I declare an interest right off the bat ... I was in love with the old Gajane Oden's Extra Stark Kanel - right when it first came out I ordered some and loved it straight away and it has always been with me ... until they stopped making it!
So GN has taken up the challenge and taken over production of Oden's Extra Stark Kanel aka 59. And for my taste-buds that's a tough place to start from review-wise!
Let's start with the can - it's a characteristic Oden's new design with flip top lid ... that's an improvement as the old Gajane ones had no ashtray lid at all. However - the plastic GN use is thinner and more bendy .. but hey - it's a can of portions - it will be in the bin before a day or two - so it doesn't have to be bullet-proof! But the label - sorry, that's a downgrade ... some of these new Oden's designs look like they've been designed on MS paint by a 13 year-old and then printed out on sticky labels with your own home inkjet printer - and this one with it's pixelated fake snakeskin background and dagger piercing the brand name (in what looks like the gothic version of comic sans) flanked by 2 very random swedish flags ... well it's one of the worst! The old odens extra stark labels used gold on black with proper gothic lettering and it looked very classy!
But however cheap it looks ... that's not the point of a snus review really is it? So the important thing is the snus - so here's the review of that.
OK - I open the can and smell ... it's very promising - there is the same strong full-blooded cinnamon smell I used to get with the old one - but without the fresh ammonia smell I personally used to take as a good sign that the snus was fresh. These portions are much drier and neater - the old Kanel used to ooze with snus juice under the pressure of the lid.
And the tasting - initially it's good - the cinnamon is there in all it's glory ... but then - where's the tobacco taste that used to be there? No doubt it has the nicotine of it's predecessor - but the delivery is slower (I don't know if this is due to the lower moisture content or pH or what it is) - whatever the reason the old Gajane version used to kick like a mule which I enjoyed and this one doesn't. And the lack of the depth of flavour is also disappointing - there is nothing to my taste buds beyond the artificial flavouring - which I have to say is one of the things I don't like about almost all the snus that GN makes. All the classics for me, Skruf, General, Ettan, Gotlands RIP and the previous Gajane version of this snus had an underlying rich tobacco - and for me this snus doesn't and that makes it a disappointment.
Don't get me wrong! This snus is fine ... probably better than a lot of the competition - but it was a hard challenge to take one I loved off the market and reformulate it in a different factory and I am going to have to face facts that although I like Mr. GN himself ... I am not a massive fan of his snus.
So GN has taken up the challenge and taken over production of Oden's Extra Stark Kanel aka 59. And for my taste-buds that's a tough place to start from review-wise!
Let's start with the can - it's a characteristic Oden's new design with flip top lid ... that's an improvement as the old Gajane ones had no ashtray lid at all. However - the plastic GN use is thinner and more bendy .. but hey - it's a can of portions - it will be in the bin before a day or two - so it doesn't have to be bullet-proof! But the label - sorry, that's a downgrade ... some of these new Oden's designs look like they've been designed on MS paint by a 13 year-old and then printed out on sticky labels with your own home inkjet printer - and this one with it's pixelated fake snakeskin background and dagger piercing the brand name (in what looks like the gothic version of comic sans) flanked by 2 very random swedish flags ... well it's one of the worst! The old odens extra stark labels used gold on black with proper gothic lettering and it looked very classy!
But however cheap it looks ... that's not the point of a snus review really is it? So the important thing is the snus - so here's the review of that.
OK - I open the can and smell ... it's very promising - there is the same strong full-blooded cinnamon smell I used to get with the old one - but without the fresh ammonia smell I personally used to take as a good sign that the snus was fresh. These portions are much drier and neater - the old Kanel used to ooze with snus juice under the pressure of the lid.
And the tasting - initially it's good - the cinnamon is there in all it's glory ... but then - where's the tobacco taste that used to be there? No doubt it has the nicotine of it's predecessor - but the delivery is slower (I don't know if this is due to the lower moisture content or pH or what it is) - whatever the reason the old Gajane version used to kick like a mule which I enjoyed and this one doesn't. And the lack of the depth of flavour is also disappointing - there is nothing to my taste buds beyond the artificial flavouring - which I have to say is one of the things I don't like about almost all the snus that GN makes. All the classics for me, Skruf, General, Ettan, Gotlands RIP and the previous Gajane version of this snus had an underlying rich tobacco - and for me this snus doesn't and that makes it a disappointment.
Don't get me wrong! This snus is fine ... probably better than a lot of the competition - but it was a hard challenge to take one I loved off the market and reformulate it in a different factory and I am going to have to face facts that although I like Mr. GN himself ... I am not a massive fan of his snus.
