Real Shelf Life - Loose verses Portion

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  • carotevi
    Member
    • Mar 2007
    • 64

    Real Shelf Life - Loose verses Portion

    Hi,

    I have been thinking about this for a while and have never read anyone else say it before. Figured that I would throw it out and see if anyone else has ever noticed this.

    I live in southern us and in the warmer months I have problems with snus going bad in the shipping before it reaches me. At first I thought that i might be wrong because of lack of exposer to snus. Now I am going into my third summer of snus usage and don't think that I am wrong.

    If my local temp is about 70 F or below everything seems ok. If the temp is 50 F or below everything is wonderful. But if the temp reaches 75/80 or above I may as well not even order portion snus. At the same temp loose snus arrives in a usable state but not great. Loose seems to handle the heat better than portion snus does.

    Some brands of portion snus seem to handle the heat better than others. For example of of my favorite brands is Catch Eucalyptus but if local temp is above about 70 it actually stinks and taste horrible when it arrives.

    Am I the only one who has ever had this problem? :shock:
  • mwood72

    #2
    Re: Real Shelf Life - Loose verses Portion

    Originally posted by carotevi
    Hi,

    I have been thinking about this for a while and have never read anyone else say it before. Figured that I would throw it out and see if anyone else has ever noticed this.

    I live in southern us and in the warmer months I have problems with snus going bad in the shipping before it reaches me. At first I thought that i might be wrong because of lack of exposer to snus. Now I am going into my third summer of snus usage and don't think that I am wrong.

    If my local temp is about 70 F or below everything seems ok. If the temp is 50 F or below everything is wonderful. But if the temp reaches 75/80 or above I may as well not even order portion snus. At the same temp loose snus arrives in a usable state but not great. Loose seems to handle the heat better than portion snus does.

    Some brands of portion snus seem to handle the heat better than others. For example of of my favorite brands is Catch Eucalyptus but if local temp is above about 70 it actually stinks and taste horrible when it arrives.

    Am I the only one who has ever had this problem? :shock:
    I find original/brown portions deteriorate/perish a lot quicker than white portions. If I order original/brown portions I usually have a roll UPSd 24hr delivery whereas white portions seem to be ok by regular mail (2-3 days) I haven't tried loose but I would assume that would deteriorate/perish quickly if it had a high moisture content?

    Comment

    • Craig de Tering
      Member
      • Nov 2006
      • 525

      #3
      Carotevi, how long does it take for your order to arrive at your doorstep?

      The reason I ask is because we only had a short spell of hot summer weather last year and as far as I can remember my snus got here as fresh as ever. Mine gets here in about 6 working days (delivery also on saturday).

      A shame really that you should have to receive bad snus all the time but also; isn't it just a teensy bit possible it's all in the head?

      Comment

      • carotevi
        Member
        • Mar 2007
        • 64

        #4
        Originally posted by Craig de Tering
        Carotevi, how long does it take for your order to arrive at your doorstep?

        The reason I ask is because we only had a short spell of hot summer weather last year and as far as I can remember my snus got here as fresh as ever. Mine gets here in about 6 working days (delivery also on saturday).

        A shame really that you should have to receive bad snus all the time but also; isn't it just a teensy bit possible it's all in the head?
        i always get it shipped ups so 2-4 days according to if it lands on a weekend or not.

        well is it in my head? well as i said in my first post i thought maybe it was but after living through going on three summers i can say absolutely no it's not.

        before the temp started going up here i bought my normal supply and it was find and dandy. i had planned to buy me a load before summer, got busy working and forgot about it. then as soon as i remembered i ordered two rolls from one site and four from another a few days later.

        i still had some N&J onhand from about a month before. i opened a can of old and a can of new side by side. the old was still wet and had a good smell and taste. the new (with a better date) was dried and had a bad smell. i did the same "test" with some old and new catch. the new catch stunk bad. i went ahead and tried to use it anyway but could not stand the stuff. oh yea all the loose was fine and no difference that i could tell.

        it pissed me off something really bad. i wont tell how much i threw away.

        back last summer since i never read anyone else saying anything like this i just knew it had to be in my head. so i took a few cans of good snus and a few cans of what i thought was bad. i wrote down the dates so i would know which was which. put tape over the dates and mixed up the cans so i could not tell which was which. (i work from home and have a lot of free time haha) then tried to use them, tried to forget about it as best i could for a couple days. it was a no brainer to tell which was which haha.

        hey i almost did not post about this because i knew i would seem like a nut job but there it is....

        i wonder if my ups people have like this speical oven they put my package in to cook my snus or something haha. i donno but it's a pain in the butt

        Comment

        • chainsnuser
          Senior Member
          • Jan 2007
          • 1388

          #5
          Snus can surely go bad during shipment. I never experienced this, 'cause I'm snusing only since last december. But I always order at the beginning of the week, so there is a good chance, that the snus does not stay in the postal service's stock over the weekend.

          Also, I have a can of Nick & Johnny loose open right now, that I maybe have kept far too long at room temperature and it begins to stink a little of ammoniac. Fortunately, the taste ist still good though.

          A solution could be, to order a larger ammount of snus before summer and then freeze it. I'm considering to do so.

          Cheers!

          Comment

          • Craig de Tering
            Member
            • Nov 2006
            • 525

            #6
            Maybe if you have family or friends up north or elsewhere where it's cooler you could let the shop ship it to them and let them freeze it in for you until you can go pick it up or they drive down to you? (just thinking out loud I guess)

            You could also ask the shop in question if they could wrap your order better. Like hermetically sealed against air leaks (might burst in flight?) and/or with isolating (aluminium) wrap like the shiny material some deli shopping bags are made of.

            Comment

            • chainsnuser
              Senior Member
              • Jan 2007
              • 1388

              #7
              Originally posted by Craig de Tering
              Maybe if you have family or friends up north or elsewhere where it's cooler you could let the shop ship it to them and let them freeze it in for you until you can go pick it up or they drive down to you? (just thinking out loud I guess)

              You could also ask the shop in question if they could wrap your order better. Like hermetically sealed against air leaks (might burst in flight?) and/or with isolating (aluminium) wrap like the shiny material some deli shopping bags are made of.
              Maybe I buy it in Sweden next time - and take a cool bag with me, when I enter the tobacco shop :lol:
              But seriously, one of the smaller webshops, I have found, really claims to ship the snus in sealed packages, whatever that means.

              Comment

              • Zero
                Member
                • May 2006
                • 1522

                #8
                Originally posted by chainsnuser
                But seriously, one of the smaller webshops, I have found, really claims to ship the snus in sealed packages, whatever that means.
                If there's one thing that working with unstable chemicals has taught me, it's that the word "sealed" is extremely subjective. Perhaps they would be willing to offer a guaranteed rate of O2 and H2O mol/(cm^2•s) permeability through the encapsulation :lol:

                Comment

                • Craig de Tering
                  Member
                  • Nov 2006
                  • 525

                  #9
                  ROFLMAO @ Zero

                  I geddit.

                  Comment

                  • Zero
                    Member
                    • May 2006
                    • 1522

                    #10
                    Actually, now that I think about it, I may know what this "bad snus" is about. I've had really fresh snus a few times, of all varieties - swedish match, gustavus, etc - which has had a sort of plastic-y bad smell and taste to it, if that's what you mean, carotevi. What I've noticed with it, though, is that after being open for a day or two that it has gone away and the snus has been perfect after that. I think it may be the glycol or something they use to keep the snus moist - perhaps when it's really fresh there's a lot of it that can still take up moisture and a bit of air is all it needs to "breathe" and let the taste settle (like letting a wine sit for a while to let the flavour come out, etc).

                    Comment

                    • Craig de Tering
                      Member
                      • Nov 2006
                      • 525

                      #11
                      So what's your suggestion? To unseal a new can while your current can is a few days from being empty?

                      Comment

                      • bakerbarber
                        Member
                        • Jun 2008
                        • 1947

                        #12
                        I think I'd rather stock up before it gets extremely hot in my neck of the woods.

                        I notice that "new" snus smell too when I get an extremely fresh can too.

                        Comment

                        • heppycat
                          Member
                          • May 2009
                          • 220

                          #13
                          We need a snus decanter!

                          Comment

                          • Mazur
                            Member
                            • May 2007
                            • 159

                            #14
                            I've read in American Scientist that in China someone invited snus tin with cooling system inside ;-)

                            Comment

                            • PassedPawn
                              Member
                              • Dec 2008
                              • 319

                              #15
                              How did the Swedes who sent snus to relatives in the States back in the 19th and early 20th centuries deal with this problem?

                              Comment

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