First los.. a big thanks to snuson members.

[eli]

So, i get a call at work that my order from northerner had arrived. My first 5 cans of los snus (I could type loose, but los is much more fun).

So, after a 12 hour work-day on 4 hours sleep I get home last night. All the posts I've read here about loose snus jumping around in my sleep-deprived brain. I'd thrown a prismaster into the order just to make life easier. The following tips ran through my head.

Bigger is easier to keep together
Don't mess with it
A little finishing in the hand is good when using the cheap prismaster...

So I filled the prismaster to maximum capacity with Ettan los and popped the pris out into my hand, a few twists and gentle presses with the finger (like shaping the rice ball for nigiri sushi) and popped it just left of center into my upper lip. The first sensation was the cold against my gums then a little "squish" as the pris formed itself to the contours of my gums. Then the flavor arrived....

Wow... just amazing, deep and rich and nothing at all unpleasent, slightly salty, slightly sweet, slightly smoking trickling out from my upper lips between my teeth.

I was able to keep the pris in for about an hour on my first attempt, some small grains managed to work their way into my mouth but these were swallowed without issue. I really wasn't even ready to take it out when I had to turn in for the night.

I really enjoyed the los and if it was not for the meetings I'm constantly called into here at work, I'd even have los in right now. the flavor is so much stronger and I'm the type that really enjoys the flavor of snus (jup I tend to enjoy the juice).

I just wanted to take a moment to thank everyone for their advice, I really think everything I've read here set me up for success.

[Anti]

After using the Icetool several times, I found it the easiest to stick the tip of the Icetool as high up as it will go until it hits the top of where your lip meets your gum.

Then make the Icetool as parallel (horizontal) as possible and inject it from there. The mistake I kept making previously was that I would put the pris in too low, and that caused it to fall faster.

Not too sure if the Prismaster can be used the same way, but I don't see why it couldn't be.

[eli]

Well if my enjoyment of los continues than investment in an icetool is an inevitability.

I got a prismaster because i wansn't sure if I'd be into loose snus and it was a lot cheaper. Tonight I'll try "injecting" the pris directly under the gums, but I had little problem with placing the pris manually. Simply dried the interior of my upper lip with the back of my hand and shoved it in, I was able to finly manipulate the position by gently pressing around the pris on the outside of my lip.

Then again I seem to have a rather large upper lip area (distance between the bottom of the nose and bottom of the upper lip).

[Anti]

When I first got the Icetool, I would inject it into my hand, too.

After trying both methods, for some reason I couldn't get the pris up as high with my hand as I could with the Icetool.

[eli]

I would imagine different techniques work better/worse for different folks. Of course I can try the injection method tonight and see how that works. (of course it may work better with an icetool than with a prismaster.

[theguitargeek]

I have gotten to the point I dont even use the High dollar Icetool,
I bake it in the can, finish it in my fingers and place it on my tongue to insert

I have been los'in almost chain since I received them a few weeks ago.

Ettan, RL, General,Prima Fint, Skruf Stark, I Love the Yellow Portions but not the Los, Goteborgs Rape (awesome but tiring after finishing the can) Wow I just saw how much I have been los'in in the past 3 weeks!!

Tony

[eli]

I'm going to be placing one more "mixed" order before I dive into buying some rolls.

Goteborogs Rape, Gotland Yellow, Skruf Stark, Knox and Grov loose are all on the radar.

Knox Portion, Skruf Stark Portion, and Got Yellow Portion.

From what I have and am pretty sure I'll be picking up rolls of:
Lucky Strike Original
Nick and Johnny

[eli]

Ok, been lossing all week and I gots to say, I'm hooked. As I contemplate my first order for full rolls the proportion of portions to lossnus changes I was thinking of a 2:1 portions:lossnus ratio, now it's about reversed, especially since I've realized i can pretty much loss-it all day at work (well 4/5 days of the work-week).

[Doc Robot]

Ok, been lossing all week and I gots to say, I'm hooked. As I contemplate my first order for full rolls the proportion of portions to lossnus changes I was thinking of a 2:1 portions:lossnus ratio, now it's about reversed, especially since I've realized i can pretty much loss-it all day at work (well 4/5 days of the work-week).

Good for you! Ex-smoker?

I use almost nothing but lös personally, and have enjoyed it immensely for a long time. I will, on rare occasion, pick up a can or two of Lucky Strike Regular Portions as I rather enjoy them. (Here's to BAT someday making this in a lös format?)

The only issues some folks run across with using lös are "mudmouth" and a rather obvious "cosmetic deformity" in the face caused by having a giant lump of Play-Doh under the lip. :wink:

I've heard folks say they can tuck away lös to the point where it's almost invisible, and I must say I envy them for it. I have never been able to do so.

I get the impression that you haven't been a snus user for very long, and if you're at the point where you're "lössing" it out in public, you're a quick learner! Congrats, and enjoy!

[eli]

Yeah ex-smoker 3 weeks off cigs and onn snuss, and jup, already lossin' it up. I really like the lucky Strike and Nick and Johnny portions.

My work, while in an office is pretty isolated, I'm an engineer so mostly I sit at my desk and stare at a computer. the cosmetic deformity is not that big an issue, at times I can almost hite the loss but usually that much messing with it just turns it to mud. But I can los and drive now (although I can't bake a pris and drive or even use a portioning tool. I've already become pretty adept wih my prismaster. today I only used two portions and the rest was all los (got a pris of General in right now as a matter of fact).

I really enjoy the stronger flavor of the los I've tried, the pouches seem more forward in the burn and the flavor is secondary, with los I get both right away.. heh.

[Shrewd]

I'm an engineer (electrical) as well, but I must go to more meetings than you . I haven't really tried los at work yet. I find portions get me through the day fine. I've been messing lately with hand baking and I'm having some success at it, but it seems to take a couple minutes to bake each time and I can't say I'm enjoying it a lot. The nic kick and feel are good - taste is different, but I'm not sure I'd say it's better. I made a cheapo icetool (3ml syringe, I have a lot of them because of kids that get sick - the idea came from some on this forum) after I decided I didn't really like my prismaster - the shape of the pris from a prismaster doesn't really work for me - I like the narrower icetool. I guess I'm one of the fortunate ones because when I spread the los across both sides (across that flap thingy, I think it's called a frenelum, but I could be wrong - and when naming body parts getting it wrong can often be really bad) you won't see much of a bulge in my lip. I do like los a lot better when I'm drinking beer, don't know why really - maybe it's because I always have a drink available for the occasional mud. I'm enjoying beer right now, so if this post seems a little disoriented that's why (Lion's Stout, excellent stout).

[eli]

I'm currently enjoying a pris of General with some Green Lakes Organic Amber, not bad the citrus in the snus matches well with the citrus in the cascade hops featured heavily in this brew.

I'm a quality assurance engineer for one of the top 5 software companies, I mostly sit in my cube running tests, submitting bugs and the like. I only have to sit about one or two meetings a week. I usually put in a portion for the morning drive, and alternate between portions and los throught the day (although if lucky strike came in loose I would probably be using even more lose) I've only tried Ettan and General los so far, but I find them both to be very nice, preferring the Ettan.

I actually prefer portions when I'm drinking as I find that sometimes lots of liquid in the mouth can increase the disintegration of the pris. I am curious to try some of the rougher cut snus and see how they work.

I like the prismaster well enough, I find that holding it about 2/3rd of max capacity gives me a nice comfortable lump that's not too obvious, I can also fill it quickly and insert the pris fairly discreetly when at my desk, although I usually have to smooth it out a bit.

The big problem right now is removing the pris cleanly... I've yet to master this particular skill.

[Shrewd]

Well, I've got a pris of Prima Fint in right now (very fine) and it isn't causing me troubles by disintegrating - I've now had probably 1 or 2 too many stouts to be typing this message , but here goes. Yeah, I wish I didn't have many meetings at work, but unfortunately they added the word "lead" to my title, so that means in any given day lots of people want to talk to me. On average I probably have 4 hours of meetings a day. Seems I can't get any work done anymore - I haven't designed a full-blown circuit in months. And there's a lot more travel to customers involved (where I can't snus at all), which really sucks since I have 2 very little kids at home (6 months and 2 years old).

You seem to know your hops, I'm impressed. My other hobby aside from snusing is homebrew.

[eli]

Heh, knowing hops is a prereq to living in the Pacfic Northwest. Doesn't hurt that I was raised in a town half-surrounded by hopfields. I've taken some courses in brewing but don't have the facilities to brew at home, so I take advantage of my homebrewing friends and have helped some of them develop new brews (note: peppercorn IPA is awesome!).

Yeah, I'm actually getting fairly competent drinking with a pris in my lip (finished off those ambers in the fridge).

Must suck having to travel so much for work, my little one is almost two years old, so I can understand how that must feel. Part of the reasons I started snusing was I really didn't want her to be seeing daddy smoke anymore.

[Zeno]

And there's a lot more travel to customers involved (where I can't snus at all)...

As I'm a project manager, meetings can take up a large portion of my workday quite often. However, stopping to snus is not an option. When meeting with customers or the senior management I use mini portions instead, which makes me much more relaxed during the meetings
They fit so well under my lip, I can talk, laugh, smile and nobody will ever notice. Give it a try...