.8g slim pouches, all £3.50 a can. The difference is entirely flavour.

Pablo X Ice Cold is the one people confuse with this. It is the same pouch and the same strength; the "X" is a tobacco flavouring folded under the menthol, which gives it a warmer, slightly earthy base. If you smoked menthol cigarettes, X Ice Cold is closer to what you remember. If you never liked the taste of tobacco, this is the one.

Pablo Red is the gentler-tasting sibling: spearmint rather than peppermint, sweeter, less frost, same strength. It is the can we point people to when Ice Cold is right on nicotine but too severe on the palate.

At 24mg this is not a starter pouch, and we would rather say so than take the return.

First-timer symptoms at this strength are nausea, sweating, a racing pulse and a headache, and they are a reliable way to put somebody off pouches permanently. Work up through 6, 11 and 17mg first. If you are in the right group, use one pouch, tuck it high on one side, and take it out once the nicotine has done its job rather than when the mint runs out. Alternate sides between pouches; the gum notices 24mg.

Strong menthol is the most crowded corner of the extra-strong market. Here is how Ice Cold sits against the cold mints we stock.

Killa Cold Mint is the natural halfway house. It comes from the same company, shares the cold, sweet-edged mint character, and sits at 12.8mg, which is where most people who like the idea of Pablo but not the number end up happiest.

Standard routine, with the discipline a 24mg pouch demands.

For the audience it is built for, yes, and it has earned its place as the benchmark strong menthol pouch in the UK. The cold is genuine, the peppermint is clean rather than sugary, the strength is exactly what it says, and the slim white pouch stays discreet and stain-free. For a heavy menthol smoker or a strong-snus user who found the mainstream brands limp, this is very often the can that sticks.

For everybody else it is too much, and the "Danger Strong" on the lid is not a joke. The opening is severe, there is no sweetness to soften it, and the nicotine keeps going long after the flavour. Pablo's own Gold Edition and the Killa range exist so nobody has to start here.

Do not buy it as a first pouch or as a step up from a vape. Do buy it if 17mg has stopped registering, if you came from strong snus, or if you were a heavy menthol smoker and want one pouch to replace two cigarettes. And if the menthol is right but the harshness is not, Red is the same strength with the edges rounded off.