Real Swedish snus is different than what people are used to calling "dip" or "snuf".
Exactly! The stuff Camel sells isn't really legitimate snus for one good reason.
Legitimate Swedish snus (which should run you about $3.50-4.00 for a tin of 24-30 pouches) is actually steam cured and not kiln/fire cured. This has been proven to reduce the amount of carcinogens within the tobacco due to its lower curing temperature. Essentially the verdict is that the higher the temperature with which you cure tobacco, the more carcinogens are released into the processed tobacco. What that means for Swedish snus is that there is less risk for oral cancer versus American dip/Camel Snus. In fact, Sweden has one of the lowest oral cancer rates in the world despite nearly 20% of the population using snus.
Also, Swedish snus will
not make you salivate. You should be putting these pouches in your upper front lip which has no saliva glands. For some reason when I tried Camel Snus this way, I still salivated. Weird. And very suspicious. Maybe I just don't trust American cigarette corporations.
There are some very strong snus brands out there (buysnus.com has a gazillion), and a few have brought me to the brink of too much. Others are mild with a nice flavor, though a true Swede would laugh at you for using it. I should know, my friend who is Swedish can't stop poking fun of me when I pop a pouch of
Goeteborg's Rape into my mouth. Yes, it's really called Goeteborg's Rape. Although them uppity Europeans seem to pronounced it Raw-pay. Whatever.
I'd say it's worth a shot to try just to say you did. I didn't find it addictive at all, but others have suggested it's highly addictive. But that really has been the case for all kinds of tobacco and me, I guess I just don't have that addictive personality. In any case, it provides a darn good rush in a new and interesting way of ingestion, but in the end I doubt it will win over any cigar smokers permanently.
On an interesting side note, I do also like snus for a very good reason. The other day I popped a pouch into my lip and walked into the county administration building... the epicenter of California's (and now the country's) most stringent anti-tobacco regulation. I felt alive again! Definitely pulled the wool over them bureaucrat bastiges, I did! :headroll:
