I never realized...

[Anthony85]

... how addictive snus is. I'm a very light nasal snuff user (1-3 pinches per day), and recently I've been having a portion here and there in place of my daily snuff. No real problem... but I tried taking a portion two days in a row (8mg), and this morning I woke up jonesin' HARD. Never had that sense of physical addiction from snuff. I stayed away from snuff, snus, and everything else today and now I'm feeling a lot better. In a day or two, I should be fine. But who would have thought that having two 8mg snus portions across two days would lead to physical addiction?

In your experience, do you feel that snus is intrinsically more addictive than other tobacco products; or is the effect more profound on me being a light snuff user?

[lxskllr]

I don't think you're physically addicted at this point, I think you really wanted snus. It takes longer than that to build up a physical addiction. Me and a friend could smoke a carton of cigarettes between us over a weekend, and drop them for months at a time, no problem. It took a sustained period of smoking before I was actually hooked.

[precious007]

I'm not sure.. I've been taking snuff for roughly two months and had to stop it due to my sinusitis.

I don't think I ever was hooked on snuff.

Snus is a bit more addictive and harder to quit though...

The one thing I definitely was hooked on was cigarettes.

Actually snus is a way to cope with the nicotine withdrawal and meanwhile I enjoy the nice flavors.

To be honest I can't see myself snusing all my life but for now I love it.

[Anthony85]

I don't think you're physically addicted at this point, I think you really wanted snus. It takes longer than that to build up a physical addiction. Me and a friend could smoke a carton of cigarettes between us over a weekend, and drop them for months at a time, no problem. It took a sustained period of smoking before I was actually hooked.

I'm not sure... it was an entirely physiological reaction. I know the "I really want some!" mentality because that's all I feel with snuff.. but this felt like pure, physical withdrawal. Irritability, tingling in the hands and feet, headache, sweating, etc. Still there, but greatly easing off.

Normally I wouldn't think that it would be addictive in such small amounts; but that's got me to wondering. Perhaps snus just doesn't agree with me, but it certainly is strange.

Then again, the snus I'm using isn't the good, Swedish kind. It's some of the Camel snus I picked up due to a promotion. No telling what the American tobacco companies put in that crap. LOL

[precious007]

Irritability, tingling in the hands and feet, headache, sweating, etc.

I used to get that a lot from snuff.

The only thing you're addicted to is nicotine.

[lxskllr]

I guess individuals can have different reactions, but it sounds awfully quick to me.

[Anthony85]

I used to get that a lot from snuff.

The only thing you're addicted to is nicotine.

Yes, I know it's from the nicotine; but I've never experienced it with using snuff. That is, I'm not addicted to nicotine when carefully using snuff. But two days of using one portion of snus each day, and that's all she wrote.

[precious007]

If you were a very light user of snuff it's most likely that you're not addicted to nicotine ... (I'm not 100% though)

You need to completely get the stuff out of your system and see if you can live without it / withdrawal pangs.

I would highly doubt you would get that kind of addiction from just a portion or two of snus.

Anyways in my opinion (most experts would deny my thoughts) .. nicotine is a natural substance - the plant's natural protection from being eaten by insects, that basically means you can get addicted to onions, right which won't happen ever. I can go my entire life without eating onions - Just gave an example.

What I'm trying to say that the nicotine addiction is more of a habit/psyhical addiction rather than a REAL addiction like heroin, cocaine, LSD and other sintetic drugs that are designed to get you hooked after the first shot.

[Anthony85]

If you were a very light user of snuff it's most likely that you're not addicted to nicotine ... (I'm not 100% though)

You need to completely get the stuff out of your system and see if you can live without it / withdrawal pangs.

I would highly doubt you would get that kind of addiction from just a portion or two of snus.

Anyways in my opinion (most experts would deny my thoughts) .. nicotine is a natural substance - the plant's natural protection from being eaten by insects, that basically means you can get addicted to onions, right which won't happen ever. I can go my entire life without eating onions - Just gave an example.

What I'm trying to say that the nicotine addiction is more of a habit/psyhical addiction rather than a REAL addiction like heroin, cocaine, LSD and other sintetic drugs that are designed to get you hooked after the first shot.

Yes, I agree with you entirely there. Though nicotine definitely does have some addictive qualities, so does caffeine; it doesn't abrogate our will to use or not use it as we see fit.

Though I honestly have to say that I wouldn't be surprised if Camel and other companies aren't putting synthetic things into these products to induce such an effect. After a couple days or so, I'll switch back to snuff, and when everything's normal I'll sample a few other tobacco products such as chew, dip, etc and see if it has the same effects. I'm curious to see what happens. It may be it's just the product I'm using, or I may be one of the most nicotine-sensitive people of all time.

[Snusdog]

I'm not sure... it was an entirely physiological reaction. I know the "I really want some!" mentality because that's all I feel with snuff.. but this felt like pure, physical withdrawal. Irritability, tingling in the hands and feet, headache, sweating, etc. Still there, but greatly easing off.

Normally I wouldn't think that it would be addictive in such small amounts; but that's got me to wondering. Perhaps snus just doesn't agree with me, but it certainly is strange.

Then again, the snus I'm using isn't the good, Swedish kind. It's some of the Camel snus I picked up due to a promotion. No telling what the American tobacco companies put in that crap. LOL

Snus is stronger than snuff..............and offers longer exposure........that may provide some explanation to your experience

Regardless..............if you are not addicted now................you will be with continued use

If it were me...........I'd think long and hard about which road I wanted to travel................and this coming from someone who LOVES snus

[jagmanss]

Snus is stronger than snuff..............and offers longer exposure........that may provide some explanation to your experience

Regardless..............if you are not addicted now................you will be with continued use

If it were me...........I'd think long and hard about which road I wanted to travel................and this coming from someone who LOVES snus

+1

Couldn't have said it any better... Your playing with fire Anthony...

[Anthony85]

+1

Couldn't have said it any better... Your playing with fire Anthony...

Yes, I know. I use nasal snuff because I can use it without becoming addicted, and it's enjoyable. Right up there with a good glass of bourbon. As with anything, moderation is key. When it starts to become a problem, I simply put it away for a few days or a week, and all is well.

I'm understanding that snus is more addictive, and it appears that I can't use it in moderation without physical addiction, so I simply won't use it. At least not this particular snus, since it's not enjoyable.

If I do find myself becoming addicted when exploring different tobacco products outside of snuff, I simply "detox" from it and change my behavior in the future. It's not like it destroys the will; we have control over our own actions, after all.

Thanks for your concern; I know a lot of people have trouble when it comes to these things, but I'm not going to let myself become addicted to anything. It's no longer pleasurable when it's just feeding an addiction, which defeats the purpose.

[Anthony85]

As a response to my own post, I just came across something that indicates that higher amounts of nicotine do not go well with large amounts of caffeine. When reviewing my day yesterday, I realize that after my snus portion, I took at least two strong coffees, plus another caffeinated beverage later. The problems started hours later in the evening, and peaked this morning. I think that may be the culprit: don't mix nic and high levels of caffeine.

I'll leave the snus tin around and in a few weeks, I might try it again to see what the effects are. If I experience the same thing without the caffeine, I'll just have to skip the snus.

[snusgetter]

As a response to my own post, I just came across something that indicates that higher amounts of nicotine do not go well with large amounts of caffeine. When reviewing my day yesterday, I realize that after my snus portion, I took at least two strong coffees, plus another caffeinated beverage later. The problems started hours later in the evening, and peaked this morning. I think that may be the culprit: don't mix nic and high levels of caffeine.

I'll leave the snus tin around and in a few weeks, I might try it again to see what the effects are. If I experience the same thing without the caffeine, I'll just have to skip the snus.

Could you post the link you refer to? It's been caffeine & nicotine for me
for many many years so I'd be more than intersted in the article in question.

[Anthony85]

Could you post the link you refer to? It's been caffeine & nicotine for me
for many many years so I'd be more than intersted in the article in question.

It wasn't a link to an article; I just did some searching on the web and came across several people who experienced the same thing as I did, and it turned out to be a problem mixing high caffeine and nicotine. It probably wouldn't affect everyone, but I've always had a low tolerance to nicotine anyway, so I suspect this as the problem. It could be that the nicotine/caffeine mixture was too much for my system, which gave me symptoms of "withdrawal" as it came down. Since I've never had nicotine withdrawal, I could have easily mistaken this for something else.

As I said, I'll test it again in a few weeks and see.