I am a proud American but what I am referring to are three Swedish snus I have tried recently. All are decent products that I would buy again, just not big winners for me. The products are Roda Lacket, Phantom Rothbrix Classic White, and Phantom Rothbrix Blue.

I'll start with the two Phantom products although in many ways they are hard to describe. The reason for this is for me I just don't get a lot of taste from them. I have a Phantom Classic White portion in right now and I do get a mild peppery character with some very subtle smooth, ever so slightly sweet, tobacco notes but it is a struggle to get much taste out of it. This could be due to the fact that it is a white portion but the Blue version as an OP is not much stronger. Some have described the Blue as having a Windex type aroma/taste which I can kinda see....for me it is more of a slight chemical taste yet I don't really find it offensive as some do. The product is pretty decent, especially for the price, I just don't seem to be able to coax much out of it. In general the two Phantoms taste to me like they are "watered down" or "thinned out" to some degree. As mentioned in a previous post the fact that they can be had for under $2 a can on many sites is very attractive considering taxes/the economy, and makes them a brand I always look into when purchasing. The reality though is as see them as filler products to help stretch out my stock of brands I really like and look forward to. At some point I'll buy a can of each of these plus the Brown again and try and see if I can't find some differentiation but for now in my scale of preferences a Phantom is a Phantom, regardless of color.

Roda Lacket....where do I start. As you know this is an old school snus which has (upon a quick google search) undergone numerous changes in packaging etc over the past five years or so. Descriptions of the product vary wildly which I totally understand because my views themselves have changed significantly over the course of the last week. If I would have written my thoughts on RL the first day I tried this brand it would have been relegated to my not-so-good list and been told to sit over in the corner with Goteborg's Rape #2 (which thanks to RL gets another chance later this week). So again, where do I start....

I was excited to try RL because of its history and because it appeared to be a fan favorite to some degree. I had intentionally saved this to take on a trip at the end of summer but couldn't wait. Two days before we left I opened the can and was slapped in the face by an aroma from the past. It was just like when I was a kid in the 70s and would go into the tobacco shop with my Dad and smell the various glass jars of pipe offerings. RL to me has a black cherry, unripened strawberry/raspberry aroma and is sweet almost like an inexpensive sherry. My first portion as I alluded to earlier was just like GR2; too strong, too sweet, too fruity. Ugh...I put it away in the freezer and went on the trip. When I returned a few days later I decided to give it another try. Hmmm....still has that dark sweet fruity aroma, but the taste is a bit more mellowed and there are some tobacco notes coming through. I tried a couple more portions throughout the day and they were consistent and actually not so bad. Now these were all consumed straight from the freezer so I don't know what if any effect that has...I am using the can from there but plan to leave at room temp when I'm down to a few portions.

Now I couldn't have RL as an all day portion because the berry types have a tendency with me for significant carryover; it is hard to get the taste off my palate and I also grow tired of the profile within a few portions. All in all though an initial thumbs down turns to a thumbs up.

Mint
General Mint White Portion
Jakobsson's Wintergreen Strong Portion
Thunder Frosted Long+ Portion
Jakobsson's Mint Strong Portion
Offroad Frosted Portion
General Wintergreen White Portion
Olde Viking Spearmint
Thunder Frosted ES Portion

Traditional (Bergamot or related type)
General Onyx
General Original portion
Jakobsson's Classic Portion
General White Portion
Olde Viking Original
Phantom White
Phantom Blue

Traditional ("Pure" Tobacco type)
Ettans Portion
Oden's Original
Phantom/Rothbrix Brown (price helps this to be higher on the list)
Oden's Dry White 69
Grov
N&J Strong Portion
Skruf Original

Specialty Flavor
Jakobsson's Flader
01 Portion
02 Portion
Göteborgs Rapé
Roda Lacket
Oden's Classic Kanel
Göteborgs Rapé No 2
Thunder Coola Extra Stark