A major reason for most snus users to use it over other forms of smokeless tobacco is it's reduced harm benefits. While we tell those new to Swedish snus that this is a great benefit and a good reason to use snus, we thought we should give a short explanation as to why Swedish snus is healthier. It’s all in the Tobacco Specific Nitrosamines or, TSNA’s as they are also known.

TSNA’s are the chemicals in tobacco that make it unhealthy and can vary in amounts depending on how it’s used. The common thought of Nicotine being the main cause of illness in tobacco is untrue and TSNA’s have been scientifically proven to be the cause. Smoking tobacco, like cigarettes, generate the highest amount, due to the actual igniting of it. Smokeless tobacco is much less harmful because it’s not lit but Swedish snus has the lowest amount of TSNA’s of any smokeless tobacco and it's because of the manufacturing process.

Most Smokeless tobacco products use a curing process that includes fermenting the tobacco to add flavor and character to the product. This fermentation in the curing process uses high heat levels and wood smoke to start fermentation of the tobacco. Swedish snus, on the other hand, is steam cured which uses a lower heat level to cure and flavor the tobacco without the need for smoking. This steam curing keeps the TSNA levels down to between .2 ppm and 12 ppm. The easiest way to comprehend how much safer Swedish snus is compared to smoking is this; in the over 240 years of use in Sweden, there has been only one reported case of Cancer linked to Swedish snus compared to the extremely high number of reported cases caused by smoking! With a track record like that, you can see why Swedish snus is the safer alternative!