Noob with a flavor question

[bover907]

First off, let me say I really appreciate this forum! I've been snusing for about three weeks now, and I am down from 1½ to 2 packs of cigs/day to only 3 to 5 a day! I'd dabbled in dip in ages past to try to kick the cig habbit, but although I liked the flavor, it always made me nausious. Not the case with Snus!

On to my dilema. I was always put off by the mint flavored dips, and generally liked the earthy flavor of skoal classic skoal straight. I also liked the taste of Levi Garret chew. My first order was a few cans of General white portion. I liked those, but realized before the order arrived that a one-kind order was a mistake, so on my second order I chose 7 different kinds of snus to try. I liked the Ettan, but not much else. To me, many of them smelled like Windex and tasted like what I'd imagine window cleaner would taste like. PM 1847, and LD white portions were slightly tolerable, but still smelled and tasted like Windex to me. Göteborgs Rapé Really turned me off, While the GBR#2 wasn't quite as bad. So my question is, What brands should I try that basically have more of a pure tobacco taste? I seem to be really put off by anything that has that amonia type smell and windex flavor. (Is that the bergamot, or juniper berry or what?).

My 3rd order which has already shipped, contains 3 cans each of General white and Ettan white, to be safe since I know I like those. 3 cans of Grovsnus, and One can of Skruf Original, Since I've seen those two to be suggested for those that like a tobaco taste. Are there any other's that'd fit what I'm looking for?

Again, thank you all so much for such a great community. I've been converted!

[danielan]

Hi, Welcome to SnusOn!

I'd try Skruf White or Roda Lacket White. I prefer the fruit flavored snuses, but these two, IMO, are more of a tobacco flavor, but I still like them.

IMO, you always get a bit of ammonia smell with snus - I've got used to it after a couple months and if you keep them chilled it is less noticable.

[MojoQuestor]

For portions, Ettan, Grov and General are your best bets. With los, throw in Gellivare, Landstroms, and maybe Bla. Roda Lacket portions are a bit fruity, but hopefully you will not find them Windexy. The Roda los is more subdued, with a hint of a pruneish flavor. Prima Fint los is very much worth a try, too.

Hang on to the stuff you don't care for now; throw it in the freezer. You may find some of it more appealing in a few weeks or months.

Congrats on your conversion!

[Zanaspus]

The "windex" you are tasting is juniper. I too, am super sensitive to the flavor, so I know what you're going through. If it's any consolation, you may come to crave it in small amounts in the future.

Things that come to mind with no juniper whatsoever.
Ettan
Grov
General
RL
All Gotland (but not jakobssons)
Skruf

Those are off the top of my head. I know there's lots more.

Look at reviews and ingredients. Juniper = Windex.
Good luck!

[tom502]

Well, we all know Phantom/Rothbrix ois known for it's windex aroma, but I think it's the amonia he's smelling, since he mentioned non-juniper snus.

It never bothered me. I like the smell of a fresh opened can of snus. I had the thought of leaving the lid open for a little bit, and it might dissipate, but it's a sign of fresh tobacco, so if I did, I wouldn't leave it open too long, because you wouldn't want it to dry out any.

After reading the OP again, perhaps he is smelling juniper as well, as he does mention GR2.

My suggestions are the same, General, Ettan, Grov, these are my fave SM snus, though my faves are V2 Offroad Original, Phantom/Rothbrix classic and brown, all portions.

[Zanaspus]

Not so sure. Goteborg has a lot of juniper to my taster. Never tried 1847 or LD, so I can't speak to that.

Yes, avoid Phantom/Rothbrix, Jakobsson's, Offroad original, Goteborg. "Blue" seems to be the Swedish dead giveaway for juniper, though I've yet to try my can of Bl(funny a with the circle) :P

[Zanaspus]

And while I'm posting like a madman in this thread; since your tastebuds may be akin to mine, if you ever find yourself drawn to the los side of the force, retry those junipery things. For some reason, while I hate it in portions, I love it in los.

I'll shut up now.

[bover907]

No problem at all with the madman post pace, Zan. I really appreciate all the input. While I did throw away the GBR #1 in haste a few days ago... I did put the Milder #2 back in the freezer. I was thinking the same thing you were. I did force myself to finish the LD white and the PM1847 regular. After re-reading the descriptions of the Grov and Skruf last night, I can't wait until they get here. I will take you guys advice and include some Gotlands in the next order.

Thank you all very much.

[GENERAL BILLY]

I think the Ammonia smell is just indicating that you have very fresh snus. If a can smells that way to you put it back in the fridge for a few days. As you may have read elsewhere if you don't like something just put it aside for a few weeks and try it again. It seems like you have all white portions. I would recommend trying some regular portions as well.

[Snusdog]

First off, let me say I really appreciate this forum! I've been snusing for about three weeks now, and I am down from 1½ to 2 packs of cigs/day to only 3 to 5 a day! I'd dabbled in dip in ages past to try to kick the cig habbit, but although I liked the flavor, it always made me nausious. Not the case with Snus!

On to my dilema. I was always put off by the mint flavored dips, and generally liked the earthy flavor of skoal classic skoal straight. I also liked the taste of Levi Garret chew. My first order was a few cans of General white portion. I liked those, but realized before the order arrived that a one-kind order was a mistake, so on my second order I chose 7 different kinds of snus to try. I liked the Ettan, but not much else. To me, many of them smelled like Windex and tasted like what I'd imagine window cleaner would taste like. PM 1847, and LD white portions were slightly tolerable, but still smelled and tasted like Windex to me. Göteborgs Rapé Really turned me off, While the GBR#2 wasn't quite as bad. So my question is, What brands should I try that basically have more of a pure tobacco taste? I seem to be really put off by anything that has that amonia type smell and windex flavor. (Is that the bergamot, or juniper berry or what?).

My 3rd order which has already shipped, contains 3 cans each of General white and Ettan white, to be safe since I know I like those. 3 cans of Grovsnus, and One can of Skruf Original, Since I've seen those two to be suggested for those that like a tobaco taste. Are there any other's that'd fit what I'm looking for?

Again, thank you all so much for such a great community. I've been converted!

First, welcome to the forum mate

here is my

You might try Probe- at least in los it tastes a lot like American Chew. Tre Ankare comes to mind, Ettan, Grov (which you have), Gotlands gray, Roda Lacket. Also, Knox and Granit will have a similar taste profile to General.

Anyway, I hope a few of these will work. Keep us posted. And remember don't throw anything away................save it, revisit it, trade it if needs be. Your taste will change. In fact, there is a good chance that within the next year or so you will buy another can of Rape just to revisit it

[PipenSnus]

Not only is ammonia a natural byproduct of tobacco, but ammonium salts are added to snus to control the pH. So there's no escaping the ammonia smell altogether, at least not when you first open a can. However, the storage trick mentioned in this thread works pretty well to get rid of it: http://www.snuson.com/forum/showthre...hlight=ammonia

Welcome to SnusOn!

[ThatSnusGuy]

I think the Ammonia smell is just indicating that you have very fresh snus. If a can smells that way to you put it back in the fridge for a few days. As you may have read elsewhere if you don't like something just put it aside for a few weeks and try it again. It seems like you have all white portions. I would recommend trying some regular portions as well.

It's funny about snus really. Very fresh snus, like right from the factory, has an extremely light ammonia smell. GR has just the scent of Juniper and tobacco and GR#2 is of Lingonberries and tobacco. When the snus sits for a few weeks, the scent gets a bit stronger in some brands while others have no ammonia scent whatsoever. When I went to visit the factories in Gothenburg last year I had the chance to sample cans of GR and Ettan that had just came out of the cool room a few hours prior. It was interesting, to say the least, to smell how little ammonia a truly fresh can of snus has.

Like Pipen said, ammonia is a natural byproduct of tobacco as it ages and the technique in the link will help. In my opinion, Skruf, Gotlands and General Onyx have the least ammonia smell. Ettan is a great tobacco flavored snus as is Phantom/Rothbrix brown. Hope this helps and welcome to the community!

[bover907]

Like I said, it isn't the mild amonia smell (which you can't taste btw) but the juniper smell/flavor that was putting me off. Most of my portions were white, but the Grovs I got is regular. I like those alot, but I think Ettan and General are going to be my two favs in that order. Funny, but after being a smoker for 27 years, and up to 2 ppd, I find the with the regular portions, the Nic kinda hits too hard. I didn't see Grovs in a white. Do they come in white? I like the more subtle onset from the white portions.

Everyone's replies have been a great help.

[MojoQuestor]

Yeah, Grov comes in white. It's pretty good, too. For some reason I like the Grov whites quite well, whereas I'm not as crazy about the Ettan whites as the OPs. But that's just me, and I usually prefer OPs anyway. I do a fair share of whites too, tho.

You might try Probe- at least in los it tastes a lot like American Chew. Tre Ankare comes to mind, Ettan, Grov (which you have), Gotlands gray, Roda Lacket. Also, Knox and Granit will have a similar taste profile to General.

Probe portions are not, IMHO, up to the level of the lös. They are a little more sweetish (as well as Swedish), and seem (from the one can I had) to be a little less interesting, but certainly worth a try. Tre Ankare, I think, is a good call. Knox doesn't taste a lot like General to my mouth; it's much closer to Skruf (particularly when talking portions). Now, some may find Knox/Skruf and General similar, but not so much I. LD, on the other hand, might be worth a toss.

Say, it appears everyone has neglected to mention one of my favorites, including me: Taboca! Now there's a snus worth trying, daggumit.

[WickedKitchen]

The nicotine hit will not be as hard in the days/weeks to come. Your body has to adjust for the different delivery of nicotine. After some time you'll come to notice that if effects you differently. I can still perceive the nicotine in snus on many occasions but it's most definitely a different experience than smoking a cigarette.

About the flavors...people have made good suggestions. I think you might find the los experience more of what you're used to. For me it's too messy to do all the time and I prefer portions but again, you get a different experience from it. Grov comes in a white and it's also my favorite snus. Grov regular portions rock too. Another good one with great tobacco flavor is Nick & Johnny's but if you're not used to the nic yet then it might put you off...it's 40% stronger. To me, General OP are more full bodied than the whites. All in all, I would suggest getting into snus with original portions as it's easier to pick out the flavors that you like/dislike than with whites. Whites take longer to get going and your moistening the stuff with your own saliva so I think it's an even subtler experience. My guess is that you'll grow to like that though. Many do.

Grov, Ettan, and Tre are all excellent plain snus. Goat, General, Roda, and the like all have a 'flavor' to me that's not strictly tobacco. I suspect grov isn't as plain as Ettan or Tre, but the stuff makes a symphony in my mouth...all of them, white, black, los or op, if it's Grov, it's gotta be good.