Share your Snus Story.

[Andy105]

I was doing camel snus after 4 days tooth cracked/chipped.
Switched to white Swedish snus called dryft & a couple of weeks different teeth are chipping little by little when I eat.
Just flushed it all down.
But, that was some good stuff, but I think I'd rather have my teeth!

Yer supposed to take it out of the can first.

[Ray]

Some of these topics are getting a little dusty, and I hope the snus community isn't disbanding too much. Thought I'd try to revive one or two.
Anyway, I went to college in Florida. I smoked off and on (didn't like the smell on my clothes) until a friend of mine got me interested in Copenhagen. That was great; could use it in the classrooms and nobody was the wiser. Used Cope pretty regularly for almost 30 years (worked for an airline on the flight line at O'Hara Airport - can't smoke there) until I saw General in a local convenience store. Thought I'd give it a try. Coming from Cope (lower lip, hillbilly pinch) to Swedish snus (upper lip, prilla) took a bit of practice, and lots of mudslides. That was then, and now Cope tastes horrible to me. So many varieties with Swedish snus, but of course I have my favorites. Wouldn't use anything else.
I started with los but I'm moving into pouches since there seems to be more of a variety, but I usually come back to Ettan or Grove los when I'm home. Got a few nice cans and a couple Icetools that always get comments when someone sees me using it. I think I may have converted one or two people from American snuf to Swedish snus in the process.
it's kind of an expensive habit, but a little self indulging can't hurt. MySnus.us is my go-to place. They're fast and usually have what I need or want.
one of these days I'll post some pictures of my stash and some pics of the cans I have, some left over from my Cope days.

[chainsnuser]

Well, I tried to quit smoking in 2006, because my family strongly disapproved of it.

Nicorette gums were my choice to get off the cigarettes, but Nicorette just ruined my teeth, destroyed half of my fillings, made my jaw ache all the time, always left me longing for nicotine and still had me smoking a few cigarettes a day, because otherwise it would have been unbearable.

I really tried hard, but after 4 weeks, i knew that this would not work.

Unlike the US, here in Germany, chewing tobacco is a total niche product that I had never tried before (it used to be popular until the end of WW2, but since then cigarettes have taken over). Snuff never was popular here, and it's even banned since 1992 (together with snus) due to a EU law. There's a niche market for nasal snuff in Germany, but I knew that nasal snuff wouldn't provide enough nicotine for my liking (I had already tried it as a schoolkid and wasn't impressed, though I didn't smoke back then).

I could talk about my military time in the far North of Germany (much closer to Sweden), where some comrades talked frenetically about snus (but didn't have a can on hand to offer something) or my uncle who always offered me chewing tobacco, when I was a small kid (just to nag me and my parents, of course), I also remember having seen snus cans at gas stations (before 1992), but mistook them for pipe tobacco. But I only remembered all of this after I had found snus.

So, the only thing I could think of to end my Nicorette torture while still trying to quit smoking was "Kautabak" (the German word for chewing tobacco). The Wikipedia article for "Kautabak" back then had a link to the snus article. Snus sounded more promising overall. After two weeks of researching the pros and cons online, I placed an order with a Swedish vendor and got my first order of 5 cans of Swedish snus and one can of Danish chewing tobacco 3 days later.

The very first portion of Skruf Stark already was a redemption and a revelation at the same time. It immediately made me a non smoker. I only smoked 11 cigarettes between December 2006 and November 2007 just to make sure that I wasn't kidding myself, and I didn't ever smoke since then. For me, as an ex-chainsmoker, snus just wins in every regard.

I also tried several brands of chewing tobacco (Danish, British and German) and nasal snuff (Dutch, British and German) since the beginning of my smokeless tobacco adventure, I even got to try Cope snuff thanks to another member of this forum. These different types of smokeless tobacco are really worth a try, too, totally different from snus, but also totally enjoyable, not a substitute for snus, as far as I'm concerned (I had to be content with chewing tobacco once when a snus shipment was overdue in 2012 or so - since then I always have a long-lasting stash of snus), but definitely worth a try for everyone.

BTW, I mostly consume pure-tobacco snus and from time to time I encounter a brand that happily reminds me of this classical strong taste of fermentation I got from Cope. I find it enjoyable. People from the U.S., who read this should not hesitate to try locally available brands before they venture into the wide world of smokeless tobacco. It's definitely all as satisfying as smoking.

Cheers!

[Ray]

I'm now a confirmed Swedish Snus user. Bought a can of Cope a couple months ago and it was the first time I'd ever thrown one out. Icky stuff. Tried a bunch of different snus (some loose, some pouches) and I have to say that loose is the type for me. Matter of fact, just got a shipment of General Los Strong and Skruf Strong - 10 cans each. Just enough bergamot for me in both. True, not as many choices in loose, but those two work for me. I keep them in the freezer and move one can to the fridge when I'm almost finished with the one I'm using. I figure thawing it out slowly is a good thing to do. Wish there were more choices available, but what can ya do. Got a bunch of General Harvest in the freezer. That would have been good as loose, but it's still pretty good as pouches.

Hope there's some more activity on this forum. Got lots of good info to date, and I hope more to come. Anybody we can convert from smoking or vaping is a good thing!

[tom502]

I went back and read my post from 2009. It made me wonder, is it wrong or bad to just enjoy tobacco and or nicotine just because? I'm an adult, and while I initially came to it out of curiosity, and even quit after a while, for whatever reason now, I wanted to use it again, how much and for how long, I don't know. It does give a buzz feeling. It does seem a bit acquired at first, when I did my first re-dip the other day, I did get sick, but the next day, I wanted to try it again at a smaller dose, and I like effect. I find it enjoyable and the products and online community interesting. I didn't come to it to just quit smoking, I just wanted to enjoy it for what it is. I don't think it's overly expensive, I'm not like a fiend or heroin addict. I wouldn't say it's a healthy thing, but I don't think it's so terrible either. I make an effort to use responsibly, and brush my teeth. I don't have any desire to smoke again, or drink. I usually do a dip once a day and a nicotine pouch 3 times, or 2. That might change, but so what? I bought a can of Cougar Straight Long Cut, it was $1.99, I just put a pinch in, and this is good. This also doesn't stink up the house like those Outlaw dips did, my wife will let me know for sure. I do think those non tobacco dips I wanted to try did make me want to get back to a real product as they didn't give me the same satisfaction.