ZYN Icy Blackcurrant | 5 Cans

ZYN Icy Blackcurrant: Berry and Ice, the First Edition

ZYN Icy Blackcurrant is where ZYN first proved that dark fruit and heavy cooling belong in the same pouch: 12.5mg per pouch, moist Slim format, ripe cassis over a menthol floor, in the previous-generation can that a loyal slice of the UK still asks for by name. The current official range carries the idea forward as Blackcurrant Frost at 13.5mg, but the older can never stopped selling, and we stock it. A 5-can pack costs £19.99 at NicotineBuzz, £4.00 a can, against the £6.50 a current-range single costs on the official store.

Fruit pouches are usually gentle and ice pouches are usually fruitless, which is exactly why this combination built a following. When the 2026 label refresh moved the family name on, the earlier cans kept circulating through the import channel, priced sensibly and bought steadily. This page is the older can's own listing, written for the people searching its own name, not a diversion to its successor.

The Taste: Dark Cassis Over a Menthol Floor

Blackcurrant is the boldest fruit ZYN has ever worked with, and this pouch treats it seriously. The opening is genuinely dark: ripe cassis with the tart, almost wine-like edge that separates real blackcurrant from generic berry sweets. Underneath it sits a firm menthol layer that arrives a beat later, cools the fruit right down, and holds for the rest of the wear. The two notes stay distinct rather than blending into a purple blur, which is the trick most berry-ice pouches never manage.

The honest caveats: the fruit reads tart rather than sweet, so anyone hoping for jammy dessert berries will find it austere, and the menthol at this strength is assertive enough to prickle sensitive gums for the first few minutes. Regulars use the familiar cold-shelf vocabulary about it, clean, slow steady release, consistent can to can, and the tartness is precisely what they stay for.

How Hard Does 12.5mg Hit?

Hard enough to deserve respect. The 12.5mg figure is per pouch, and it comes from the earlier EU-spec ladder rather than the current UK one, which runs 1.5, 3, 6, 9, 11 and 13.5 with no half-steps. In practice this can sits between the modern 11mg X-Strong and 13.5mg XX-Strong tiers, nearer the top, and the moist Slim construction moves flavour and nicotine quickly. The XX Strong wording on our listing reflects how the older generation labelled this tier.

Provenance brings two practicalities. The cans typically hold 21 pouches, the older EU count, and the lid art predates the current five-dot system, so the reliable identifiers in person are the name and the milligram figure. A pouch wears for 25 to 60 minutes, strength is never quoted per can on either generation, and the catch lid stores spent pouches until a bin turns up.

Icy Blackcurrant and Blackcurrant Frost: Pick Your Generation

The two cans are siblings a notch apart, and choosing is straightforward once the difference is plain. Blackcurrant Frost is the current official spec: 13.5mg, five dots, the 2026 name, the one zyn.com lists. Icy Blackcurrant is the earlier edition: 12.5mg, older labelling, and to many palates a slightly softer landing for the same dark-fruit-and-ice idea. Take the Frost if you want the current can and the extra half-step of strength; take this one if the familiar edition is the point, or if 13.5mg sits just past comfortable. Running both and deciding by feel is not the worst weekend project either.

Why the Half-Step Matters

On paper, one milligram between 12.5 and 13.5 looks like rounding error. Under the lip it is not, for two reasons. First, both cans sit in the fast-releasing moist format, so small differences in load translate into noticeable differences in how insistently the pouch announces itself in the first ten minutes. Second, strength perception near the top of the ladder is nonlinear; the same single milligram that vanishes between 3 and 4 registers clearly between 12 and 13.5, because there is no headroom left to absorb it. Users who float between the two cans describe the Frost as arriving with slightly squarer shoulders and this one as easing in, then meeting it in the middle by the halfway point.

The practical use of the half-step is downshifting without demotion. Plenty of people find 13.5mg perfect on some days and a shade much on others, and keeping a can of each turns that daily judgement into a two-second decision rather than a compromise. It is the kind of nuance only a range with overlapping generations can offer, and one of the better arguments for the old can's continued existence.

Keeping the Old Can at Its Best

Previous-generation stock rewards slightly more care than current-range cans. Blackcurrant is a volatile flavour, and heat is its enemy: a cool cupboard preserves the cassis sharpness for months, while a radiator shelf or a parked car in July will dull the fruit and leave mostly menthol behind. Check the date stamped on the base as you would with any pouch product, rotate oldest cans to the front of your own supply, and resist decanting pouches between cans, since the lid seal is doing more freshness work than it gets credit for.

On buying rhythm, the sensible pattern is steady rather than hoarded. Import replenishment comes in waves, so a five-can pack bought when stock shows healthy beats a panic order against a low-stock banner, and the mix-and-match tiers mean topping up alongside your other flavours costs less per can anyway. If the supply ever ends for good, the Frost is a half-step away and the adjustment is small. Until then, the old can carries on doing what it has always done.

What Buyers Keep Saying

The feedback on this can skews experienced, because its buyers mostly arrived years ago and stayed. The consistent praise lands on three things: the blackcurrant tastes like blackcurrant rather than a vague berry, the cold carries through the full wear instead of front-loading, and the release is steady enough for long sessions. A number of regulars describe running this as the everyday can and borrowing its Frost successor when the day calls for the full 13.5mg.

The consistent grumbles are equally specific. The tartness divides sweet-toothed users, the older packaging photographs badly next to the 2026 cans, and the import channel means availability breathes in and out rather than flowing constantly. None of these complaints is about what is inside the pouch, which tells you most of what you need to know.

Right Buyer, Wrong Buyer

Right buyer: an established pouch user who wants dark fruit with genuine cold at a top-tier strength, a Frost drinker curious whether the earlier balance suits them better, or a long-term Icy Blackcurrant loyalist restocking the exact can they know. This flavour rewards people who like their fruit tart and their menthol unapologetic.

Wrong buyer: anyone new to pouches, full stop, since a 12.5mg moist Slim is a top-of-ladder product and the right first rung is a 3mg Mini from the low strength collection. Skip it too if you want your berries sweet, where Black Cherry keeps the fruit rounder at gentler strengths, or if you want cold without fruit at all, which is Menthol Ice territory. And if nicotine is something you are trying to leave behind, no flavour is the answer.

The Berry-and-Ice Shelf, Side by Side

Sorting is quick. This can for tart berry and ice in the familiar edition, Frost for the current maximum of the same idea, Icy Mint for the fruit-free version of this generation, Black Cherry for softer fruit at friendlier strengths. The fruit side of everything we sell lives in the fruit flavour collection, the strong end across brands in the high strength collection, and the whole brand on the ZYN nicotine pouches hub.

Specs at a Glance

Inside is the standard ZYN construction: nicotine salt on plant-based fibre, food-grade flavouring, pH adjusters and a sweetener, with the moisture that makes this format quick. ZYN's precise tobacco wording applies as always, the nicotine is derived from tobacco but the pouch contains no tobacco leaf, and the all-white, spit-free labels used by specialist shops describe the same build in trade shorthand. Minimal teeth staining comes with the territory.

Cans, Counts and Cost

Current-range ZYN runs £6.50 a can on the official store, flat. Our pack is five Icy Blackcurrant cans for £19.99, £4.00 a can, with the usual mix-and-match tiers on top: two packs price at £17.50 each (£3.50 a can), four or more at £15.00 each, £3.00 a can, and every pack of anything we stock counts toward the tiers, so pairing this with its Frost successor for a side-by-side costs less per can, not more. Note the 21-pouch count when comparing per-pouch maths against 20-pouch current cans; the old can quietly wins that sum too. If stepping away from nicotine entirely is the actual goal, the free NHS Better Health service is the honest recommendation, and our plain-English guide to snus legality in the UK explains why pouches like this are legal while Swedish snus is not. NicotineBuzz sells to over-18s only and verifies age at checkout.

Updated July 2026. Strength, format and provenance checked against current retailer listings at the time of writing.