ZYN Black Licorice | 5 Cans

ZYN Black Licorice: Proper Nordic Liquorice in a Mini

ZYN Black Licorice is the range's purest, most traditional licorice, a small dry Mini pouch that tastes of classic anise licorice with a salty salmiak edge. It is not sweet, not floral and not dressed up. It is the real, grown-up Scandinavian flavour, served in a discreet 3mg pouch, 20 to a can. Tobacco-free and all-white, it is the sort of thing Nordic pouch users treat as an everyday staple. At NicotineBuzz that is five cans for £19.99, so £4.00 a can, against roughly £5.50 for a single tin in the shops.

Where the Slim Violet Licorice softens things with a floral note and comes in stronger, Black Licorice keeps it simple and honest: liquorice and salt, in a small, low-key format. If you grew up on salty Nordic liquorice, this is comfort food in a pouch. If you did not, this page will tell you straight whether it is worth a punt.

What Does ZYN Black Licorice Taste Like?

Anise and licorice root lead, deep and rounded, with the sort of savoury bitterness that proper black liquorice has and the soft English sweet version does not. A mellow sweetness sits underneath to stop it turning harsh, and then the salmiak comes through: that salty, slightly sharp note Scandinavian sweet shops are famous for. The overall effect is rich and satisfying without being sugary, closer to a Nordic liquorice pastille than to a liquorice allsort.

Reviewers who like the style call it present and smooth, and, tellingly, not sweet at all, which for a licorice fan is a compliment. It is understated rather than loud, so it does not hammer your palate the way a strong ice or a candy flavour might. The flavour runs around 30 minutes, which is on the shorter side, fitting for a small dry Mini that releases gently rather than all at once.

This is very much a love-it-or-loathe-it flavour, and there is no point pretending otherwise. Salty liquorice is an acquired taste that a lot of British palates have simply never acquired. If anise and salt sound appealing, you are in for a treat. If the idea makes you pull a face, no amount of description will change that, and there are far friendlier flavours in the range.

Why Sweden Puts Salt in Its Liquorice

To a British buyer, salty liquorice can seem like a mistake, so it helps to know it is anything but. Across Sweden, Finland and the rest of the Nordics, salmiak has been a beloved everyday flavour for well over a hundred years, turning up in sweets, ice creams, chocolate and even spirits. Children grow up on it. Adults keep eating it. It is as normal there as a mint humbug is here, and just as unremarkable.

That heritage is exactly why ZYN, a Swedish Match brand born in the home of snus, bothers to make a black liquorice pouch at all. It is not a gimmick or a novelty flavour bolted on to chase attention; it is a staple taste being served in the format Sweden happens to have perfected. Seen that way, Black Licorice is one of the most authentic flavours in the whole range, even if it is also one of the least familiar to a British shelf full of berries and mints. Come to it with that context and it makes a lot more sense than it first appears.

The Mini Dry Format: Small, Discreet and Slow

Black Licorice only comes as a Mini Dry pouch, and that choice matters as much as the flavour. Mini pouches are smaller than the Slim ones, roughly 28 by 13mm, so they tuck almost invisibly under the top lip with barely a bulge. The dry build carries less moisture, which means the flavour and nicotine release slowly and steadily rather than arriving in a rush.

The upshot is a very low-key pouch. There is little drip, nothing obvious for anyone across the table to notice, and a gentle, even release you can wear through a meeting or a quiet commute. It suits the flavour well: black liquorice is a savour-it taste, not a hit-you-hard one, and the dry Mini lets it unfold quietly. Each pouch weighs about 0.4 grams, and a can holds 20, so it is a genuinely pocket-friendly little tin. If you prefer a larger, moister, faster pouch, the Slim Violet Licorice is the licorice to look at instead.

How Strong Is ZYN Black Licorice? Just the 3mg

Black Licorice comes in one strength, and it is a deliberately gentle one.

Be honest with yourself about the nicotine here: 3mg in a small dry Mini is light. Reviewers stepping across from stronger pouches have noted feeling very little from a single one, so if you are a heavy ex-smoker chasing a firm hit, this is not the pouch for that job. It is built for the flavour and for a gentle, controlled everyday experience, not for knocking back a craving. There is no stronger Black Licorice, so if you love the taste but want more nicotine, the move is to pair it with a plainer strong pouch rather than stacking two Minis. Anyone brand new to nicotine pouches, on the other hand, will find the 3mg an easy and forgiving strength to start on.

Black Licorice vs Violet Licorice: Which Licorice Is for You?

ZYN makes two licorice pouches, and they are aimed at different people. Here is the straight comparison so you buy the right one.

Put simply: choose Black Licorice if you want liquorice pure, subtle and discreet in a small light pouch. Choose Violet Licorice if you want a bigger, stronger, more layered take with the floral violet taking the edge off. And if it is really the grown-up, savoury idea you are after rather than licorice itself, Coffee is the other pouch for people who have had enough of sweet fruit and sharp mint. The whole range sits on the full ZYN collection.

Black Licorice Specs at a Glance

The all-white pouches will not stain your teeth, and the small dry Mini is about as discreet as pouches get, which is one more reason this flavour suits public use so well. Handy, given that a salty-liquorice habit takes some explaining to the uninitiated, and the smell of aniseed on your breath is a good deal subtler than a strong mint.

Who Should Buy Black Licorice, and Who Should Steer Well Clear

Buy it if you already love salty Nordic liquorice, if you want a genuinely different flavour to break up the mints and fruits, or if you like a small, discreet, low-strength pouch you can wear all day. It is also a sensible first pouch for a newcomer who happens to like licorice, since the 3mg is so gentle.

Steer well clear if salty liquorice has never appealed to you, because this is the purest form of it in the range and it will not win you over. Skip it too if you need a proper nicotine hit, since the 3mg Mini is light by design. Anyone chasing strength should look at the stronger Violet Licorice or a firm mint, while those who want fresh and easy belong on the mint and menthol collection. And the usual note stands: if you do not already use nicotine, an unusual flavour is not a reason to start.

How to Use ZYN Black Licorice

Slip one pouch under your upper lip against the gum. Being a dry Mini, the tingle is mild and the release gentle, so give it a few minutes to get going rather than expecting an instant hit. Leave it in for around 30 minutes, or until the flavour tails off, then tuck the used pouch into the catch-lid on top of the can.

One pouch at a time is the way, though because the 3mg is light, some experienced users do run them back to back through the day. Swallowing your saliva is fine, swallowing the pouch is not. If pouches are new to you, our low strength collection is the right shelf, and our guide to what snus and nicotine pouches really are covers the basics before you take on a flavour this traditional.

What Five Cans of ZYN Black Licorice Cost

A single ZYN can runs around £5.50 in most UK shops, so five singles come in near £27. Our pack puts the same five cans at £19.99, which is £4.00 each, and the per-can price keeps dropping as you add more across the basket, down to £3.00 a can at four packs or more. The tiers count the whole order, so you can pad out a Black Licorice order with a mint or a coffee and still reach the cheaper rate, which is a tidy way to keep a divisive flavour as one part of a varied stash.

Being one of the more traditional pouches in the range, Black Licorice appears in our new in collection when it lands. One plain closing note: nicotine is addictive no matter how understated the flavour, and these pouches are for adults who already use it. If you want to stop entirely, the free NHS Better Health service is worth a look, and you can check the flavour against the official range on the ZYN UK website.

Updated July 2026. Prices checked against UK pouch retailers at the time of writing.