Yet Another New Snuser Thread

[SuperToilet]

I don't expect everyone to read my encylopedia entry of a post, but I'd definitely appreciate some suggestions on what to order next. I've been lurking around these forums for a month now and I think I've got a good idea, just help me out

I picked up smoking cigarettes last year, exactly one year after I started smoking hookah. A pack of Camels usually lasted me a few days, but at one point I started smoking a pack a day and realized I had to stop. I stopped a few weeks before Christmas, then while traveling during the holidays I saw someone light up and ended up buying a pack

Then a few months ago, I saw Camel Snus in an Orlando gas station; I didn't know WTF it was, I thought it was a new cigarette or something. Then I read a little about snus. Then I read some more, and soon I'd have a Firefox window with 20 open tabs about snus at any given time during the day. A few weeks ago I ended up chain smoking an entire pack in one night, and promptly getting messed up. I got my ass on my computer, went to BuySnus.com, and ordered:

Skruf Original Portions
Skruf Tranbar Portions
Skruf Stark Los
General Onyx
Mocca Pomegranate

Outside of cigarettes, Black & Milds, and smoking pipe tobacco (both hookah and an actual pipe) with friends, I'd never had any other form of tobacco; I have no experience with American dip. This is what I'm thinking now...in the order which I opened the tins:

Skruf Cranberry:
Holy crap, this stuff smells like ammonia, or fish food, or something. It tastes a LOT better than it smells, but the burn in the back of my throat screams fish food/ammonia, an essence I now just refer to as Skruffyness. Definitely a bad first impression of snus. Gave me the niccups too.

Mocca Pomegranate:
Mmm, smells exactly like some brand of bubble gum I used to chew as a kid. Tastes like it too. Where's the nicotine? I want a cigarette!

General Onyx:
Nice, the smell reminds me of the best cup of tea I could possibly imagine. Right when I opened the can I could tell they're going for some kind of image with this expensive stuff; the portions are arranged neatly inside the tin, not just thrown in there like the Skruf. No strong odors either, just subdued aromas. The nic hit is perfect, it tastes nice and citrusy, with a weak smoky undertone, and if this wasn't nearly 5 dollars a can I would order a roll right now.

Skruf Original:
Bah! So the Skruffyness had nothing to do with the "tranbar" flavoring, Skruf just stanks. At this point I was more used to the way snus gives you nicotine vs. cigarettes, but I really just can't bring myself to like this...

Skruf Stark Los:
Cliffnotes: I need to order a prismaster, NOW. I ended up with mudmouth every time I tried using this :P It DEFINITELY tastes a lot better than Skruf portions though. I think they should switch to white portions...

So, now I wanna get an order in with BuySnus.com while they've still got free shipping. This is my cart right now:

1847 By Philip Morris Original
Ettan Portion
Ettan White Portion
Lucky Strike Portion
Lucky Strike White Portion
Mocca Plus Eucalyptus (STRONG)
Mocca Plus Tobacco flavor (STRONG)
Prismaster
Retro Original

Now, what I want to know is, should I drop either of the Ettan portions to pick up some Ettan los? Do any of these taste anything like the Skruf portions do? Because if any of them do then I really don't want to bother. I don't know if the smell bothers anyone here, but honestly, I just really did not like Skruf portions at all.

Thanks! Here's to a whole week without a cigarette, and the rest of my life to come smoke free!

[Zero]

Did you put your snus in the fridge? Warm portions don't smell so hot, but if you get them nice and cold out of the fridge the smell and flavour is much better. Skruf is particularly pungent, though, so you probably won't find many which have a much more powerful smell. Seems you're already up to speed on white/regular portions - white portions are much more subdued when it comes to the smell that greets you when you open the tin.

Your order looks pretty good - I don't know about the Mocca (never tried them), but Ettan and Lucky Strike are both quite good - mellow and smoky, both of them. Good snus for coffee. Retro I'm also not sure about - it's quite new, but I'm sure a few here have tried it.

Loose takes practice, but it's uncontested when it comes to flavour and aroma. What sort of flavours are you keen on? More mellow, earthy, bold, spicy, fruity? Everyone has different tastes, so it's a bit tough to pick a direction. Göteborgs Rapé is nice - if you liked Onyx you might like it.

[Grim]

Hey keep it up on quiting smoking...its hard but once you are able to youll love it. I remember when i noticed a big difference in my health when i actually walked outside one morning to notice i could actually really smell the flowers my wife had planted outside....never noticed them before.

Onyx to me seems to be the gold standard when it comes to dry portions and although im still trying to discover my favorites in the snus market it really is to each his own.

Listening to people on this forum is a great place to start but i just figured i have to try pretty much all of them because everyones taste is different.

enjoy the new world you have found and fight the urge to smoke. You will feel so much better once you quit.

[KarlvB]

I second Zero. The Skruf has a distinct aroma but that really does fade once it has been chilled. Personally I love Skruf and Knox so maybe I am just used to the smell...I would give it time in the fridge and revisit it in a week or two.

None of the snus on your list tastes like Skruf.

I would suggest a few changes though as a few of the choices have a similar taste profile. So here are my suggestions:

The Mocca+ Tobacco flavour tastes exactly like Retro Original Portions IMO - which in turn taste very similar to Grov.

So I would suggest maybe dropping the Retro and keeping the Mocca+ Tobacco

I don't say this lightly because Retro and Grov are tied on my top 5 list, but if you are looking for a discreet strong mini and intend to taste a variety of snus then it seems pointless to have two similar tasting snuses. I will bet though that if you like the Mocca+ taste then you will love Grov and Retro.

I would ditch one of the Ettan portions (the regular if you didn't like the Skruf portions) for Ettan loose and add a tin of loose that bakes quite easily - Roda Lacket or Prima Fint.

I'd also suggest getting at least one of the Gotlands products - the new Jakobsson's Classic and the Yellow portions/loose.

Just my 2 cents

K

[SuperToilet]

Did you put your snus in the fridge?
/snip
Loose takes practice, but it's uncontested when it comes to flavour and aroma. What sort of flavours are you keen on? More mellow, earthy, bold, spicy, fruity? Everyone has different tastes, so it's a bit tough to pick a direction. Göteborgs Rapé is nice - if you liked Onyx you might like it.

Heh, it went right out of the envelope and into the fridge. Lately my can of Onyx has been spending way more time out of it than in it though, whenever I get the urge to smoke a cigarette I just toss one in and in a few minutes I feel fantastic.

I guess I'm leaning more towards either mellow and citrusy, or bold and spicy, depending on my mood. Any other portions that taste like Onyx? Rapé's description on BuySnus says it's got a hint of juniper in it, is that the taste I'm lovin in Onyx? How do the other General varieties compare?

Hey keep it up on quiting smoking...its hard but once you are able to youll love it. I remember when i noticed a big difference in my health when i actually walked outside one morning to notice i could actually really smell the flowers my wife had planted outside....never noticed them before.
/snip
enjoy the new world you have found and fight the urge to smoke. You will feel so much better once you quit.

I had to run to make it to my lab today on time, and noticed that for the first time I wasn't out of breath . Thanks for all the positive feedback, I know if I just bum one cigarette right now I'll get sucked right back in.

[SuperToilet]

I second Zero. The Skruf has a distinct aroma but that really does fade once it has been chilled. Personally I love Skruf and Knox so maybe I am just used to the smell...I would give it time in the fridge and revisit it in a week or two.

None of the snus on your list tastes like Skruf.

I would suggest a few changes though as a few of the choices have a similar taste profile. So here are my suggestions:

The Mocca+ Tobacco flavour tastes exactly like Retro Original Portions IMO - which in turn taste very similar to Grov.

So I would suggest maybe dropping the Retro and keeping the Mocca+ Tobacco

I don't say this lightly because Retro and Grov are tied on my top 5 list, but if you are looking for a discreet strong mini and intend to taste a variety of snus then it seems pointless to have two similar tasting snuses. I will bet though that if you like the Mocca+ taste then you will love Grov and Retro.

I would ditch one of the Ettan portions (the regular if you didn't like the Skruf portions) for Ettan loose and add a tin of loose that bakes quite easily - Roda Lacket or Prima Fint.

I'd also suggest getting at least one of the Gotlands products - the new Jakobsson's Classic and the Yellow portions/loose.

Just my 2 cents

K

I figured Retro and Mocca+ would at least be similar as they're both F&L. The minis are only in my order because I need something discreet for when I'm in class or out and about; if I end up liking Mocca+ and I've got a fullsize version of it for when I'm at home, then yay me. I'm happy that these Moccas are "strong"; I found myself using two portions of Mocca Pomegranate and defeating the purpose of a mini portion. Any other good "fruity" portions, preferably large ones, that you could recommend?

I'll definitely add Ettan Los over the regular portions; it didn't seem to me like Skruf Los was hard to bake, can't describe it really. I just need to get my technique down. I'll save Roda Lacket and/or Prima Fint for another order.

I'll probably add Gotlands Yellow portions too.

Thanks for the feedback.

[Zero]

Any other portions that taste like Onyx? Rapé's description on BuySnus says it's got a hint of juniper in it, is that the taste I'm lovin in Onyx? How do the other General varieties compare?

...

I had to run to make it to my lab today on time...

Rapé has juniper and bergamot - it's the bergamot you taste in Onxy which gives it that citrus/earl-grey tea flavour. General is basically the everyday, non-fancy version of Onyx (or rather the other way around - Onyx is the fancy General) - they're both quite similar and there are a good number of General-wannabe brands. Pretty much anything with "a hint of citrus" is going to be something like General. General is a good one to try as a core-reference. It's one of the classics and by far the most popular in Sweden. Doesn't mean it's the best, of course, but it's good to have as a comparison.

Cool to see we have another scientist on the board, btw. What do you do?

[SuperToilet]

Any other portions that taste like Onyx? Rapé's description on BuySnus says it's got a hint of juniper in it, is that the taste I'm lovin in Onyx? How do the other General varieties compare?

...

I had to run to make it to my lab today on time...

Rapé has juniper and bergamot - it's the bergamot you taste in Onxy which gives it that citrus/earl-grey tea flavour. General is basically the everyday, non-fancy version of Onyx (or rather the other way around - Onyx is the fancy General) - they're both quite similar and there are a good number of General-wannabe brands. Pretty much anything with "a hint of citrus" is going to be something like General. General is a good one to try as a core-reference. It's one of the classics and by far the most popular in Sweden. Doesn't mean it's the best, of course, but it's good to have as a comparison.

Cool to see we have another scientist on the board, btw. What do you do?

:lol: I'm an undergrad student, I was trying to make it to Bio II lab. I'm a microbio major right now though, looking to get a research internship with a professor this summer. I'm shooting for med school.

[sagedil]

I'd say your order is as good as any newish order would be. Nothing there that I would warn you away from. If you want to try some flavored snus, and generally like licorice, I would throw in a can of LD Black. Not very expensive, and the pest implementation of licorice IMHO. Probe portions or LOS is also another favorite flavored snus for many people. Very sweet...but yummy :P

The Lucky Strikes are an old favorite of mine. The Mocca + are a new favorite.

[eli]

A word on retro... I just burned through a can of this and it's a very good portion, I would be hard pressed to be able to tell the difference between a Retro Portion and a Grovsnus Original portion in a blind taste test.

Ok, so never tried Grov? Well it's a very straight foward "tobacco" snus with a mild sweetness.

I recently tried Probe (in loose form) and found it to be quite enjoyable as well, sweeter than Grov, someone compared the flavor to Chocolate cake, and I think that's an adequate comparison.. although it's not quite as sweet.

[KarlvB]

Any other good "fruity" portions, preferably large ones, that you could recommend?

Personally I LOVE the Gotlands Green. It is the only fruity portion I order every time and tastes exactly like Elderflower juice. I find the taste in all Gotlands products to be more natural than any other brand.

Keeping with Gotlands - I just got back to the office to find my order of Jakobsson's Ice Fruit has arrived and that may also make it onto my list if the hype is to be believed. I'll report back in the next few days.

Goteborgs Rapé #1 & #2 is also a very good snus (as Zero said) but I am personally not that enamoured with it. This puts me at odds with the majority of forum members so I suggest throwing in a can of each to try. Having said that I usually have a can of each in the fridge but it is more for a change of pace than anything else. Who knows you may love it.

Finally, I would suggest throwing in the Gotlands Grey if you like anise/licorice.

[eli]

Let me say that I'm not a "flavored snus guy" and i can digs the Icefruit..

[SuperToilet]

Well, my order ended up a little......different. I bought two cans of LS Original from a member here.

Ettan loose
Ettan White Portion
Göteborgs Rapé No2 Portion
Jakobssons Ice-Fruit Snus
Lucky Strike White Portion
Mocca Plus Eucalyptus (STRONG)
Mocca Plus Tobacco flavor (STRONG)
Nick and Johnny Portion
Prismaster
Retro Original
Röda Lacket White Portion
Pen BuySnus

Man, I really splurged. I'm wondering if I'll ever find a kind of snus I can comfortably order a roll of and know I'll finish it.

And I've definitely been cheating on "not smoking." For some reason I'm all over different kinds of cheap cigars, Black and Milds, Hav-A-Tampa, Dutch Masters; things people would only buy to roll with, yet I'm smoking them. Definitely kicked the cigarettes though, only had two in two weeks.

[Xobeloot]

Becareful with the Pen Buysnus. It packs a LOT of nicotine. I had heard about this stuff before, but it wasn't until my delivery came today that I realized how strong it was! Put it un my mouth and my head was swimming almost immediately!. Had to spit it out and go back to a nice pris of Phantom :lol:

[lxskllr]

Man, I really splurged. I'm wondering if I'll ever find a kind of snus I can comfortably order a roll of and know I'll finish it.

My problem is I want a roll of most snus' :^D I wish I were more discriminating, but it seems like I love almost all of them. You have a good order btw, you should be able to narrow your flavor preferences with that selection.