A question for the vets.

[Veganpunk]

So how did you guys find snus before Camel infested America? Just curious as I (and many here) had never heard of it until Camel.

[lxskllr]

I first heard of it through a buddy's trip to Norway. Shortly after I saw a Camel display in the store. Normally I wouldn't have given it a second thought, and I'd have just assumed it was a new gimmick from the tobacco companies. Knowing the word snus from my friend got me interested in trying it. I liked the Camel, and I still do to some extent, but before long(2-3 weeks maybe), I was online purchasing some Swedish snus.

It was a bit of a shock after the Camel sweetness, and it took me awhile to get into the Swedish groove. The absolute lack of sweetness, and salt were a little off putting at first, but they won the day after a couple weeks of use. The Swedish flavors are complex and mature. It's like comparing a single malt scotch to a fruit schnapps. Schnapps kind of tastes good in it's weird sweet way, but the scotch is more satisfying over the long term, and the skill that it takes to make it is readily apparent.

[chadizzy1]

I was actually interested in posing this question earlier. I was curious about the old timers, how they found it.

[chainsnuser]

I googled for Kautabak (chewing tobacco), because after two weeks of use I realised that Nicorette gums would never help me to quit smoking. Kautabak is almost impossible to find in local shops. I didn't even know if it's still produced.

The Wikipedia article for Kautabak had a link to the snus-article. Now, that stuff looked weird and I had never seen it before, but after another 2 weeks of internet-enquiries I finally placed an order for 5 cans of snus and a can of Danish chewing tobacco. Well, the first portion of Skruf Stark made me a snuser.

BTW, I studied many smokeless-tobacco-forums back in November 2006, including this one, but what finally convinced me to try snus was an anti-tobacco-article that mentioned all the well known myths (fibreglass, mouth cancer ... and so on) but the author made the mistake to call snus a "nicotine-bomb" and that was just what an ex-chainsmoker like me - who suffered heavily from Nicorette use - was looking for.

Cheers!

[chossy]

A friend gave me some in school, after bumming some I went to the store and bought some of my own, think it was General.

I also used Tre Ankare can´s for building blocks when i was just a little boy, my dad saved can´s for me, well I couldn´t really build much, just stack them around

[reshumate]

Saw Tourney (ick) sold at a Speedway in North Chicago. I had these long drives once a month and it was always a pain to smoke (I did not smoke in my vehicles). Bought some and it did the trick. Researched it online and found the better brands.

[sagedil]

I happened to read about it in an article somewhere on the net, long ago forgot where or what the context was. But I said wow, this is interesting. A few clicks later, I was reading about it on Wikipedia. A couple more clicks, found Northerner so knew I could easily get it.

As I have mentioned many times elsewhere, at the time, i was managing an outbound fundraising call center. Wasn't happy how often I was leaving the sales floor, so thought that snus might be a good way to cover my nicotine needs just while I was working. Didn't imagine, nor did I really want, to quit smoking. That just happened.

So right after ordering, I found a really crappy snus forum. And I mean REALLY crappy. It was a sub forum of a dipper forum. And the dippers were always coming in and posting how stupid snus was. But sorta useful in my earliest days.

Camel was announced a few months after I started snus, and I was initially excited as this was long before I had learned to stockpile snus, so thought that Camel would be a good backup if I ever ran out. And Raleigh was selected as one of the first test markets. Met some Camel reps at a bar a couple of weeks before it went officially on sale, so got some cans to try out. Maybe 4 months after I had started using snus, already done with smoking.

Snuson was mentioned on my crappy forum, so found here maybe 6 months after I had started using. And haven't looked back. :wink:

[chadizzy1]

As I have mentioned many times elsewhere, at the time, i was managing an outbound fundraising call center. Wasn't happy how often I was leaving the sales floor, so thought that snus might be a good way to cover my nicotine needs just while I was working. Didn't imagine, nor did I really want, to quit smoking. That just happened.

I used to do that in High School for the Special Olympics, raising funds for them.

[sagedil]

I worked for a Democratic fundraising company that also took on some charity work. We called for 2 states Special Olympics campaigns. I always enjoyed calling for that, just a super worthy cause.

[Snusophile]

Sometime during 2006 I was a member of SMPOST (yes, them). Slowly but surely a few of the veteran members there began to talk of a weird Swedish product that sure as hell wouldn't replace their dip, but was a whole new world of flavor and enjoyment. I was a heavy smoker still, and would use dip tobacco while working in the yard or hiking (forest fires aren't cool).

They posted pictures of fridges full of snus, lauded it's health benefits and spitless usage. I was all set to order some.....but then it all fell through. I wasn't ready to quit smoking for an oral product, after all smoking was still cheap and you could still have a cigarette in a restaurant or bar. So, while I never forgot about snus, nothing happened until April of 2008 when I picked up my first can of Camel Snus, got in my car and went for a drive. As I coasted around corners and listened to the whine of my engine, I realized that this snus thing wasn't half bad. I could hold the wheel with two hands and still get my nicotine. COOL! The only problem was it didn't taste that great, much too sweet. So I followed the link to The Northerner from SMPOST, bought a few cans of Swedish snus, registered an account here and set a quit date. The day my snus came, I smoked my last cigarette and save for a few slips I haven't had another one since.

[sagedil]

LOL, you were a member of SMPOST too??? The crappy forum I refereed to above. :wink:

[tom502]

The worst thing about SMPOST is the average age is 15, and hot topics are how to hide your spit can from your mom, and how to hide your dip cans in your bookbag, and how to dip in class.

[Snusophile]

LOL, you were a member of SMPOST too??? The crappy forum I refereed to above. :wink:

Yep, I was. Although I did like a few members like bigdaddy and pigbenis. I think we even had an IRC chat too and talked to a few of them. But the little kids got on my nerves.

[sagedil]

It was never a place that I bonded with. Vaguely useful at first, but not much activity. And the dippers that dropped in to talk trash about snus really pissed me off. After the first month or two, I maybe checked it once a month. Saw a mention of here 6 months later, and it was like WOW, this is what it is supposed to be. Never went back there again.

[Veganpunk]

Very interesting stories.