Stokes Picks vs Nicotine Pouches: What Is Different

Pouches and toothpicks both sit in your mouth and both give you nicotine without smoke. People who switch from one to the other notice a few clear differences. Here they are.

How each one works

A nicotine pouch is a small fiber bag filled with nicotine, fillers, sweeteners and flavor. You tuck it between your lip and gum. The nicotine comes out fast, usually over 15 to 30 minutes, and then you spit the pouch out.

A Stokes pick is a birch toothpick with nicotine and organic flavor in the wood. You hold it between your cheek and gum like any toothpick. The nicotine comes out slowly over 20 to 60 minutes. When the flavor fades you flip to the fresh end.

How it feels

Most people say a pouch hits harder and faster. A pick is steadier. Every Stokes pick has 5 mg of nicotine, but you get it over a longer time. If you are used to strong pouches, start with one pick and see how it feels before you take another.

What is in it

A Stokes pick has five ingredients: American white birch, pure nicotine, certified organic flavors, organic monk fruit and vegetable glycerin. No sugar, no sucralose, nothing artificial.

Pouch ingredients vary by brand. Most use fillers, pH adjusters, sweeteners such as sucralose and artificial flavors. Check the label of the brand you use.

Spitting and mess

A pouch can make you salivate, and some people need to spit. When it is done you have a wet pouch to throw away.

A pick does not make you spit. When it is done you have a dry toothpick.

What you throw away

A used pouch goes in the trash along with its plastic can and lid.

A used Stokes pick is a piece of birch wood. It breaks down naturally. The pack is the only packaging, and there is no plastic can.

Price

A pack of 16 Stokes picks is $7. Six-packs and twelve-packs cost less per pack, bundles mix all four flavors, and a subscription takes another 10% off. Orders over $48 ship free.

Side by side

	Nicotine pouch	Stokes pick
What it is	Fiber bag with nicotine powder	Birch toothpick with nicotine in the wood
How long	About 15 to 30 minutes	20 to 60 minutes
Feel	Fast and strong	Slow and steady
Spitting	Sometimes	No
Ingredients	Varies, often sucralose and fillers	Five, all listed
Waste	Pouch, plastic can, lid	A toothpick

What this does not mean

Nicotine is an addictive chemical in both products. Stokes picks are for adults 21 and over who already use nicotine. They are not a way to quit anything, and we do not sell them as one.

Try it

If you like the idea of a slower release and fewer ingredients, Vanilla Mint is the easiest place to start. Every order has a 30-day money-back guarantee.