SNUS, all the benefits of Smoking without the Smoke!

There you have it...SNUS...What is SNUS?!?....a revolutionary way to reap all the benefits of nicotine, and all those other wonderful chemicals but without the smoke that is so common with normal tobacco products. Being raised in Western Canada i am no stranger to a similar product referred to as ¨Chewing Tobacco¨ . There are many varieties, tastes, strenghts etc...but this product is basically just raw tobacco stuffed into a small round plastic container. You insert it into your gums directly and the saliva produced while its there is normally spit out...to me it conjures up images of cowboys in the wild west and spittoons.
I know of several people back home that do use this as a fix to their addictions but the Swedes, in typical Swedish style have taken some of the ewweee out of the entire thing by creating something similar to ¨chew¨but each dosage is pre-sized and bagged in a sort of tea bag that allows the flavor and nicotine to penetrate through -Yummy! Removal is quick, clean, and easy as none of the tobacco leaves the convenient pouch.

Having spoken with users (that include both men and women) its clear that this stuff is incredibly addictive and socially accepted here in Sweden unlike in the rest of the EU who banned the sale of it back in 1992 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snus). Sweden is supposed to also come on board in removing this product from the shelves it maybe something that will neigh happen over night with over 1.1 million people using the product here.

One chilling side effect of the product from ¨lifetime¨users is the recession of the tandkött or gums up the teeth over time until users when placing the product in their mouth no longer do so below their lip but higher up to a point just beside their nose.

This product is incredibly addictive and many who have used it have a hard time kicking the habit and will frequently switch to smoking during especially weak periods of self control.

I have had the chance to put some in my mouth however a good friend whom i met here convinced me to remove it from my mouth before its effects could be felt, so I cannot really comment on how it feels or the effects. Perhaps this is something your going to have to come here to try out for yourself!