The Snubie Experience : New Snus Users, What to Expect

Alright, I promised this post a while ago and have been meaning to get to it. I've had a harder time than I expected getting it together in my head. Honestly, I'm still not sure what's going to come out. So I just kept putting it off, letting myself be distracted by various things. You know, work, family, all that nonsense. Oh, and my favorite type of distraction, projects! With our growing snus assortment, the ziplock bag tossed in the keg fridge organizational method started not working so well. So I rounded up a bunch of junk wire that was kicking around out back and built a couple wire snus racks to go inside the door of the kegerator to keep our snus handy and easy to browse and choose.

Anyway, let's get this rolling.

While snus has been around for about 200 years in Sweden, it's pretty new and unfamiliar to most Americans. And while some of our big tobacco companies have started marketing their own interpretations of it, by all reports their version bears very little resemblance to true Swedish Snus, tending more towards sugary sweetness and less to the tobacco flavors, salt, and more subtle sweetness of herbs, berries and other things you'll find in the wide varieties of Swedish Snus.

I've never tried Camel SNUS myself, but have heard plenty of folks who discovered it, and either quit smoking that way, or decided to move on to Swedish Snus after trying it. Myself, I heard about Swedish Snus after befouling my mouth on a Camel Orb and searching around the web for feedback to see if anyone had actually liked the stuff. I spent a day or so reading about Swedish Snus, then reading reviews on specific types and putting together my first order. It took about a week for the order to arrive, and by the time it got here it was highly anticipated, and I was very excited about the potential of quitting smoking.

But I just barely knew what to expect in the beginning with Swedish Snus. I'd read lots of reviews by seasoned Snus users, lovers, and enthusiasts. I'd read a staggering number of reports of how quickly and easily people had quit smoking with the stuff. I'd read a wide variety of articles and reports as to the "harm reduction" properties of snus compared to cigarettes. It all sounded good. Great, in fact. Nearly too good to believe except no one had any reason to be making this stuff up. So I dove right in.

In the weeks since I've had more time to compare notes with other snus users, both veterans and snubies, to see the questions asked by new users, reports on the various effects people experience, and of course, to go through the experience myself. I've seen enough snubies asking questions that start with "Is it normal for...." to feel that it could be useful to try and put together a guide through that first week or so for snubies.

Now, everybody is different. Duh. We've got different tastes, preferences, metabolisms and physiological reactions to what we put in our bodies. So obviously, the experience is going to vary a bit for everyone. I'm going to try and cover my own experience and what I have heard most often, but your experience might be different. If you start using snus and find things happening totally different from what you expected, feel free to join the friendly community at SnusCentral and share your experience and ask any questions you may have. I'll be there, so you can also harangue me for misleading you if you feel I have in any way ;)

So. Let's start at the beginning.

So you've picked up some Swedish Snus. Either from a local tobacco shop, if you're lucky enough to have one that carries it, or you've put together an order and waited for it to arrive. Hooray! You've probably got a little round can, most are plastic, though some are metal. Break the seal and crack that baby open!

Now, we're putting our senses to work here. Depending on what variety you've chosen, you've already greeted your visual sense with the design of the can. Some are pretty cool, some are very plain. Now once you have it open, you'll see a bunch of little pouches kicking around in there. These are your snus portions. They are probably going to either be brownish, white, or black. Original style portions are the brownish ones. The teabag like portion material is given a final "wetting" with tobacco juice at the end of production. These are moister, the flavor comes out faster, and often runs out faster. White portions don't receive this final treatment, are dryer, take longer to get flavor, but often last longer. Black portions are generally just white portions that are made with black material, at this time there are just a few of these. They are technically white portions, so don't get too confused. One of the types of black portions "General Onyx" also come arranged in the can in a circular "fan" arrangment, very nice looking, and the portions are sorta wedge shaped.

Okay, there's your visual. Now, as people we tend, when faced with something new we intend on putting in our mouths, to want to smell it first. I don't necessarily recommend this with Swedish Snus. Why? Because at first, the smell of a fresh can of snus doesn't really reflect the flavor. Also, because the smell can be fairly unpleasant. A good fresh can will often have a rather strong ammonia smell to the portions. It doesn't really prepare you for the flavor, and can be a little off-putting. I noticed that after using snus for a week or so, when I got my next order I was able to smell through that initial assault and pick out the distinct smell of each individual snus. Whether this was a result of quitting smoking, or becoming familiar with the subtleties of snus, I'm not sure.

Either way, snubies, sniff at your own risk, and remember it's not going to taste like that.

So what will it taste like? Well, first you've got to get a portion in your mouth. Portions go under your upper lip. One of those things that separate it from dip or chew. Some portions I like to wet a bit before I insert, others I just shove up there. This is just a preference that varies from person to person and snus to snus.

And what snus to choose for your first snus? I went straight for a General Onyx, since I'd heard so much good about it. Don't do this. Onyx is a wonderful snus that can be appreciated by snus enthusiasts, but I really don't consider it a good starter snus. It's strong, it's both salty and kinda spicy, and that combined with the dry material of the portion really wore out my virgin lip flesh.

So if I could do it over again? I'd probably choose either an Ettan original portion or a Roda Lacket. Both are pretty mild, though the Roda Lacket has a distinctive flavor which may be distracting for a first snus. Ettan is pretty straightforward tobacco and salt. It's kinda like holding a bunch of sunflower seeds in your mouth, that sort of saltiness. Roda Lacket is unique, but seems to be a pretty popular one, I've heard it commonly loved, and haven't noticed too many people knocking it.

So, pick out your first snus, grab that portion. Now, pull one side of your upper lip out, and slide that portion up there. This is probably obvious, but the length of it goes side to side, the shorter side of it goes up and down. I personally always put the side with the seam towards my gums. I keep forgetting to check around and see if this is a personal neurosis or not. My only logic for it is that I expect to absorb most of the nicotine through my lip, and that little extra flap layer cold inhibit that a tiny bit. Maybe I'm just crazy.

Now, most of us aren't really used to having something up under our upper lip. I know I wasn't. So it's really not the most comfortable thing at first. It feels pretty bulky, and fairly uncomfortable. This is one thing that will vary widely from person to person depending on your particular face and lip structure. I've got a decent amount of room up there and enough flesh around my mouth that for the most part you can't ever see that I have a portion in, and yet, it still felt like I had a huge, obvious bump on my face at first, not to mention nearly impossible to find a comfortable way for the portion to lay up there.

Generally, I find that a lot of portions don't have a total even tobacco distribution. There tends to be a thick end and a thin end. You can try and even this out before you insert it, or you can try and work with it. My first was an Onyx, which is wedge shaped on purpose, so I left it alone, and still tend to just leave portions as is and insert them with the thin end towards the front, thick end towards the back. I usually place them so one end is next to, but not on, that thing that runs down the front of your gums right in the front middle, this puts the back end somewhere around or over that bump above my canine tooth. That bump is probably going to be a spot that gets more sore than others at first, but that will go away.

Now, I've read instructions on snus that say it will "tingle" for about five minutes. I'd call this "tingle" more of a "burn". This will vary from snus to snus, but really, my first so many portions weren't especially pleasant against my lip and gums for the first five minutes or so. The burn does fade, though in the beginning you'll often have a little burn throughout as your lip and gums get a little sore until they get used to it.

You may feel like it's more comfortable, less bulky, etc to shift the portion more to the side or back towards your cheek. It is more comfortable, and will be less likely to show at all, but. The further back you hold the portion, the more saliva it is going to be absorbing, and the more it will "juice up" and drip. When you're starting out on Swedish Snus, you may have a bit of a challenge getting used to the flavor and the juice of it anyway, so try to refrain from making it harder on yourself by succumbing to the temptation to move it away from that front part of your lip. Also, the more you move it around trying to get a good placement the more it will tend to "juice up". So you're best off not being timid, pulling your lip out, regardless of how ridiculous you might feel, and getting it placed right, then leaving it there.

But it's going to take some practice and getting used to, so unfortunately, you'll probably face the experience of your portion juicing up at times in the beginning. If this is a hard experience for you, hang in there, it gets better.

When you get a portion placed right, up front nice and tight, you'll get a pretty slow and steady release of flavor. The flavor will vary from snus to snus, but most have a fairly distinct saltiness to them, but the underlying tobacco can taste fairly strong or bitter until you get used to it. I'd never chewed or anything, started smoking and stuck with that, so this was a totally different tobacco experience to me, being used to just burning it and inhaling it. I can't say it was especially pleasant at first. It was kinda bitter, pretty strong, and kinda itched the back of my throat at first. I kept reminding myself that cigarettes don't REALLY taste good, they just seem to once you've smoked them a while, and that a lot of cigarettes have a particular harshness at the back of the throat, what I always referred to as that "kick" in the throat, something I loved about my Camel Filters until they changed the formula last year.

Still, I wasn't especially fond of the throat tickle, and was concerned as it didn't seem like the kind of thing you could "get used to", it seemed like a physical effect that would always be there. Much to my surprise, it doesn't, it goes away completely after using snus a while. Go figure. At first though, this effect can be particularly strong and not altogether pleasant. It sometimes gave me the urge to cough, but I found having a drink to sip on mellowed the sensation out and in general cleared up a lot of the initial iffy sensations of the snus.

Which brings me to one of my biggest tips to snubies. Drinks are good! Drinking with snus is great for many reasons. For one thing, there are some great flavor combinations, but for snubies I would suggest always always always having something to drink on hand when you use snus. Even if it's just a bottle of water in the car with you, or whatever. Having something to sip on makes getting through parts of the adjustment period a lot easier if you're not totally loving it, and will definitely save you if your portion "juices up" and floods your mouth with an overwhelming about of tobacco juice.

Swallowing a bunch of juice at once can burn in the stomach a bit, but seems to otherwise be harmless. It only seems to burn for a moment, and with a drink it goes right away. I thought surely it would cause me at least some case of upset stomach, or at least an instance or two of heartburn/acid indigestion type situation, since I've already been prone to that sort of thing for since I was about 19. Amazingly, that hasn't happened. Even more amazingly, I haven't had a bout of heartburn/acid indigestion at all since I started using snus and cut back then quit smoking. So not only has snus never upset my stomach, but quitting smoking unexpectedly cleared up a malady I've dealt with for 10 years without realizing it had anything to do with the smoking.

Now, relating all the possible things you might not like about your first snus can make it sound like a pretty unpleasant experience, and make you think, "Why bother?" But for smokers wanting to quit, it is well worth it, for many reasons. Sure, if you can just quit nicotine altogether, go for it. Having an addiction isn't really the best thing in the world, and nicotine isn't a healthy substance, it's just not really that bad when it's not coming along with a slew of carcinogens. But quitting smoking is hard, so if you're not opposed to maintaining a nicotine addiction, or if you still like your nicotine addiction but realize that smoking is kinda gross and highly likely to kill you in a not so great way, plus supply a lifelong slew of other detriments to your life, snus is so worth sticking with.

It's a fast and pretty easy way to quit. Seriously. Some folks start snus and just toss their cigarettes. I personally went for what was a more natural approach to me. I started using snus, but still smoked here and there when the cravings were especially strong. Still, snus immediately cut my smoking from a pack to 4 cigarettes a day. This dropped further within a week, and each cigarette tasted worse and worse to me, and became more and more pointless, until after a week and a half, I quit.

And despite how unfamiliar, bizarre, or even gross snus might seem at first, you'll get used to it pretty fast. Really, for me, the most uncomfortable part of the adaptation was for my lip to grow accustomed to it. I brutalized my lip with my first portion of Onyx, and once I found a comfortable placement on the right side, I kept putting my portions there, ignoring the left side, as it felt more bulky there. After the first day or so, I really couldn't put them in the right side anymore. I'd try, and even with a high pain tolerance, it was just unbearable. So I got smart, and moved to my left side, wearing it out at a slower pace while the right healed, and of course, getting used to the feeling of having it in the left side of my lip. The really smart thing to do would have been to alternate from the very start, I might have been able to avoid the pain on the right side, and having to let it heal so much. By the second week my lips and gums were adapted, getting only mildly raw at worst. Now I have no burning or even "tingling", am comfortable with a portion in my lip at any time, and don't feel like I have a big obvious lump on my face.

I've also in a short amount of time gone from bearing the taste and sensation of the snus in my mouth and throat, to absolutely loving the flavors, and having no noticeable sensation in my throat. It's pretty amazing, once you get used to snus, how you start to notice so many subtle flavors you didn't at first. Part of this is surely the improved sense of smell from not smoking, but some of it just seems to come with getting familiar with a new snus. Any snus you try can seem to change flavor the more you try it, and you'll find some being so-so at first and then oddly growing on you. Or find that some you were iffy on, when you don't use them for a day or so, you'll start thinking about wanting it's particular flavor.

Of course, the main reason for using snus, especially to quit cigarettes, is the nicotine. After hearing so many stories about people switching easily from cigarettes to snus I rather expected the nicotine effect of snus to be just about like I'd always experienced nicotine with smoking. Of course, I didn't really realize this, as I just attributed nicotine effects and the addiction to what I've experienced for 15 years. But it is different with the differing delivery system and amount, and this was initially a little confusing and perhaps a bit disappointing. I wasn't able to just toss my cigarettes out, because snus didn't quite replace the nicotine addiction as I was used to it.

With my first portion of Onyx, despite feeling just so-so about it, and also having another 9 different varieties of snus I was anxious to try out after reading about them, I decided to stick with the portion at least long enough to get the nicotine, and thus the "full effect" of the snus. But I really had a hard time telling when I got the nicotine influx in my system. I really had to go based on time and what I knew of how long it should take, and how long a portion usually lasts. But despite the Onyx being a strong snus with 11mg of nicotine, I never got a buzz of any sort, and didn't initially notice the nicotine, because I so strongly associated my nicotine "fix" with various sensations of smoking.

Mostly, I realized that with smoking I could really feel the nicotine entering my system, specifically from the center of my chest, in my lungs and sort of spreading outwards. So going without a cigarette to the point of "jonesing" and then picking up a cigarette gives the joy of inhaling a large drag, feeling that burn at the back of my throat, filling my lungs, then exhaling "Ahhhhhhhh" while feeling the nicotine spread warmly through my system from that central point in my middle.

Snus is neither that immediate, nor that specific and distinct. At least not for me. Some people report getting a buzz, either until they get used to it, or when they use stronger portions. And some seem to be able to tell when it starts hitting their system. I don't. So I found it initially pretty challenging to beat the cravings for that rush of nicotine I got from smoking. And that first afternoon, I found I still kept reaching for my cigarettes. Fortunately, I would immediately become aware that there was a snus under my lip and realize I didn't need a cigarette, and that I was not at all jonesin' for nicotine, but was just wanting the familiar hit to my throat and lungs, and the familiar habit of "doing something", the activity of actively smoking a cigarette.

But pretty soon I got used to the nicotine delivery of snus, and quickly grew to appreciate it as I saw the difference between it and cigarettes. I've realized cigarettes give a quick, fast, nicotine "spike" that also quickly drops off again. It's a pretty short lived, temporary contentment really. Snus comes on slower, more gradually, but lasts a lot longer and maintains a higher level for longer. There's not a noticeable "spike" to me, but I quickly came to notice how much more generally "at ease" I felt. I realized that with smoking, my moods tended to spike up and down just like, and probably inverse to, the spike of nicotine from smoking. Without a smoke for a while, I'd get edgy, grumpy, etc. Then I'd finally get to have a smoke, and with that spike of nicotine, my mood would come back up to normal. For a while.

With snus I tend to just float along and be a lot more at ease in general. Sure, stressful situations can still bum me out, and make me want to run out for a cigarette, but in general, the more steady and gentle flux of nicotine in my system is far superior and much more pleasant. Add to that the general increase in energy I have from not smoking, how much better I can breathe, how I don't seem to get heartburn anymore, and can enjoy spicy foods without pain, and I've been pretty thrilled with the experience.

Not to mention I can snus pretty much anywhere, anytime. No more waiting for a slow time at work to run out for a smoke, hoping to actually get a whole cigarette without interruption. No more stepping outside at bars, or slinking off at family gatherings. It's convenient and lovely. After just a few short weeks, I've come to completely love snus, and obviously, can rant and rave about how it has changed my life in such a short time.

Now, I didn't really have any noticeable unpleasant or detrimental effects when I switched from smoking to snus. I did cough a fair amount for the first week or so. But being a fairly heavy smoker, I was pretty used to coughing. Sometimes the cough would be pretty wet, and my lungs seemed to be clearing themselves, so I wasn't bothered too much by coughing up gunk. A lot of the time the cough was dry though, but never really a painful or wracking cough, not the kind of cough that just won't stop. If I was clearing gunk from my lungs, I'd let it go. If it was the little dry coughs they'd usually pass, or I could sip something and be fine. Another good reason to keep a drink on hand at all times that first week or so.

I felt a little funny the first few days, but without specific symptoms, I can't really tell you what it was. With the cough present, I thought perhaps I had a cold, but it was hard to say because I felt so much better in general than I was used to. Really, I could have been mildly sick and not known it. Between the great nicotine delivery and the results of not smoking, I felt so improved that a little cold would hardly have been noticeable.

Now, some folks haven't had it so easy. Some people report a day or so of some queasiness, and uhhh irregular bowels, most commonly reported as "the squirts". I was spared this myself, but even those that have reported it didn't seem altogether bothered by it. Quitting smoking was worth the sacrifice I suppose. Some folks report sore throats, and I did wake up with a mild throat pain a few times, but it went away fast. Only one morning did I wake up with a throat sore enough to think that I actually was sick, but amazingly that too was gone within an hour or so. The worst for me was if I would succumb and smoke a handful of cigarettes during the day. The next morning I woke up feeling like I'd smoked a couple few packs the night before. Ick. I'm not sure if there's any correlation between physical effects and whether you quit overnight or wean yourself off. I weaned and didn't have many physical effects, but those that I did finally disappeared altogether once I quit smoking altogether.

So it takes a period of adjustment. And not all of it may sound pleasant, but it's really never all that bad, and well worth it in the long run to get off the cancer sticks. And to judge by my experience and the many others I've read, once you've gotten used to Swedish Snus, you quickly grow to love it. Not just for the nicotine, but for the variety of flavors available. It truly is a pleasure and there are quite a few of us out there who have made the switch and are now enthusiastic snus lovers.

And while I don't always like the fact that I'm still an addict, I figure there are so many things out there that really aren't very good for you. I can hardly imagine how hard it would have been for me to quit smoking without snus, I'm pretty willful, but I'm not sure how successful I'd have been. Generally, when I decide to do something, I do it. Which may be why in 15 years I never attempted quitting, because I wasn't sure I could do it. Now I have and it's the best choice I could have made. I love my snus, and until someone can convince me that it is more of a health threat than fast food, pharmaceuticals, or any of the variety of things that are okay "in moderation", I'm sticking with it.

Again, if you're not addicted to nicotine, I don't recommend using snus or any tobacco product. But if you smoke or chew tobacco, swedish snus is an enjoyable and affordable "reduced harm" tobacco product that is easy to switch to.