Upper Lip or Lower? Pouch Placement, Settled

A pouch goes under your upper lip, between the lip and the gum, a little off to one side. Then you leave it alone. It took me more cans than I'd like to admit to learn that last part.

Why the upper lip won

Pouches got this spot from snus, and Swedish snus users had a hundred years to try the alternatives. The upper gum line makes less saliva than the lower one, so the flavor comes out slower and steadier, you swallow less, and the pouch stays where you put it. Put one under your lower lip and you'll notice the difference within minutes: the flavor comes out all at once and you swallow constantly. The pouch also shifts every time you talk. The lower lip is where drip comes from, so stick with the upper.

Why off-center works better

Right in the middle, under your nose, is a bad spot for two reasons. It's the most visible place on your face, and it's where your lip moves the most. Slide the pouch over toward one of your canine teeth instead. There's a natural pocket there where it sits flat and out of sight, and it doesn't move around when you talk. With a mini, like a ZYN Cool Mint Mini at about 0.4 grams, an off-center pouch is practically invisible. Slims show a little more. Our Mini vs Slim post covers both sizes if you're choosing between them.

Four mistakes that ruin a good can

• Fidgeting. Pushing the pouch around with your tongue every thirty seconds squeezes it, which makes it burn faster and run out sooner. It drips more, too. Put it in place and forget about it.
• Chewing. It isn't gum. One absent-minded bite releases everything at once, and that's the last thing you want with a 30 mg Pablo.
• Using the same spot every day. Your gum will notice. Switch sides from one pouch to the next, and see our guide to gum irritation for more on this.
• Putting one in right before lunch. Food, a pouch and chewing don't go together. Take it out before you eat.

How long it stays in

Twenty to forty minutes for most people, and we wrote a whole post on the timing question. Placement changes how the pouch releases over that time, though. A pouch that sits still under the upper lip releases evenly the whole way through. One you keep fidgeting with gives up most of what it has in the first ten minutes, and after that there's not much left in it.

If you're still picking a first can to practice with, start with our beginner pouches. At $9.99 a can, practicing doesn't cost much.

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