How to enjoy Swedish Snus
Enjoying Swedish Snus
Taking a snus doesn’t leave you unfullfilled like some other tobacco products. A snus keeps you company and stays calmly in its place doing it’s job. Snus doesn’t bother anyone else or flashes what it does, it can remain our little secret if you want. Your snus can keep you company where ever you go, on the bus, at work, outdoors or shopping.
Snus love a good ” Swedish fika” with a nice cup of coffee and pair very well with coffeine, they reinforces the pleasure of each other. Snus also long for a cold beer to mix its taste with on a hot summer day or after a nice meal with friends when we relax and invigorate ourselves with the snus’s feeling of reward.
Swedes have enjoyd snus for two centures and is the most popular stimulant in Sweden. Let us show you how it’s done.
The hit
There’s probably no surprise that snus contains tobacco and tobacco contains nicotine. Nicotine is the active substance in snus thats is absorbed by the mucous membranes and goes straight to the brains reward center. This create a pleasent feeling that are both calming and enegizing.
There are diffrent things that affect the uptake of nicotine and only 10-20 percent of a portion reaches the reward center in the brain. It also varies between people, so the experience will differ for everyone.
The pH-level is also important becuse it drives the amount of free nicotine that’s available. In other words the higher pH – the larger amount of nicotine that can be absorbed.
The standards level of 0,8-1,2 percent is just right and if you bump the nicotine higher there is no great benifit since the body’s tolerance adjusts the effect and goes back to normal. Many users like the stronger brands becuse they can experience a kind of a ”niccokick” that remain a very short period.
The weight and moisterlevel also plays a part in the intake of nicotine. The larger the portion you take, the more nicotine it will bring. Low moisture, if the snus is old it has a lower pH and becomes drier the snus will loose its nicotine effect.
Loose snus VS Portions/pouches
What portion does is that it creates a barrier between the snus and the lip and will obstruct the delivery of flavor. Though portion or pouches make it easier to use snus and more convenient for many people in diffrent situations it comes at a cost – that deeper flavor get lost.
If you havn’t tried loose snus I urge to test it out. It’s not difficult to bake a nice portion. Theres a lot of advantage, you decide size, shape and firmness.
How you bake a loose snus portion
- In the can, gently pack a portion of your preferd size against the inner-wall of the can with you thumb, index and middle finger.
- Lightly pick up the snus and keep packing it fimly to a oval or round shape, using fingers of both hands.
- Hold the prill loosely between the tip of your fingers and place under your lip. If it’s hard to get it right were you want it under the lip, help out and raise the lip with your other hand.
Portions / Pouches
The invention of snus portions had a very important impact on the industry and the envolvment of Swedish snus. It became a entry ticket to new customer base and got more social accepted.
The idea of the portion was prompted from a teabag and was launched to the market as late as 1973. But the product didn’t stuck on the consumers until 1977 when Tre Ankare tried tried the idea out. Soon other brands followed and today all brands selling the teabag.
The little bag got a lot of sizes, shapes and diffrent surface’s. It’s most commonly made of cellulose paper and is helld together by a binder substance.
Today we have Original (Brown pouches) and White (White pouches) the differs in flavor release and drips. Original has a quicker flavor release and nicotine kick than White, thats releases the flavor and nicotine more gradually and drips less. Today the most commonly sizes are Large (Normal), Mini and Slim.
How to store snus
When snus ages it dries and loses it damp texture. It’s taste becomes weaker and aromas get lost when it gets drier. The pH also drops and the available nicotine decreases, and you get less of a kick. The best way of protecting it is to store your snus in the best conditions right from the beginning. It should be in a cold place like your refrigerator and the portions can be fresh up to about five to six months. For loose snus the time is somewhat shorter, about four months.
Best time to enjoy snus
If you want to get the most out of your prill and get that burst of flavor and a nice hit your snus should be at a room temperature when using it, if you take a prill from a cold can the cold locks in the flavor and aromas.
After you get that right it’s all up to you. I like my first snus with my coffee in the morning and I get both the kick of nicotine and coffeine to get me going. I love a loose snus on the weekend to my cold beer, and ofcourse after every meal to really top of reward center in my brain.
Try to avoid sleeping with snus that could diminish the fine moments with a morning snus.
