Question for Long Time Snusers

[Krammer]

Hey! I started snusing about 6 months ago. Before snus my only tobacco use consisted of an occasional cigar. As a student, for financial reasons I recently quit snus. The first few days I felt normal, and then at about 5 days without nicotine I started feeling buzzed in the evening, about how you feel after a couple shots of gin or half a bottle of wine. At about a week and a half I began feeling nauseated constantly. Now at a month off snus I feel fine, or rather, as crappy as I did before starting snus.

So I'm wondering, is it worth picking up the habit again? At first, snus made me feel like a new man. I was literally in heaven for a couple weeks. I could focus better, primarily, and life just seemed brighter and more pleasurable. Obviously this has to do with nicotine's effects on the pleasure pathways in the brain. As I understand it, nicotine lowers the threshold for pleasure.

If I go back on snus, will those "good" effects last? Or will they fade away as tolerance builds? I seriously can't judge this for myself after only 6 months on and one month off. Thank you for any advice!

[lxskllr]

Only you can tell whether or not it's worth picking up again. Like most addictions, the "buzz" will go away, and you have to keep up use to not feel like crap. Imo, that's not necessarily a bad thing, but you're also beholden to the man, and subject to his whims. Snus prices go up due to egregious taxes, you have to buy anyway. Becomes outright illegal? Then you have to smuggle. In a free market, a benign addiction like nicotine isn't a big deal. In a closed market, it can be terrible, and run your life in a bad way.

[precious007]

I just don't know why but I feel better when snus.

I smoked for about 13 years now, and yep smoking makes me feel like crap ;-) Including dizziness, nausea, headaches and so on.

Many people say that they feel kinda' fatigued from dip and snus, if recall correctly I have more energy when I use snus or dip compared to when I'm off oral tobacco. I snused all over the last spring and summer and I felt a whole lot better, particularly Stoker's Chew was givin' me so much energy, I was able to ride my bike for about 60 km's daily and I wasn't tired.

Snus makes me more creative, gives me more self-confidence, unlike smoking which lowers my self-confidence and creativity.

For one reason, I get really depressed when I'm completely off snus or dip and I've been nicotine free this year for 2 months and another month recently, so for now, I will start snusing or dipping again and qutting smokes which aren't anywhere close to being enjoyable, they're just sick.

[sgreger1]

I'm generally of the mindset that if you have already quit than there is no reason to go back. Snus makes life better but it also costs money and could potentially have some low level health effects. I say since you're so far past quitting to go ahead and just learn to live without it.

[wadetheblade]

I'm generally of the mindset that if you have already quit than there is no reason to go back. Snus makes life better but it also costs money and could potentially have some low level health effects. I say since you're so far past quitting to go ahead and just learn to live without it.

+1 about quitting

[WolfenJack]

I guess if someone asked if they should start I would say, no way man! Addictions are a pain in the ass. I have had my share of them, both past and present. The ones I have now, caffeine and snus are of minor consequence. I went from alcohol to herb and cigarettes to snus. Hell, I'm the poster child for harm reduction. I personally enjoy using snus and caffeine and haven't found a compelling reason not to. I can afford it (not that I'm rich but I budget it into my spending money), it's not hurting anyone, and it doesn't get in the way of my responsibilities. So there! LOL
I guess if you want to do it, do it. There's a hell of a lot worse things you could do.