Snubie: Blood Orange & Goji Berry (Lös) - Preview.

Today, I am excited to announce the release of a new Snubie branded product - Snubie: Blood Orange and Goji Berry, a product produced by Snus.biz. Not only that, but this is a lös only product! After the recent release of Snubie Brandy Alexander, a Snubie product produced by V2 Tobacco, a lot of people asked me for a lös Snubie product. The folks at Snus.biz produce products only in the lös format, so it seemed like a fitting match to work with them on this new release!

This snus contains a mixture of three tobaccos: Latakia, Virginia, and Burley. Latakia contributes a strong aroma/taste that is leathery, smoky, peppery, and has a hint of peat. Virginia contributes a light, sweet taste of tobacco. The Burley tobacco contributes a mild, soft, almost nutty taste.  The nicotine level is around 20mg/g and feels to be at the extra strong level.

The tobaccos are aged in old oak barrels from Massandra, which is a winery in Crimea. These barrels once stored wine that has been awarded high international awards.

This snus contains a flavor of Blood Orange & Goji Berry. For the Blood Orange taste, the premium Sanguinello was used, which is native to Spain and contributes a tangy and sweet citrus taste. Dried goji berries from China were used, which are grown on an organic farm. The goji berry contributes a slightly tart, slightly sweet fruit taste which is reminiscent of cranberry.

This snus uses a grind which is best described as “combo grinding”. Combo grinding is a mix of coarse grinding and fine grinding. This grind is very unique, and helps release flavors in a way different from traditional lös snus!  This product also comes with a full 50 grams of lös snus!

For this product, I wanted a simple, clean look to the can.  The real star of this snus is the tobacco inside the can, so after numerous rounds of designs, this was the design that was settled on for the final look.  It's a clean look, and it has a white label; as you know, I love white labels!  

This snus will be available to purchase soon from Snus.biz. To order, email hello@snus.biz.  You can pre-order now, or wait until it's on sale to order for delivery worldwide. Make sure and keep an eye on your spam box, as sometimes replies go to your spam box. The cost is 7.00 Euro, or $8.17 US per can.  They accept payment via PayPal, so you'll need a PayPal account to purchase.  This isn’t a cheap snus due to the quality of ingredients used; it is truly for the snus connoisseur who wants a premium tasting product!  This product has begun production, and I will announce the release date soon!

Lund Edition (White Portion) - Review. 11 July 2018.

Lund Edition (White Portion) is a limited edition product released by Swedish Match for their new Lund Store which opened on June 5th, 2018. Swedish Match has been steadily opening stores since their first one in 2012, and the Lund Swedish Match store is their latest. This product isn't sold online, or to the US, so you can only get it at the Lund store. Thanks to my friend Michael who grabbed some of this for me to review.  This snus has a taste of champagne, which makes this the second champagne flavored snus released by Swedish Match this year. Small Batch #1, a snus with a taste of champagne, was the first snus released in their Small Batch series this year.

When it comes to this product, the side of the can says:  "With a taste of champagne.  This can contains a white portion snus.  It has a taste inspired by champagne made of classic grapes."  This product comes in a 24 gram can with 24 portions for 1 gram each.  I'm not sure what the nicotine content is, but it's either regular strength, or between regular strength and strong.

This product reminds me a lot of Small Batch #1, but with some differences. For Small Batch #1, Swedish Match "added some tropical fruit for a final finish", which I don't really pick up with this one.  When I open the can, the aroma is a tart smell of citrus, some pepper, and a light floral sweetness.  It's hard to explain, but the aroma has a light bread-like quality to it, as well.  The portions come in the star formation, so I suggest fluffing them to loosen up the tobacco and make them more even/comfortable in the lip. The flavor is very much like the aroma. The citrus is quite predominant, and comes through in a tart, bitter way. There’s a touch of pepper in the background, as well. I also notice some light floral notes which contribute a little sweetness to the flavor profile. There’s also a very light tobacco character in the background. The nicotine strength feels to be about the regular level to me. The flavor, on average, lasts about an hour.

If you like champagne, or citrus flavored snus, this one is worth a try.  If you stop by the Lund store, definitely grab a can to check it out.

Small Batch #4 (Raspberry Licorice) - Review. 10 July 2018.

The Small Batch series is a new series of snus launched by Swedish Match this year. Swedish Match describes the Small Batch line by saying, "We at Swedish Match have produced thousands of products over the course of a few hundred years. Our experts are experts in the correct sense of the word. But they have not been tired of developing new ideas. In order for them to get that opportunity - and for Swedish snusers to be able to share it all - we now launch a new range of products called Small Batch, where the flavor is replaced several times a year. Each flavor is produced in a small edition." Small Batch #1 had a flavor of champagne. Small Batch #2, my previous favorite of the series so far, had a taste of blood orange. Small Batch #3 had an apple/mint flavor. And now, Small Batch #4 is launched, which has a raspberry (hallon) and licorice (lakrits) taste.

Here's a translation for what the can says.  I know this is only launched in Sweden, but a lot of my readers are English speakers, so I'm going to include this anyway.

Top of the can:  "Light tobacco character with clear elements of raspberry, and a little licorice and anise."

Side of the can:  "We at Swedish Match have produced thousands of snuses over the course of a few hundred years. And the ideas continue to come. To make it possible for several of them to become reality, we are introducing this snus - just this taste is made only once and in limited edition."

This product comes in a 24 gram can with 24 portions for 1 gram each.  I'm not sure what the nicotine strength is, as they don't listen it online, but I'd guess it's either regular strength or strong.

Now, I will say this up front. Small Batch #2 (Blood Orange) was previously my favorite release in the Small Batch series. This one has surpassed that one. When you open the can, the aroma that greets you is a pretty even mix of raspberry and licorice. The raspberry is very natural, and not overly sweet. The licorice aroma is, of course, a black licorice smell. The portions come in the star formation, so I suggest fluffing them before putting them in the lip. After that, they are quite soft and comfortable. The taste absolutely fantastic. I notice the raspberry taste first, which comes through as a natural raspberry flavor; it isn't sweet, or candy-like. The licorice taste is right behind it, which is a salty black licorice flavor. I also notice a mild tobacco character in the background which reminds me a lot of Prima Fint. In a way, this snus reminds me of a more flavorful version of Roda Lacket White Portion.    The nicotine feels to be between regular strength and strong, but I'm not sure what it is as it isn't listed online.  The flavor also lasts a good amount of time; I've found generally I can keep these portions in for about an hour.

As I said earlier, this is my favorite product of the Small Batch series.  I plan on ordering more to freeze before it's discontinued.  It is absolutely delicious!  If you want to try it, this product is available on the Swedish Match webstore and in their Swedish Match physical store locations.

G.3 TNT (Slim White Dry/Super Strong) - Review. 9 July 2018.

Swedish Match has been pumping out a lot of products in their G3 Super Strong (Slim White Dry) category, and now they've added another one - TNT, a product with a tobacco taste! I know, it caught me off guard, too. First, they released G3 Volt in April of 2017, which had a mint taste. Then came G3 Wire in September of 2017, which had an energy drink taste. And, most recently, G3 Load, which had a vaguely sexual name and a licorice/menthol flavor. G3 TNT has a flavor description that says, "G.3 TNT Super Strong has a light and spicy tobacco character with elements of green herbs, oak and cedar." This product comes in a 16.6 gram can with 24 portions for 0.69 gram portions. The nicotine content is 26mg/g (2.6%) which breaks down to 17.94mg/portion.

This product reminds me a lot of The Lab series products, but more dry. So think of The Lab 07, but with a more dry portion and a little less nuttiness. That's the best I can describe it. The aroma is a straightforward tobacco smell with a light smokiness to it. The portions are slim, white, and dry but not too uncomfortable in the lip. The flavor releases slowly, since this is a white dry product, but you feel the nicotine rather quickly; I usually notice it within about 5 minutes of putting a portion in.  The taste, as I mentioned earlier, reminds me of a dryer lab series.  There is a raw, natural tobacco flavor that is the most present part of the flavor profile.  In the background there is a light presence of wood, which reminds me a little of oak.  And that's about it.  It's a very simple flavor profile, but a very good one.  The nicotine kick feels above the extra strong level, and there is a solid kick with this snus!  The flavor also lasts a good amount of time; generally I can keep these in for over an hour.  I don't push it that far very often, because I don't use a lot of strong snus.  But, for this review, I did test it to see how long I could push it, and I was able to stretch it for over an hour.

All in all, it's a pretty solid snus.  It's a new snus that isn't a mint flavor, so that impressed me a lot.  If you like tobacco flavors and want something very strong, this is worth a try!

Nordic Spirit (True White) - Preview. 6 July 2018.

The tobacco-free nicotine pouch category seems to be growing more and more. Both in the dry format (such as Swedish Match's Zyn NT), and the moist format, such as the other Zyn and Skruf's new SuperWhite. Now, Nordic Snus AB, makers of LD and Nordic Storm, are entering this category with the new Nordic Spirit line! They say Nordic Spirit is “a brand new all-white alternative with naturally extracted nicotine and refreshing flavors, completely tobacco-free. The clean white slim portions are less runny yet feel soft due to the natural plant fiber and gum-base composition giving fullness to the pouches. You can choose from two fresh long-lasting sensations, crisp refreshing Mint and citrusy Bergamot Wildberry. All of this delivered to you in your own unique can with varied birch tree design emanating the true spirit of the Nordics.”

These products come with a 13 gram can containing 20 slim portions, at 0.65 grams each. There is a nicotine content of 9mg/portion, which means the total nicotine content is probably around 13-14mg/g. The product contains plant fiber, natural gum-base, and nicotine.  You can see the pouches look very much like other all-white products and are very clean in appearance.  These products are in production and will be available soon!

Nordic Spirit: Bergamot Wildberry
Bergamot citrus with undertones of wild berries: Nordic Spirit True White Bergamot Wildberry combines classic and modern flavors in a new tobacco-free format. The citrus from the bergamot is complemented by notes of sweet and tangy wigdberry for a truly refreshing experience.

Nordic Spirit: Mint 
Peppermint, menthol, and licorice: Nordic Spirit True White Mint gives you our freshest experience so far. The right amount of crisp menthol, together with sweeter peppermint and a bit of salt from licorice gives a perfect balanced mint taste. True White Mint gives a brisk kick followed by a long-lasting stable nicotine delivery.

Oliver Twist Sunberry - Review. 2 July 2018.

I've never reviewed Oliver Twist before, but I got some from a friend at Snus Con 2018 and figured I'd give them a shot. Oliver Twist are chewing tobacco bits, made by the House of Oliver Twist in Denmark. They've been producing these since 1805. They've proven to be pretty popular, in fact, that Swedish Match purchased them in March 2018. I won't go too much into how these are made, but if you want, check out this video - it shows how they're made and it's really neat. In a 7 gram box of Oliver Twist you're going to find 30 pieces, or cuts. I counted 26 in this box.

Inside the box, this is what you will see.  Oliver Twist comes in a neat little vacuum sealed package.  This keeps the tobacco cuts fresh.  All you have to do is pull the little peel mark and boom, you're in.

As this is a snus blog, I would be remiss to not show a comparison between this stuff and a snus portion.  You can tell these are obviously much smaller than a snus portion.  A 7 gram can is said to have 30 of these, which means 0.23 grams each.  The website says these have a nicotine content of 5mg per cut, 0.06g of sugar per cut.  So, when I use these, I put in a few of these instead of using just one.

Oliver Twist describes this product by saying it has "a taste of blackcurrants". I was excited to hear about this one, because one of my favorite snus products of all time was Catch Black Currant White Long, a product by Swedish Match which was sadly discontinued.  If you're an American and aren't familiar with blackcurrant, that's okay. The US made blackcurrant illegal in the early 1900's, because it was a threat to the logging industry. Check out this article, it'll explain it further.  But in Europe, it's quite common.  Blackcurrant is a tart berry which is popular in jams and syrups.  The flavor of Blackcurrant reminds me of grape, but more earthy and tart.

These have a really nice aroma to them; a dark tobacco smell with a hint of blackcurrant.  In the lip, these are pretty soft and don't feel too odd or uncomfortable.  I know they suggest chewing these, but I never do; I just put 2-3 of them in my upper lip and let them sit there.  The taste of Oliver Twist Sunberry is really nice.  The blackcurrant taste is very present, and comes through a little tart, but accompanied by a mild sweetness.  The tobacco taste is right behind the blackcurrant and is dark, robust, and well-rounded.  I find the flavor of these to last quite a while; I've kept these in for well over an hour.  As far as the nicotine strength goes, when I put in two to three of these, I notice the nicotine strength to be comparable to a regular strength Swedish Snus portion.

If you want to try something different, these are definitely worth a try.  I love the taste!

G.3 TNT Super Strong (Slim White Dry) - Preview. 20 June 2018.

Swedish Match released a new product today that both surprised me, and, didn't surprise me at the same time. I wasn't surprised to see it's a super strong; it seems like people really love high nicotine snus. But one part of this release did surprise me. This product is not a mint snus! And not only that, it's a tobacco flavored snus. That is unheard of, because everything these days is mint! Swedish Match describes it by saying, "G.3 TNT is the latest snus in the Swedish Match Super Strong series. The previous products in the series have all had a characteristic flavor, but TNT stands out from the others with a light, neutral and tobacco-like taste."

The flavor description for this snus says, "G.3 TNT Super Strong has a light and spicy tobacco character with elements of green herbs, oak and cedar.". G.3 TNT comes in a 16.6 gram can with 24 portions, weighing in at 0.69 grams per portion. The nicotine content is 2.6%, or 26mg/g. That breaks down to 17.98mg/portion.

I am excited that this product is not a mint snus, but it's a bummer it's so strong.  I don't use a lot of the strong stuff and this one sounds like it will be quite tasty! This product is currently available to Sweden on Swedish Match's webstore. I know SnusCENTRAL.com carries the G.3 Super Strong line, so I imagine they'll have this one soon, as well!