The Blueberry Bench: Six Cans, Three Brands, and the Fruit That Keeps Getting Drafted

Blueberry barely came up in our berry rankings in July. Meanwhile ZYN Cool Blueberry Mini has become one of the best-selling cans in the store, behind only the two watermelon cans. Every brand makes a blueberry, in every format and at every strength, but it's never had a post of its own, so this one puts six of them side by side.

The six cans

From lightest to strongest: ZYN Cool Blueberry Mini at 6 mg, VELO Berry Forest at 10, ZYN Cool Blueberry Slim and ZYN Blueberry Mint at 11 each, and two Pablos at 30, Exclusive Sour Blueberries and Exclusive Blueberry Peach Ice. I judged them on whether they taste like real blueberry, whether the sweetness stays under control, and whether there's any flavor left twenty minutes in. It's the same test we used in our grape comparison.

ZYN Cool Blueberry Mini, 6 mg: the one people actually buy

Ripe blueberry comes first, with a gentle cool behind it that never turns into mint. The sweetness tastes like fruit rather than syrup, and the mini pouch keeps it short and mild. It's an easy fruit can that doesn't take any figuring out, and judging by our orders, that's what a lot of you want. It's on our ZYN 6 mg page with the other minis. If you've never had a fruit pouch, this is a good first one.

ZYN Cool Blueberry Slim, 11 mg: the same fruit, longer

Same flavor as the mini, but in a slim pouch at 11 mg, and it lasts a lot longer. The slim releases more slowly, so the blueberry goes for around half an hour instead of ten minutes, and the cool holds through the second half instead of fading out with the fruit. Of the two, this is the better everyday can. If you already use 9 or 11 mg pouches, skip the mini and start here. It's on our ZYN 11 mg page next to Blueberry Mint.

ZYN Blueberry Mint, 11 mg: formerly Cool Berry Strong

You might know this can as Cool Berry Strong. The new name just describes how it's always tasted: blueberry up front, raspberry behind it, and a cool finish that stops just short of real menthol. We tag it as both fruit and mint because it really is both, and it's still the best way into fruit for mint people who say they don't like fruit. The berry rankings picked it as the best berry can for mint fans, and I'd still say so.

VELO Berry Forest, 10 mg: the mixed berry

Blueberry leads, then raspberry and blackberry fill in behind it, and it finishes with a clean menthol cool. It has the most going on of the six, and it's also the least purely blueberry. Berry Forest won our berry rankings outright, and nothing here changes that. This post is about blueberry specifically, which is a slightly different question. It's a 10 mg slim and one of the eight European VELO cans we ship. Our VELO buying guide covers the other seven.

Pablo Exclusive Sour Blueberries, 30 mg: the sour one

It's tart and sharp, and it clearly tastes like blueberry. Then the 30 mg kicks in hard. Pablo doesn't make gentle fruit pouches, and this is no exception. The sourness keeps it from tasting like candy, which is more than I can say for most of the Exclusive fruit line. The usual rules for the strongest pouches apply: experienced Pablo users only. Our post comparing a 30 mg Pablo with a 6 mg ZYN explains why five times the milligrams doesn't mean it feels five times as strong.

Pablo Exclusive Blueberry Peach Ice, 30 mg: the cold one

Blueberry and peach with a layer of menthol on top, which is how our guide to the cold words on cans describes "Ice." The peach softens the blueberry into something closer to a smoothie, and the menthol keeps the sweetness in check. It's still a 30 mg pouch, though. Of the two Pablos, it's the easier flavor to like and the one people are more likely to reorder. Like the Sour Blueberries, it's for experienced Pablo users only.

Our picks

• Best pure blueberry: ZYN Cool Blueberry Slim. Same flavor as the mini, but it lasts longer.
• Best first blueberry: ZYN Cool Blueberry Mini at 6. It's already the best seller of the six.
• Best for mint fans: ZYN Blueberry Mint, the can formerly called Cool Berry Strong.
• Best flavor overall, blueberry or not: VELO Berry Forest, still our top berry can.
• Strongest, and the better of the two Pablos: Blueberry Peach Ice. Experienced users only.

Trying them yourself

All six are on our berry page at $9.99 a can. Stick with the strength you already use and only change the flavor. Give each can three days before you decide, because the first pouch can be misleading (our guide to judging a new can explains why). Trying all three ZYN cans costs about thirty dollars.

Quick answers

What is the best blueberry nicotine pouch?

For pure blueberry, ZYN Cool Blueberry Slim at 11 mg. For a first can, ZYN Cool Blueberry Mini at 6 mg. VELO Berry Forest at 10 mg has the best overall flavor, with raspberry and blackberry behind the blueberry.

Is ZYN Cool Blueberry minty?

No. It has a gentle cool finish but doesn't taste like mint. ZYN Blueberry Mint, the can formerly labeled Cool Berry Strong, is the one with a real mint note.

What strength is ZYN Cool Blueberry?

The Mini is 6 mg per pouch and the Slim is 11 mg per pouch. Both are $9.99 a can.

WARNING: This product contains nicotine. Nicotine is an addictive chemical.