What with Skruf Stark and Nick and Johnny etc. being marketed as having more of the good stuff than the regular brands, I was just wondering how the manufacturers actually go about getting to these higher concentrations. Do they just use a stronger strain of tobacco, or is there some sort of refining process? Just curious to know if anyone here could shed any light on the matter!
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Could be selection of stronger plants, but mostly it comes from just putting more soda (Na2CO3) into the mixture - increasing pH and, therefore, freebasing more of the nicotine, which makes it more readily absorbed by your body. That's why it burns more (more alkaline). Cigarette manufacturers use this trick too, although rather than using soda they soak the tobacco in ammonia. Charming. :shock: -
According to Skruf's marketing, the tobacco is hand-selected and only the leaves are used. But the fact, that I haven't read a similar statement from Swedish Match about their Nick & Johnny-Snus, makes me believe that Zero's point could be of more relevance.
On the other side, the nicotine content of snus is measured as the full content in the snus, not the part, that is resorbed by the human body, AFAIK.
So, unless one of the forum-members has any first-hand-knowledge, I guess, the question will be hard to answer. :roll:Comment
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i'm not an expert, read with caution.
Some brands definitely burn the gums more than others.
Nicotine content must be measured in weight. Ph would be a major factor in how much nicotine(freebase)is available for absorption. The amount of nicotine someone absorbs would be hard to measure unless blood samples were taken. I imagine nicotine absorption would also vary from person to person.
ph, tobacco mixtures, etc must all factor in.Comment
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I dunno about folks who need the strongest of the strongest as I'm an average strength snuser, but it seems to me that Bacco/Offroad is a pretty strong snus too.
Until now I've had Bacco Licorice loose and Cranberry portions and especially these portions are the strongest I've had until now.
Every time I take one my head goes swimming for a while, damn. I don't really care for the buzz as it's distracting to me.Comment
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I agree, more isn't always better.Comment
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I think Zero's explanation is correct, since I do know you can get more nicotine out of any snus by putting some baking soda in it. I thought it ruined the flavor when I tried it, but I got more nicotine.Comment
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Just a little back up of whats been said... I found this on gadental.org .. don't ask.
Copenhagen 11.4 mg/g - 8.6 pH
Original Fine Cut Skoal 10.4 - 7.6
Skoal Long Cut Cherry 11.4 - 7.5
Skoal Bandits Wintergreen 7.5 - 6.9
The higher the pH the more nictoine
so nick and johnny is up to par with cope in nicotine... thats good as thats what I'm coming from.Comment
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Last I read, a higher pH (above 7) is good against cavities in your teeth. OTOH it seems to promote the creation of plaque on teeth. But getting rid of plaque is way easier than getting the drill.
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I don't read it that way. You can't change the amount of nicotine in a given sample of tobacco by changing its pH (by adding baking soda or whatever) because it's measured in (weight) per (weight). You can only change the way that whatever nicotine present is absorbed and make it seem like there's more nicotine. The two just happen to go hand in hand in the figures shown.Originally posted by gopherbob
The higher the nic content, the stronger it will most likely be, but not all the time. The higher the pH the more nicotine you'll absorb (within limits). So the same product will seem stronger if you raise the pH, and conversely a product that has less nic. could concievably seem stronger than another product with a technically higher content, depending on its pH. I'm guessing that's why I, like Craig dT, found Rocker blue to be, well, a bit shit - low pH, whatever the actual amount of nicotine in the tobacco.
Like nzkiwi says, it's a combination of factors.
It's not like it actually matters, it's just that's how I understand it to work!Comment
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pH, nicotine, and total moisture content
This may help.
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwr...819a3.htm#tab1Comment
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