Be Careful with the Extra Sterks and Tolerance Level

[mercvrivs]

I would like to make a Private Service Announcement:

Be careful with the extra strong snuses. I recently moved and due to various reasons, started using extra strong snuses more frequently (ie: more than just upon awakening). Now, I'm trying to cut back down to using mostly regular, and it's harder than I anticipated. Let me just say that it can be done, but it's not fun. Let me tell you; it's a sad day when you choose a nasty tasting extra strong over your favorite 8mg snus 9 times out of 10 and you like it. . I know we all locquaciously pontificate over the subtleties of the various snus flavors out there, but in the end it comes down to one thing: the nicotine. Don't get tricked into taking your nicotine tolerance too high friends, because it's easier to increase it than it is to decrease it.

[Ainkor]

Thanks for the reminder mercvrivs. I myself don't use sterks mostly for that reason. I don't want to build of my tolerance so high that I HAVE to use some of the hard stuff.

[sagedil]

I have found that my tolerance and use of sterks moves in waves. After my first month of using snus, I suddenly needed to use sterks 100% of the time. Then 3 months later, moved back to regulars without even a thought and had maybe 1 or 2 sterks a day. Stayed at that level for about a year. Suddenly, found my self using 3 -4 sterks a day, then 5 - 6. Then it went back down to 1 -2 sterks a day. Again, no thought went into that, just what I was reaching for. Again, about 4 months ago, I started craving sterks again, significantly jumped my use up again. But over last two weeks, it seems to be coming down again.


For me, honestly, I chain snus snus from morning to night. I keep a pretty high nicotine level regardless of what I am using. Sure, I can bump it up a bit, but it really isn't that significant.


I imagine for folks who use a lot less than me, the sterks really can gve you a significant nicotine boost. and yeah, use long enough, you will get used to that higher level.

[artsnus]

I'll share my experience on the matter. I smoked for about 20 yrs, quit in 2003. Started dipping in 2008 after having been off nicotine for almost 5 years. Nothing huge - I would go through a can of skoal(or kodiak) in about 6-7 days - 2-3 dips per day. I had noticed though that the dip would irritate my stomach sometimes - especially when i was hungry. SO I switched to camel snus, which I would again use 2-3 times per day - 2 pouches at the time for less than a month. I then found swedish snus and ordered a sampler from premiumsnus. The sampler included Thunder, General white, Roda, Skruf original and couple other things.\
I was not aware of the nicotine levels of snus or that there is a distinction between different types (US snuff doesn't really have this information as readily available, so I did not expect to even check). The first can I happened to open was thunder and I was very pleasantly surprised with the nicotine amount. The rest of the stuff in the sampler was regular strength and I could barely feel it.
My next order included N&J, Onyx, GES and some comparable stuff. I feel pretty good effect from the 11-12 mg portions and occasionality from skruf regular, the ES (15+) gets me pretty loopy at times, but I like it. 8mg - sometimes I feel it, sometimes I dont' but my cravings do get somewhat supressed.
I only snus about 3 times on weekdays and maybe 5 times on weekends. I start with a 11-12mg portion, either 8 or 12 mg one after lunch and ES at night. I could do another one during the weekdays but I dont like working out all nicotined out, so I usually skip the late afternoon one. I am amazed that some people chain snus because I think if I did more than, say, 6 in a day I'd be pretty maxed out on good nicotine effects - start getting headaches and get spaced out. I guess I am lucky.
P.S
I like the sentiment of the previous poster - the taste of snus is largely irrelevant to me as long as it performs its main function - efficient nicotine delivery.

[Roo]

I think it's too late for me... Merc, you moved! We never had our Seattle Snus Meet. Hope all is well in the midwest

[Badfish74]

About 95% of my portion usage is strong as opposed to around 10% with los. I still find that my occasional GES or Thunder Frosted still gets me a bit loopy. I don't intentionally use so much strong, it's just that my favorites either only come in strong or i prefer the flavor of the strong versus regular. IDK maybe i'm just weird...lol!

[sagedil]

i'm just weird..

:lol: :lol: :wink:

[Badfish74]

Thanks Sage for calling a spade a spade!

[whalen]

This topic has been on my mind for a while, I have many sterks in my collection, and I enjoy them. But I work hard in trying to limit my nicotine consumption in any given day. I have wondered what was in store for those who sucked down the sterks, nicotine is funny that way, you get used to it real fast, and woe to those who cant sustain it. Nicotine withdrawal starts when you back off, and it is a bitch. Nothing is worse than using and being in withdrawal at the same time IMHO. Be careful.

[HK11]

I am probably 50/50 with strongs. Some of my favorite portion flavors are in strong so that's where most of it comes from. That and GES loose.

[mercvrivs]

Yeah Roo I moved. I technically still have a residence in Wa too, and I'll be there sometimes.

I use loose snus. When I used loose and portions, the only portions I typically used were the sterks. With the extra sterk loose (Oden's, for example), a 2 gram pris contains up to 34mg. At a 10-20% absorption rate, that means you're getting 3.4-6.8mg nicotine as opposed to 1.6-3.2 you'd get from a 2g pris of an 8mg snus. 34mg is more than four times the amount of nicotine in a single regular portion. A bit much imo. Hence my warning. Glad for all the responses; I love this forum!

[Nicobuzz]

When I gave up the cigs with Snus I used strong to extra Stark all the time for a couple of months and it really helped but these days I'm naturally moving away from the extra starks. My nicotine needs were always around the 12mg - 13mg area anyway but the 17mg is definately too much, but, I will have about two of the 17mg a day now and I know for definate that this is not going to change - if anything it will change to the point where I easily cut out the extra starks completely.

Personally I'm going to stick with the 12-13mg snus as that's the level I feel that mirrors my needs as if I were still a smoker.

I'm not convinced that peoples nicotine needs can rise and rise as your body has its own natural limit of tolerance and if you're not heeding your body telling you that its had enough, well then you're going to have problems.

[DaveInPA]

I use nothing but sterks now, and I'm completely ok with that.

[Subtilo]

I use both lös and portions; lös is usually just regular leveled ones (around 8 mg), but with portions it's just about 50/50. I start with regulars, and later, late afternoon or early evening, I move on to the stronger ones. It works perfect for me that way, and even though some days can differ quite a lot from this formular I've never had any problems with my tolerance.

[texasmade]

yea listen to him

i have to use three thunder portions to get a small buzz now