Skruf Original Portion smells like ammonia

[TVisdoG]

I just received a can of Skruf Original Portion from Northerner and it has a fairly distinct, though weak, smell of ammonia. I know this has been discussed before and a lot of people expressed skepticism over whether the poster was actually smelling ammonia, or just reacting to some other aroma in the snus, but I am 100% sure that the smell is ammonia.

Based on the ingredients, I can't figure out any reason for ammonia to be present unless the tobacco itself is decomposing. The can I received is well before its expiration date. The smell has not been present in other snus I've ordered, but I've ordered all my previous snus from swedishsnus.com, which uses 3-day UPS shipping, whereas Northerner used regular postal mail which took 5 or 6 days (and presumably took a different route).

Is it possible for the tobacco to have begun to decompose that quickly if it was exposed to warm temperatures? Has anyone ever noticed a smell of ammonia after leaving a can in a hot car or similar conditions? Also, can anyone think of a reason other than decomposition for the smell? I've noticed that all the other complaints I've found online about ammonia smells have involved Skruf.

[TVisdoG]

Just an update... I opened the other cans that came in that order (General and Roda Lacket brands) and they have strong ammonia odors as well (extremely noticeable when compared side-by-side w/ the snus I received from swedishsnus.com). It seems like this whole shipment from Northerner has gone bad and needs to be thrown out. I'll probably email Northerner and see what they think and whether they're willing to give it another shot (at their expense, not mine).

Meanwhile, I'm still very curious about what is leading to the presence of ammonia in this snus. Since it is present in three different brands which were all shipped together, I'm sure it has something to do with the storage conditions it was subjected to.

[Soft Morning, City!]

That's very strange. I've never had Skruf, but none of my cans of General or Roda Lacket have ever smelled of ammonia. I've used Northerner many times and I've never had any problems. Hopefully they'll send some replacement cans.

[jqlynch]

Not to give you any kind of false hope, but you may try "airing out" a tin for a while; I've read that in other cases, this has helped.

Or you may actually want to put them in the freezer for awhile, probably in a freezer bag. I'm not sure where you're located geographically, but it's possible that giving it this kind of cooling time might be beneficial if you're in a warm climate.

I'm not that experienced with snus orders yet; I've somehow managed to stretch mine across a month or two so far. Others who have gone through the process more often might be able to chime in and let me know if I'm wrong on this. Bottom line: don't throw it out just yet.

[TVisdoG]

I had the same idea about letting it air out. I left the can of Skruf out and open for the past couple of hours... it has now warmed to room temperature and, if anything, the smell has gotten stronger. It's strong enough to burn my nose a little, and I'm absolutely sure it's ammonia I'm smelling and not some added aroma. There's no way that's ever going in my mouth. I emailed Northerner about it, so we'll see what they say. In the meantime, I'm back to ordering from Swedish Match, as I will almost certainly run out of Ettan before I get anything resolved with Northerner.

The more I think about it, the more convinced I am that it happened in transit. When I order from Swedish Match (who uses UPS), it is flown from Sweden to Germany, from Germany to Louisville, KY, and from Louisville to Denver. So that entire time, it's either in a warehouse or an airplane, neither of which are likely to get hot. When I ordered from Northerner, it was sent through the postal service, which, I assume, involved a flight from Sweden to somewhere in the U.S. and the rest of the trip was probably spent on a truck. It was pretty hot in most of the midwest last week, so it's completely feasible that it was sitting in some 100-degree truck trailer for a few days on its way out here.

[Stargazer]

skruf portion is a strong snus, with a mild salt flavour and nice tobacco.

It's my favorite portion snus.

[lxskllr]

I don't know...I think the snus is probably ok. I've had the Skruf, as well as some other brands that smelled "off", but tasted fine. I would try one, and see how it compares with your "good" snus.

[Stargazer]

I don't much like the loose skruf, it develops a bad taste after a while.
But the portions are dry enough to nut run to much, yet not as dry as
white portions, that dosn't taste much of anything but salt.

[chainsnuser]

I don't know...I think the snus is probably ok. I've had the Skruf, as well as some other brands that smelled "off", but tasted fine. I would try one, and see how it compares with your "good" snus.

That's just, what I thought.

Strange smelling snus is surely nothing to worry about (as long as the taste is fine, of course).

After all, snus is produced since 1822, long before refrigerators were invented. So, like I said in another thread, the smell most likely comes from licorice-flavors, which are chemically akin to ammonia and always have a strange smell. Maybe the licorice can emit ammonia, but if so, then only in very small amounts. Not for nothing, licorice is often seen as an aquired taste.

Wikipedia has some more infos: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ammonium_chloride

I'd simply try the snus. If it tastes fine, I wouldn't worry at all.

Cheers!

[Zero]

It's not ammonia, I don't think. Aromatic amines can also smell like ammonia and these could be the result of decomposition of the snus by excessive temperatures or, less likely, bacteria. I'll do an experiment one day, perhaps, to see if I can "spoil" some snus by exposing it to hot vehicle conditions. Some snus always has a stronger smell than others, though, I find. Skruf stark, for example, I've found seems to generally have a potent amine smell to it.

[RealmofOpeth]

this ammonia smell is rather normal. I live in Illinois and as soon as I open the box/envelope the snus comes in, I can smell that slight ammonia smell right away.

it's not because it got HOT per-se, it's because it wasn't refrigerated.

like milk tends to get a little stale after being out of the fridge for a while.

wrap up your cans in sealed bags ( i usually put 5 cans in a bag)...and put all those bags in one big bag...into the freezer it goes.

after that the ammonia goes away. it only comes back if you leave it out of the freezer/fridge for a while.

my snus is still 95% good i believe, despite it may have gotten 'degraded' on it's way over here, it certainly isn't enough to make me throw it out.
but if you're not able to restore the flavor, the ammonia doesn't go away, or it just tastes like shit....then maybe you were too late.
i always instantly throw my stuff in the freezer as soon as it arrives.

[alex]

Just a little more evidence of that possibly being a 'normal' smell - I use knox portions regularly, and they taste fine, but if I take a strong whiff, they smell like ammonia. This is regardless of expiration date, whether it be within a few weeks, or several months out.

I keep my portions in the fridge until opened, and then I just stick the opened can in the fridge before I goto bed each night.

Knox is also made by Skruf, so maybe it's part of aromatic amines as Zero said.

[TVisdoG]

Thanks for the tips. I'll go ahead hold onto 3 of the cans (General, Roda Lacket and Goteborgs Rape No.1) whose smell isn't nearly as strong and try freezing them and thawing them back out and try them again in a few days to see if the odor diminishes enough to make them usable. I'll update this thread with those results as well as any info I hear from Northerner. I'm really curious to know if this is a common complaint they receive and what ideas they have as to the cause.

The Skruf is already in the trash though. It literally smelled like a bottle of ammonia cleaning fluid. Very overpowering.

[Zero]

maybe i'll take some into the lab and see what chemicals I can find in the "snus smell"... may have to call in some favours to get time on a mass spectrometer or NMR rig or something :lol:

Did you taste the skruf first to see what it was like? I've found that snus generally tastes better than it smells and it usually smells pretty... potent :shock:

[jqlynch]

I was driving around a lot today, and I had a can of RL lös and a few portions in a Metropol can I use to carry the day's portions. I had to get in and out of the car a lot, and it was a pretty mild day, almost cold. Nonetheless, one of the last times I got back in, I noticed that the snus (both cans) had kind of the same smell that TVisdoG mentioned.

When I got home, I re-bagged and refrigerated them and now they're fine. I think it's honestly a question of how warm it gets.

Edit: I have an order that's due to come in, and hopefully it won't be any longer than Monday. I asked my wife to bag it and put it in the freezer for me when it came if I wasn't here. My guess would be that it should be fine by the time I get back home; I'll let you know.