"Where to buy snus in Ho Chi Minh?"
Vietnam is a paradise for travelers – the chaos and color of Ho Chi Minh City (or Saigon), the historic charm of Hanoi, the beachy buzz of Da Nang and Nha Trang, all wrapped up with amazing food and welcoming locals. But for snus lovers, there’s one thing that can put a damper on the trip: you can’t bring much of it through customs, and once you’re here, it seems like snus is nowhere to be found.
You’ve probably walked past local tobacco shops, asked in convenience stores, or even browsed airport duty-free hoping to find that familiar little can of comfort – no luck. So, where do you actually buy snus in Ho Chi Minh?
Let us at SnusLAB walk you through your options and explain why snus is still hard to come by in Vietnam — and why we’re now your safest bet for getting it in 2025!
Introduction
After looking for places that sell snus in Ho Chi Minh, we have concluded this list of places below. We asked customers who lived in these places for common places they would get their snus from, and rank them from the "Most Convenient" to "Least likely to find".
Places with the potential to sell snus in Ho Chi Minh:
- Tobacco storesÂ
- Convenience stores
- Gas station
- Duty-free shops
- Pharmacies
- Vape stores
- Online retailers
Tobacco stores
Tobacco stores in Ho Chi Minh usually have a wide selection of tobacco products such as: cigarettes, vapes, cigars, electric tobacco (iQOS), pipe tobacco, hookah/shisha, Vietnamese "thuốc là o", rolling tobacco, or accessories. From all the tobacco stores we visited in Ho Chi Minh, all of them lack any type of smokeless tobacco: snus, nicotine pouches, dip, or chewing tobacco. We explored further by asking the reason for the lack of snus in Ho Chi Minh, or Vietnam with the store clerk, and almost all of them do not have any prior knowledge to snus, nicotine pouches, or any other type of smokeless tobacco.
Still, we found a unique Japanese tobacco shop in Ho Chi Minh. They have one type of Japanese chewing tobacco, though it's expensive. Snus in specialty shops for foreign goods in Ho Chi Minh is sometimes a hit or miss, since they often "do not sell that well". Therefore, it is difficult to buy snus in Ho Chi Minh, or in Vietnam in general.Â
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Convenience stores
Convenience stores in Ho Chi Minh ranges from small street vendor to more established stores such as Winmart. Street vendors here often offer a smaller selection of tobacco product, such as: cigarettes, rolling tobacco, vapes, or "thuốc lĂ o". The same result was found in bigger stores in Ho Chi Minh, none of them offer snus, nicotine pouches, or any other form of smokeless tobacco. The lack of snus presence in Ho Chi Minh, or in Vietnam, is replaced by other more popular, accessible, and cheaper alternatives such as cigarettes, or vapes.Â
With the new bans, a lot of travelers are turning to snus as a discreet, smoke-free alternative — but can’t find it anywhere.
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Gas stations
Gas stations in Vietnam don’t usually sell anything but gas — not even snacks. On some highways, you might find rest stops with full facilities, but snus is not part of the offering.
Duty-free shops
We visited five different duty-free shops at Tan Son Nhat Airport. The verdict? They used to carry snus and pouches, especially before COVID-19. But demand dropped off during the pandemic, and Vietnamese consumers still don’t know what snus is. Now, the shelves are filled with cigarettes and spirits — not snus. This could also be a part of the nation wide vape & iQos ban earlier in 2025.
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PharmaciesÂ
There were no snus or nicotine pouches in the smaller pharmacies. However, we found American made nicotine patches that sticks on to your skin at a bigger pharmacies chain. This could be an alternative to snus or nicotine pouches, but this lack the common flavor that comes with snus which can be a different experience. Despite this, imported American made nicotine patches usually fetches upwards of 1.000.000 VND for a pack.
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Vape stores
Ironically, vape shops are the closest thing to an alternative nicotine market here. But again — they’ve never heard of snus or nicotine pouches. And with the 2025 vape and IQOS ban now in effect, many vape stores are either shutting down or switching products. This leaves a major gap in the market that snus could fill — but still hasn’t.
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Online retailersÂ
Established snus brands such as VELO, LYFT, ZYN, Siberia currently do not offer shipment to Vietnam as of the writing of this article. Therefore, the best bet to buy from their websites is through neighboring Asian countries such as Japan, Thailand, Pakistan, and have someone take it for you.
And don’t trust everything you see online in local marketplaces either — fake snus and counterfeit pouches are becoming more common in Vietnam, especially after the vape ban. Always make sure you're buying from a legit source.
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Why is it so hard to find snus in Vietnam?
We have explored this specific question in our previous post "Where to find snus in Vietnam?", and we found these where the most common reasons:Â
- Strict regulations regarding snus
- Society attitude
- Low demand
- Insufficient knowledgeÂ
These factors, along with the absence of major brands, make getting snus in Vietnam more difficult.
We understand this could really be a pain, since you will on vacation. This is where SnusLAB comes in!
We’ve been through the struggle ourselves — traveling across Vietnam and feeling lost without our go-to pouches. That’s why we created SnusLAB, a trusted source for authentic snus and nicotine pouches in Vietnam.
Whether you're staying in Saigon, Hanoi, or somewhere in between, we offer:
âś… A wide range of snus and nicotine pouch brands
âś… Fast shipping across all major cities
✅ Strict quality control — no fake pouches, ever
âś… Discreet packaging and optional pick-up points
âś… Helpful, friendly customer service
In a market full of counterfeits and confusion, SnusLAB is the one place you can count on.
Want to find out more about buying snus, and nicotine pouches in Vietnam? We have just the right article for you:
