Ignorance in the USA

[shortiee4]

Recently I found out that a few cumberland farms in my area started stocking General snus. Me, low on funds and low on snus, decided to pick up a few cans there.

First, I asked for the snus and presented him with the coupons from the General website.
"Oh, I don't think we can take those coupons."
The manager had already left, it was just me and this idiot. "Let me contact my manager", he said.
So I'm waiting around for about 20 minutes while he's trying to get in touch with someone.
Finally, a manager calls the store and he says "Can we take coupons for this 'General Snuff' stuff?". The manager obviously said it was fine, so he scanned the coupons in, everything went fine. $5.40 for a trial pack and a can of original portion.

As I'm leaving, he decides to throw in "It's pretty silly they refrigerate this stuff, *points to cans of dip* this stuff doesn't need to be." I shake my head as I walk out.

It's really unbelievable that people can't comprehend that snus is something completely different than dip. People see me take my can out and they give me a disgusted look, not that I really care. I just give them a big smile, revealing the portion under my lip. My family thinks I'm going to have half of my face removed when I get diagnosed with mouth cancer.

The ignorance is sickening here in the states. Snus manufacturers need to start advertising what snus really is... not dip or "chew".

</rant>

Anyways, I'd like to hear some other stories like mine - people being completely ignorant about snus.

[Kaplan]

To be fair you can't really expect people to keep up on every esoteric form of tobacco out there. And to be fair, I don't see any evidence that the vast majority of Europe is any more enlightened regarding snus. What I find annoying is the automatic assumption that snus MUST be bad for you, as bad as cigarette smoking. This often coming from smokers too, with the condescending "sure, you really believe it's safer? Haha." I would love to educate people and at least let them know there are options, but I'm definitely not going to press it. And at least they can't argue with the fact that it definitely won't lead to lung cancer.

Slowly but surely I think snus will gain ground. We just have to fight against the ignorant anti-tobacco propaganda machine.

[Mikko]

To be fair you can't really expect people to keep up on every esoteric form of tobacco out there. And to be fair, I don't see any evidence that the vast majority of Europe is any more enlightened regarding snus. What I find annoying is the automatic assumption that snus MUST be bad for you, as bad as cigarette smoking. This often coming from smokers too, with the condescending "sure, you really believe it's safer? Haha." I would love to educate people and at least let them know there are options, but I'm definitely not going to press it. And at least they can't argue with the fact that it definitely won't lead to lung cancer.

Slowly but surely I think snus will gain ground. We just have to fight against the ignorant anti-tobacco propaganda machine.

True, but I believe the US is quite judgmental because they equate it with dip. Even when I got my first can of snus, my parents asked me if it was safe, I just showed them the "Snus and Health" section on Swedish Match website and several studies that showed that there is no link between Swedish snus and cancer, that it does not cause gum disease or tooth loss and despite it containing nicotine that it also does not cause cardiovascular problems, I then concluded that the only health risk I have from snus is the possibility of addiction. They seemed to be fine with that, but they never lived in a society like America which the majority of oral tobacco available is dip (My parents are Italian and my dad has seen snus before, he works in a hotel and has seen guests use it, plus people even in Germany know what snus is, so you can't go and say people in Europe are as uneducated about snus as America, sure it is not as prevalent, but more countries in Europe (Estonia, Iceland, Germany) know about Snus than America as a whole). Even when using it where I'm living now (Hong Kong), most people who aren't American will just think it is candy or something (I only use portions when I'm out of my apartment), although a few Americans have gave me disgusting looks as well, one of my American friends just said "oh your gums will look gross in a year or so of use!", I tried to explain to him that snus and dip are completely different but in the end he just said "Dude it's basically dip" and when he saw me take out a portion he called me a "teabag sucker" the rest of the population doesn't really notice it. Oh by the way, I'm new to SnusOn but I have been using snus since my 18th birthday about a year ago

[Kaplan]

Of course many people in America equate snus with dip, if they've even given snus a second thought. And I don't live in Europe so I don't know how many people are aware of or know about snus, but I do know about the EU's ban of its sale, and that strikes me as pretty unenlightened, which is the word I used. I didn't say uneducated. Anyhoo...

What I find ignorant about America specifically is that a tobacco company is not allowed to use the truth with regards to public statements. For instance the tobacco company is forbidden from saying publicly "If you smoke, you should consider switching to Swedish snus because every single valid study finds it a hundred times safer than smoking." Nope, instead we get hideous stickers saying it is not a safe alternative to smoking--which is mostly a lie, because it most certainly is a considerably safer alternative to smoking. And then a couple times when I've talked up snus to someone, I've shown them the General can bought at a local shop, and they pointed to the warning and were like, "See, it says right there it causes cancer."

[Mikko]

So true, I've seen the labels online for the snus you can order on Northerner and some other sites that deliver to America, it's appalling how ignorant the US Government is, and even more appalling when people say "OMG stop using studies to backup your claims just look at the can's warning labels". Luckily since I live in Hong Kong there is no PACT act or whatever to stop me from ordering whatever snus I want, that means I can order directly from Sweden including brands forbidden in the US like Lucky Strike, but even when I have the can out one of my American friend's pointed to the back of the can's warning label in Swedish and said "I bet that says this causes cancer in Swedish!" I then laughed at his stupidity and told him to search up the warning, and he got owned, I don't speak Swedish but I believe the warning is something along the lines of "This tobacco product may affect your health negatively and is addictive", much more benign than the US labels.

[lxskllr]

Meh... People are idiots. 8 years of Bush, likely 8 years of Obama... Do you really care what these people think? Our government proves people DON'T think, so their opinions aren't relevent to me. I have more concern over my cats' thoughts :^)