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.

Informative (and amusing) Snus Videos

I can't believe I haven't posted these before. I came across these in my initial "research" phase of the great snus experiment, and found them both informative and amusing. I love this guy, maybe it's the accent.

Anyway, if you haven't taken my advice to go read the articles at Snuscentral, or you prefer being able to just sit back and be informed, or you've just got some time to kill, or you enjoy bald guys with accents, then check this short video series out.

Stop Smoking With Snus

#1 - Confessions of a Former Smoker


#2 - Explanation of Different Types of Snus


#3 - Health, Freshness and Economy Around Snus


#4 - Where You Can't Smoke But Use Snus

Snus Vs. Cigarettes: Round 2

Alright, here I am, finally back for another report. I'm a little brain addled today, so we'll see if I can cover the couple things I want to here.

First I plan to report in on my continuing experiment with snus vs. cigarettes, of course. Then a little further in hand out some info as to what I think a newbie snuser (snubie ;)) can expect when getting started with snus. This will be based both on my own snubie experience and other general experiences I've picked up from everyone sharing their stories over at the snuscentral forums.

Right-O. So, today marks two weeks to the day since my first order of swedish snus arrived. I've also now marked just about three full days without a single cigarette. Not that long, I know, but it's not something I've been able to say since I was 14 years old.

Some people seem to immediately pick up snus and put down the cigarettes, making a full switch all at once. I still had a few packs kicking around, which made it pretty easy to pick one up when I felt the craving, and while I was pretty determined to quit, I'm not all that good at torturing myself unnecessarily. So I decided to not put too much pressure on myself or the snus , and try and let things take their natural course. I also pretty well convinced myself this path would be more objective in being able to judge snus vs. cigarettes.

In the first days I immediately cut down to 3-4 cigarettes a day, with relapses here and there as I ran into the addiction of routine, the fact that I'd integrated smoking into my life at a point when I was growing up and "defining" myself and my lifestyle. And of course, habits are habits. We get attached to our routines. Not to mention that when you're a smoker, there are often times, especially in the early years, where you really and truly enjoy smoking. The longer I smoked though, the more I realized how many cigarettes I was smoking without even paying attention to them, much less getting any enjoyment out of them. Even at the end though, when I was pretty sick of smoking, incredibly sick of the smell and its pollution of my clothing and of the one room of the house where we smoke, there were still those certain occasions where I found smoking truly blissful.

The first smoke of the morning, while not always the easiest or most pleasant smoke of the day, served the purpose of replenishing nicotine after going through the only lengthy smokeless period of a day... sleep.

The coffee and cigarette smoke. Which has always been one of my faves, naturally, as a huge fan of coffee since a young age. Having been a barista for 10 of the last 13 years, coffee has obviously been a pretty regular part of my life. I really did often wonder if it would ever be possible to quit smoking without making a career change.

The after dinner cigarette. Oh gods above! Is there anything more satisfying than having a wonderfully delicious and filling meal and following it up with a relaxing smoke?

And finally, the random stress smoke. How many times in my life, when things have gotten hectic, when some shit has gone down, when the kids are being batshit or have found some new antic to pull and instantly complicate our existence, has the phrase "I need a fucking cigarette." rolled out of my mouth? It's more than just the ease of getting that nicotine hit. It's a pause. A pause in the situation at hand, a pause for thought. Really probably one of the more truly useful types of smoking situations.

Okay, that's not really all of them. I could throw in the social clumsiness smoke, the awkward silence smoke, the boredom smoke, the you're smoking so I'm going to smoke smoke, the 7 minutes to kill might as well smoke smoke, and on. And on and on. But I digress.

So, fulfilling the nicotine addiction bit is really only part of the challenge. Breaking the habit of reaching for a cigarette in any number of habitual situations is a whole 'nother ballgame. I fought it here and gave into it there, wondering if it would become easier or harder once I didn't have any cigarettes left on hand. So far I haven't found out. I think I still have two smokes left in my last pack. And just to mess with myself, I keep that pack in the inside pocket of my jacket, that oh so convenient pocket I love any jacket for having.

I struggled with and overcame most of the random habitual smoking instances first. Those times when I just reach for a cigarette without really thinking about it. Okay, I still often reached for a cigarette, but most of the time realized I already had a snus in my mouth, obviously didn't need the nicotine, and would possibly make myself sick with the added nic spike of smoking and snussing at the same time.

Surprisingly to me, the coffee and cigarette smoke was one of the first big ones to go. This was probably helped along by cold wet weather, discouraging me from standing out in it. Or perhaps more so by finding that the first snus to become a fave of mine, Roda Lacket, went exceptionally well with a basic, single tall latte. This allowed me to start a new morning routine and replace the old. I now have a Roda Lacket around the same time every morning, usually with a latte, though I switch up my coffee drinks a fair amount.

The biggest challenges ended up being the after dinner smoke, and the stress smoke. After the first week there were days where my only smoke was the after dinner smoke. Other days I might have 2 or 3 smokes, and those were generally random stress smokes.

But in the end what really got me past most of the challenging smoking situations has been the fact that the less I smoke, the less enjoyable I find it to smoke. I relapsed last Saturday and smoked a whole handful in a day, and regretted it quite a bit for how it left me feeling. After that the next couple days each time I gave into a craving and started smoking, I was strongly aware of how little I was enjoying the smoke, how it wasn't doing much of anything for me, that it tasted pretty ick, made my mouth feel dry and pasty, and that while smoking it I was thinking about some sweet and/or salty deliciousness of a snus.

So all in all the experiment seems to be a success on the side of snus. I can't say I don't still have cravings for cigarettes. And I can't guarantee I'm not going to smoke those last two I've got at some point. Three days without smoking isn't making the cravings lessen, quite the contrary. But when I face the craving and think about what it's going to be like to actually go light up, I realize pretty quickly that it's pretty much pointless, and that makes it pretty easy to set aside.

So that's that. The way quitters tend to relapse, I know three days smoke free wouldn't convince any sort of skeptic, but I find it pretty unimaginable that I'd return to my lifestyle of smoking a pack a day.

Now, even if I never smoke another cigarette, I'm still an addict. I don't find this fact exactly thrilling, but am still incredibly happy about breaking the chain of cigarettes. There are so many things about smoking that are pretty negative in nature aside from the nicotine addiction. Over the last two weeks I've fallen in love with swedish snus. So when I post about the stuff, you'll hear me enthusiastically praising it, lauding its virtues, raving about how much I love it, maybe even seeming a bit evangelical about it.

So let me lay out something right here. I may not always say it at the time, but when I talk about how wonderful swedish snus is it will always be in the context of vs. my previous smoking habit, and in the context of a tobacco product, none of which are completely safe or good for you. If you're not an addict you are best of staying that way. If you are an addict and can kick that addiction, you rock. If you're an addict and are probably going to stay an addict, then aim for the least detrimental path possible. For nicotine addicts, that path seems to be snus.

With the cravings I fought and the challenges I found quitting smoking using snus, I can hardly imagine what it would be like to try and quit with some other methods. Other nicotine replacement methods don't seem to offer the same amounts of nicotine, or as pleasant a delivery, and tend to cost a fortune. Of course, their goal is to wean you off nicotine, not permanently replace, but I have to wonder how long it would have taken me to develop a strong enough desire to quit for those to be enough. And cold turkey? I shudder to think.

Alrighty, that's the report. Because of the length it ended up being, and my brain addled and tired state, I'm going to close here and break the post of what snubies can expect in their first days and weeks into a separate post to follow soon.

Snus vs. Cigarettes: Round 1

It's been about five days since my first order of Swedish Snus arrived and I started trying out a selection of brands and varieties, trying to use it to replace my fifteen year addiction to Camel Filter Cigarettes. So not a lot of time on the Snus yet, but enough to feel more familiar with it and to report in on first impressions and general progress.

As an addict whose only form of nicotine delivery has ever been cigarettes, snus is taking some getting used to. I've never tried chew or dip. My father dipped skoal for many years before quitting, and I can remember many a long car ride where he'd put some in and the car would fill with the nauseatingly sweet cloying smell. That and the random Bud cans kicking about with spit in em was enough to form a permanent aversion to the stuff.

I've never had any sort of tobacco juice floating around in my mouth, nor really tasted tobacco that wasn't being incinerated and inhaled as smoke. Nor have I really had many things stuck up under my lip, especially my top lip, which just seems like an odd place to put stuff. So all-in-all this was a brand new experience for me. I'd read so many testimonials from people who absolutely love the stuff, swear by it, and quit smoking, chewing, or dipping relatively easily by using snus, that it was hard not to have high expectations colored by all the favorable commentary.

It took about a week for my first order to arrive from The Northerner. Not bad for overseas mail. I ordered on a Thursday and received it the following Thursday. By the time it got here I was looking forward to it so much, and getting more and more sick of smoking each day, that I "Woohooed!" when I opened the mailbox and it took a fair amount of restraint to keep myself from skipping back across the lawn to the house. So again, it was hard not to color my first experience with high expectations.

I went inside, ripped into the padded envelope and started pulling out the couple handfuls of small round cans, lining them up in front of me. I get a weird aesthetic thrill out of having any multitude of small things, strange, and hard to explain. It's amazing I don't have collections of random objects. I also enjoy design, so laying out these little cans and looking at the various packaging and labeling designs was a joy in itself.

Now to get down to it. I decided to start at the top, with a General Onyx portion. These are technically "White" portions, meaning the portion doesn't go through a final stage of wetting, where the teabag like portion material is saturated with tobacco juice, making it moist and speeding up the time in which you start getting the full flavor and juices from it. But the General Onyx portion material is black, and very smooth. The portions are also arranged in the can in a circular "fan" where they sit up on edge, instead of all just being tossed willy-nilly into the can. It's a pretty impressive package when you open the sleek looking chrome topped black can. The portions are also more tapered, rather than being a plump little pillow of snus. It seemed this might help it fit under the lip better, conforming to the contours of mouth and lip. Though after trying a variety out, I can't say the Onyx really sit up there easier or more comfortably than some others.

Finding the right spot under the top lip for the portion can be a little tricky at first. Really, there didn't seem to be an innate spot where it just fit and sat comfortably. Initially, all portions seem to feel bulky under the lip. You really feel like you've got a huge bump in the front of your face. It can be somewhat surprising to see that it's really not very noticeable, and if you can look at yourself unselfconsciousy, you'll probably realize that to someone who didn't know it was there, they would be able to tell. The biggest effect it has is that you lose some of the natural mobility of that side of your lip. When you talk or smile or laugh, the portion holds one side of your top lip more or less in place, resulting in a somewhat crooked smile, though still not anything too strange or deformed looking.

At first, the portion burned pretty well against the inside of my lip. This is often described as a "tingle" in snus instructions, but it was most definitely more of a burn. This tapered off some after a few minutes, to mostly be replaced with a salt and peppery taste, along with an unfamiliar tobacco taste as the portion "juiced up" as it got moistened with saliva. The juice wasn't really the tastiest thing ever, nor did it feel especially pleasant going down my throat. The sensation in my throat was definitely more of a "tingle" than a "burn", but really wasn't very comfortable at all.

So it wasn't an immediate love. It wasn't an "Mmmmm delicious" sort of experience. I stuck with the portion for about an hour though, giving it the full chance, and waiting for the nicotine to set in. Despite having a higher than normal 11mg of nicotine, I didn't get any sort of buzz off of it, though I certainly didn't find myself jonesin' for a smoke or anything either. For the most part I found myself wanting to get done with the portion, not because I didn't like it, but because I still had a multitude of other varieties to try out.

The real test came the following day, the first day of starting with Snus first thing in the morning and going through a workday with it. I have to say it worked well. I pretty quickly grew to really like the nicotine delivery of the snus, as it gives a much longer lasting appeasement to the addiction. I got a little wound up when I combined my morning coffee with a portion, the caffeine and nicotine together had me twitching along for a bit, but for the most part it seemed the more constant supply of nicotine gave me a more peaceful fix than the quick but short lived burst from a cigarette, that quickly leaves me wanting another cigarette.

As the days have gone by, I've gotten more and more used to the sensation and taste of the snus. I do find it much more enjoyable to snus while having some drink to sip on, and the flavors combine well with a variety of things. I've already decided that Roda Lacket for instance, pairs nicely with my morning latte, while Ettan or Onyx goes better with black coffee. Roda Lacket is so far my favorite, so I've combined it with more things, like Honey Ginseng green tea, delicious. And so far most of them have gone just fine with the dark beers I favor. Overall though, I probably primarily just keep a glass of ice water handy to sip on and keep the portion wet and my mouth rinsed. I've never been a big fan of drinking water, so am probably taking in the recommended amount of daily hydration for the first time in my life. Add that to only smoking about 4 cigarettes a day after so many years of at least a pack a day, and there are some pretty immediate indications that snus is going to be much healthier for me.

As far as quitting smoking, I'm sure that will come in time. From the first portion I tried, my smoking dropped drastically, and since then, like I said, it's been around 4 cigarettes a day. I still find it challenging at times not to smoke, mostly due to routines and habits, and those times when I feel the need for an immediate boost of nicotine. First thing in the morning, after a large meal, when I'm just sitting around with little to do, or most especially when I'm feeling particularly stressed. I'm sure any of these things would be fairly easy to overcome, except that I've still got cigarettes around. I had about two and a half packs left in my carton when the snus came, so until those are gone, I'll probably still find myself reaching for one at times. There've already been more than a few times I've found my hand going for them out of habit, then realizing what I was doing, and that I currently had snus in my mouth, and certainly wasn't craving nicotine.

Even without having entirely quit so far, just dropping to a few a day I've started to notice odd side effects. I've already been startled a time or two when I've sensed odd smells. I've smoked for over half my life, so I'm pretty used to the "normality" of only really picking up on strong, pervasive scents that were in close proximity to me. So it's still catching me by surprise, and giving me that "something is out of place" feeling when I'm in a familiar area, around familiar things, and suddenly smell something unusual, only to hunt it down and realize it's nothing unusual at all.

Cigarettes also are smelling and tasting worse and worse as I go along. Which is one of the reasons I was able to pretty easily get past my initial neutrality towards the taste and sensation of the snus. I knew that cigarettes don't really taste good, how could they? That when I started they were kinda nasty and we really just kept puffing on em to get that nice nicotine buzz. We always said we'd quit as soon as we stopped getting the buzz, that there'd be no point after that. Of course, once you stop getting that buzz, you're hooked. But we were 14, what the hell did we know?

So that's where this experiment is at. About five days in, I'm snussin' all the time, and only smoking a few times a day. Getting more and more used to and fond of the snus, more able to distinguish particular flavors in the varieties, and pick out my personal faves and not so much choices. Putting together a second order to try out some more of the many different types, and get some of the more heavily flavored and mini portions for Ariel to give a shot as so far she's not at all fond of the regular tobaccoey flavors.

Even having a portion in pretty constantly, I've barely made a dent in the first order of 10 cans I put in. That order ran me about $38 with shipping, which in today's market would get me what... not even eight packs of smokes. Obviously the cans I have will last me much longer than the eight days tops $38 worth of smokes would last. Even buying cartons would be $45 every ten days, and $45 worth of snus could easily last twice as long or longer. So the good things keep adding up.

I'll update again on the continued progress of this experiment, once I have a better idea of daily use and have been using it long enough to get more familiar with the flavors and such I'll list off some of my faves and give some tips for picking out varieties to start with.

Carinogens On Your Lips

Well, RJ Reynolds may finally have done the unthinkable. After more than 15 years of smoking, and smoking Camel Filters for all but the initial six or eight month Marlboro "training wheels" Reds period, it may very well be a Camel product that leads me to put down the coffin nails and try out that whole "breathing air" thing.

Surely it's a culmination of a variety of things. Matters of finances, lifestyle, and health adding up to lay more and more pluses on the side of not smoking. And these days, what can really be considered a plus to being a smoker?

Taxes have come and the promise of more coming. There's a market down the street that's always been the cheapest place around and a pack o' crack went from $3.75 to $4.95 overnight. Cartons from $35 to $45. For a smoking household of two, that's an instantaneous increase of $60 to the monthly expenses. $60 added to the $210 already being spent on cigarettes, that is. $3240 a year. You could probably do something better with that chunk of change.

You can't comfortably smoke in public anymore, which was always a lot of fun. At least in Oregon, and probably a few other places. The rest of you, your time is probably coming too.

The only real plus to smoking I can come up with is that greedy addicted one.

I LIKE IT I LOVE IT I WANT IT, GIVE ME A FUCKING CIGARETTE!

I mean, smoking isn't really even cool anymore.

But I digress.

At the same time as Oregon's statewide smoking ban was coming into effect on January 1, 2009. I began receiving emails from Camel about "What do you think of the concept of oral, smokeless tobacco products you could have anywhere?" Ooooooh. Yeah whatever. No really, it made sense. I thought it was good timing on their part, if they could pull it off.

Apparently though, by that point, they already had this stuff developed and out in test markets. So hot on the heels of their hinting at the idea of the thing, it started to appear. Camel Orbs, Camel Sticks, Camel Strips, and CamelSNUS. Innnnnteresting.

Now, I was curious about these products, not as a replacement for smoking, more as an add-on to smoking. Something for those times when you can't smoke, or are totally inconvenienced to go find a place where you can smoke. So when the displays and such started popping up, we inquired about them. Mostly we found out they were going to be around $5, while real live cigarettes were still $3.75. Still they seemed like they might be worth a shot if they weren't a daily habit, an emergency backup of sorts.

Camel solved any hesitancy for me though, when they sent us coupons to try their new Orbs out for free. So yesterday Ariel went out to replenish our cancer stick supply, and cashed in a couple of the coupons. She returned with some "Mellow" flavor Camel Orbs, in a futuristic "child-proof" tic-tac dispenser. Complete with instruction manual.

I probably should have held off on trying these things out until I started craving a cigarette, for science's sake, to be able to gauge how effective they were. But I didn't. I shook the thing around, pried it apart with two hands, and dispensed the little brown pill thing.

Popped it into my mouth and was immediately assaulted by horrendously sweet foulness slowly melting to grainy glop on my tongue. I probably should have spit it out, but I wanted to do it right, absorb it all, see if the result could somehow be worth the experience. I tried sliding it away from my tongue, up between my lip and my gums. This just seemed to distribute the flavor rapidly through my saliva to take over my entire mouth and further enhance the foulness. Ever so slowly it melted away on my tongue. I really wasn't sure at times that vomiting wasn't a possible outcome of this experiment.

As soon as it was finally over and done with, I started searching the net, thinking surely there would be people out there decrying the grand foulness of this product. I searched "Camel Orbs Taste", my google shorthand that I was sure would lead me to various instances of Camel Orbs tasting like crap, shit, poo, goat ass, etc.

The second google result was "CamelSNUS vs. Swedish Snus", followed by a snippet of commentary that included both "Camel ORBS" as well as words like "throw-away" and "disgusting". So I felt I was on the right track to the vindication of my new found hatred through the shared views of others.

As it turns out, these products are still pretty damn new, and possibly not available in all areas yet. So most of the commentary regarding them is still just speculative opinion. I found one livejournal post of a guy who tried the "Frost" flavor and seemed to be saying they were gross while concluding that he liked them. I dunno.

Where I ended up was snuscentral.org, and not directly to the page containing the throw-away and disgusting statements, as the forums are only open to members. So I pretty quickly got entirely distracted from my original mission and started reading about Snus.

WTF is Snus?

I'd seen displays for the CamelSNUS, and knew it had it's own weird little refrigerated display. But I had figured SNUS for a made up name of their own invention. Instead it turns out to be a tobacco product they've been making in Sweden for a couple hundred years. It's tobacco you hold in your mouth, but that you don't have to spit. It comes both loose, like chewing tobacco, or in "portions" little sacks made of tea bag like material that you can neatly tuck between your lip and gums and absorb the nicotine.

So it's smokeless, discreet, and not messy and gross like chewing tobacco. But here's the really big thing. Swedish Snus is treated as a food product in Sweden. Meaning it falls under the mandate of their version of the FDA and has it's production, ingredients, and health effects being looked at and having to fall under certain guidelines.

As a result of this, Swedish Snus is steam pasteurized, and in the process destroys most of the carcinogens found in tobacco. This results in a tobacco product that is 98% safer than cigarettes. Nicotine is still not a healthy thing to put in your body, it's bad for your heart, and possibly for your pancreas. But 98% healthier than cigarettes is a pretty big thing. The potentially cancer causing carcinogens in tobacco products are called TSNA's. The more there are, the more risk for cancer. Chewing tobaccos such as Skoal and Copenhagen range from around a 40 TSNA level up to around 130. Swedish Snus ranges from about 0.4 to 2.8.

Now as for the CamelSNUS, we don't know what the TSNA level is, nor what's in it, or how it is made. Tobacco products aren't regulated by the FDA in such a way that they have to disclose that sort of information to the consumers.

What we do know though, is that CamelSNUS will probably cost about $5 or so, and comes with 15 small "portions" to a tin. Swedish Snus comes in a few different sized portions, and contain as little as 4mg or currently up to 17mg or so, with most normal portions seeming to be right about 8mg. The standard seems to be 24 portions per tin, with tins being between $2 and $4.

Digging around it turns out a great many people have quit smoking by switching to Snus. Especially in Sweden and Norway, but also in the US. From their stories, it seems quite a few have simply picked up Snus and put down cigarettes. That easy.

Sure, they are still addicted to nicotine, but they've gotten rid of all the other negatives to smoking cigarettes. Like... smoking them. Smoke here, smoke there, smoke everywhere. Sucking burning shit into your lungs; something that should probably be reserved for recreational activity only. Not to mention smelling like smoke, not being able to smell to know you smell like smoke, and even if you could smell after years of smoking you can't really breathe deeply enough to get a good whiff of anything anyhow. Oh, and all the coughing, throaty, lung cancery shit.

As with smoking, people who've switched to Snus seem to vary in the amount of their daily usage, but the majority seem to be in the 8-10 portions a day realm. Of course, with various strengths of portion to choose from, that can amount to a variety of levels of nicotine intake. But, financially speaking, 8-10 portions from a tin of 24 means a tin lasts a couple to a few days, and at less than the cost of a pack of smokes, that promises pretty decent savings.

So I'm going to get me some. There's a fairly staggering variety to choose from. We searched local tobacco shops today to see if we might be able to find even a single kind to sample, but alas, no one even knew what I was asking for. So I'm ordering up a variety to try out. It's an exciting prospect. So exciting I've hit that rare point of being more hopeful than cynical.

Mostly, I guess, I'm really very curious to see what it's like to not smoke. I started smoking when I was 14, and I've never tried to quit. Ever. I'll be thirty at the end of this next summer, so having spent the majority of my adolescence and entirety of adulthood to date with a daily habit. With a cloud of smoke trailing me through my daily existence, I really wonder what life would be like without that.

So we'll see. The experiment could be a complete failure, but for a pretty meager investment it is certainly worth a shot. If nothing else, I cannot imagine it could in any way compare to the absolutely foul taste of failure that Camel Orbs left in my mouth.