Après vs Rush: which nicotine pouch should you buy?

If you are deciding between Après and Rush, the useful comparison is not the marketing copy but the milligrams, the portion size and the price per can. We sell both, so all three are below.

Side by side

Strength

The strength difference is range versus uniformity. Every Rush can we stock is 4 mg per pouch, in a 0.7 g slim pouch, which works out to 5.7 mg of nicotine per gram. Après spans 3.2–4 mg per pouch: some cans are 4 mg in a 0.55 g pouch (7.3 mg/g), and three are 3.2 mg in a 0.4 g mini pouch (8.0 mg/g).

Rush is the pick for the same 4 mg strength across all six flavours, from Blueberry Ice to Wintergreen. The Après minis are the option for a lower per-pouch strength; the No.13 Mochaccino Mini is one of those three, and coffee is an Après-only flavour here. No Rush can goes below 4 mg.

The minis are more concentrated per gram (8.0 mg/g) than the 4 mg Après cans (7.3 mg/g) or Rush (5.7 mg/g). So if you measure per pouch, Rush is predictable; if you measure concentration, the minis come out ahead.

• Light — 1.5–4 mg per pouch (177 cans listed, in stock or not). Where to start. Enough to feel, mild enough to sit with for an hour.
• Normal — 4.2–6 mg per pouch (76 cans listed, in stock or not). The everyday strength — enough to feel without taking over the afternoon.
• Strong — 6.3–12 mg per pouch (259 cans listed, in stock or not). A firm kick and a real tingle. Not a first pouch.
• Extra Strong — 12.5–20 mg per pouch (96 cans listed, in stock or not). Heavy hitters for a tolerance that is already built.
• Super Strong — 22.2–30 mg per pouch (70 cans listed, in stock or not). Serious doses, for a tolerance that is already well established.
• Extreme — 32.5–50 mg per pouch (70 cans listed, in stock or not). The highest doses we list. Far above any Canadian-authorized product.

Flavour and format

Most of the Après cans are slim portions with 20 pouches, but the No.13 Mochaccino is a mini — the one format difference between the brands. Every Rush can we stock is a slim portion, so the pouch shape is consistent across all six Rush flavours.

Flavour is where the ranges diverge. Après spans berry, mint, peach, licorice, citrus, banana, coffee, elderflower, guava, mixed fruits and passionfruit. Rush keeps to five: berry, mint, fruit, mango and melon. Four Rush cans — Blueberry Ice, Grape Ice, Mango Ice and Watermelon Ice — pair fruit with mint; Peppermint Ice and Wintergreen are straight mint. Après also has blends like the mint-and-peach Ice Tea Peach, but it gives you more non-mint options, from citrus (No.10 Tangerine Spritz) to coffee (No.13 Mochaccino).

Choose Après when you want variety and an unconventional flavour — No.11 Bananas is a good example. Choose Rush when you want a consistent mint profile: the fruit in Blueberry Ice, Grape Ice, Mango Ice or Watermelon Ice is a secondary note behind the cool, and Peppermint Ice and Wintergreen are mint alone.

The Rush range in full

• RUSH Blueberry Ice Light (4 mg) — Reach for RUSH Blueberry Ice Light when you want a smooth, easy-going hit of berry without smoke or tobacco.
• RUSH Grape Ice Light (4 mg) — RUSH Grape Ice Light pairs a smooth, easy-going nicotine kick with a crisp fruit taste.
• RUSH Mango Ice Light (4 mg) — Reach for RUSH Mango Ice Light when you want a smooth, easy-going hit of mango without smoke or tobacco.
• RUSH Peppermint Ice Light (4 mg) — Reach for RUSH Peppermint Ice Light when you want a smooth, easy-going hit of mint without smoke or tobacco.
• RUSH Watermelon Ice Light (4 mg) — Reach for RUSH Watermelon Ice Light when you want a smooth, easy-going hit of melon without smoke or tobacco.
• RUSH Wintergreen Light (4 mg) — Reach for RUSH Wintergreen Light when you want a smooth, easy-going hit of mint without smoke or tobacco.

The Rush range is six cans, all 4 mg in a 0.7 g slim pouch, 20 pouches per can, at CA$12.00 each — that works out to CA$0.60 a pouch. Five of the six are "Ice" blends built on a cooling mint base, and the whole line is made by DHOLAKIA TOBACCO.

The four fruit-ice cans — Blueberry Ice, Grape Ice, Mango Ice and Watermelon Ice — share the same tasting profile in our data: sting 4/10, mint 2/10, fruit 7/10. The fruit leads, and the cooling note is a background chill. Peppermint Ice is the mint-forward option (sting 5, mint 7), while Wintergreen Light is the other plain mint but rates closer to the fruit line (mint 2, fruit 7) than to Peppermint Ice.

So the choice within Rush comes down to whether you want fruit-plus-ice or a straight mint. Pick Blueberry Ice or Mango Ice when you want fruit with a cooling edge; pick Peppermint Ice when you want an unadorned — and stronger — mint. Wintergreen sits in between: it's named a mint but drinks like the fruit side.

Price and availability in Canada

A single can of Rush is CA$12.00, and Après is CA$14.00. That works out to CA$0.60 a pouch for Rush and CA$0.70 for Après, so the price gap is about $2 per can. Both sit inside the site-wide single-can range of CA$12.00 to CA$14.00, so neither is a pricing outlier.

Availability is the bigger difference. We stock 13 single cans of Après against 6 of Rush. If you are comparing a couple of flavours, the per-can saving on Rush adds up; if you want to try a wider spread in one order, the extra Après cans give you more options without mixing brands.

Both ship from our British Columbia warehouse in Canadian dollars, and orders over CA$150 ship free. We ship across Canada. The per-pouch difference is small enough that the deciding factor is likely how much variety you want, not the price tag.

Common questions

One difference not obvious from the label is the nicotine total per can. All six Rush cans we stock carry 80 mg across 20 pouches. The six Après 4 mg Light cans — No.10 Tangerine Spritz and No.11 Bananas among them — also carry 80 mg. The three Après minis, such as No.13 Mochaccino, carry 64 mg, even though they cost the same CA$14.00 as the other Après cans.

Sting is another differentiator. In our tasting data, No.10 Tangerine Spritz and No.11 Bananas both rate sting 2 out of 10, with fruit 8. The four fruit-ice Rush cans, including Blueberry Ice and Mango Ice, rate sting 4 and fruit 7, so the fruit is there but with more noticeable cooling. Peppermint Ice rates sting 5. If you want a fruit pouch with less initial bite, the Après Light line is the pick.

Keep going: Après, Rush, our full nicotine pouch range, every brand we carry.