Disclaimer: I do not consider Camel "SNUS" to be real snus. I wrote
this article about the differences between American "snus" and
real Swedish Snus, so please check that out. Also, I put "SNUS" in quotation marks because I do not consider this product to be actual snus.
That being said, I'm going to review Camel Mint "SNUS" today. This product has been around for a while now, but in the spirit of completion, I have to review this so I can say that I did. I do it for you guys - it's not something I want to do, but I want it out there. Plus, people looking for info on Camel Mint "SNUS" will find this article and I can
hopefully convince them to switch to REAL Swedish Snus. Though I’m not a fan of American “SNUS”, I have reviewed all of the flavors of Camel “SNUS” -
Frost (Regular Size),
Frost (Large Size),
Mellow,
Robust,
Winterchill and
Mint.
The flavor description for Camel "SNUS" Mint says, "
Camel Mint Snus has a fresh flavor of mint. This snus has a slim white pouch." This product comes in a 9 gram can with 15 portions for 0.6 gram portions. The nicotine content, according to a
BMJ study, is between 1.5mg/portion to 2.5mg/portion.
To compare Camel "SNUS" to
real Swedish Snus. I wanted to open a portion of each and show you the tobacco quality. As you can see, the Swedish Snus pictured on the left is of much higher quality than the American "snus" pictured to the right. Now, this may not matter to some, but to me this is something important. When I use a snus product I want to use one that has high quality ingredients, and this is where Camel falls short. Camel "SNUS" also falls short in terms of flavor, longevity, and nicotine strength when compared to
real Swedish Snus as well. But more on that later.
When you open a can of Camel "SNUS" mint, the aroma that greets you is a musty, overly sweet smell of peppermint. The portions are long, slim, and comfortable in the lip. However, they are a little on the dry side. The flavor itself is a lot like the aroma. It is an incredibly sweet flavor of peppermint. There's also a musty quality to it which I think may come from the tobacco. Usually lower quality tobaccos tend to have this. The nicotine strength is virtually nonexistent. Even when I put in two pouches of this stuff, I don't feel much. I'm going to guess that it's around the 1.5mg/portion figure from the BMJ study. As far as the longevity goes, I honestly can't keep these in too long. It's too sweet, and if I keep it in too long the aftertaste is rather unpleasant.
If you want to quit smoking with snus, I suggest buying some
real snus locally first - hit up the store locators for
General Snus or
Thunder Xtreme to try
real snus out. If you want a bigger variety, you can always
buy online and have access to hundreds of real Swedish Snus products!
I don't think you'll win many Camel users over by telling them they have bad taste. Indeed, Camel snus is well suited to American tastes. There is nothing wrong with either product. The last Swedish product I tried tasted like an old tea bag, but I didn't proclaim it evil, I just decided it wasn't the thing for me. Perhaps a better angle may be something like, "Hey, if you like Camel snus, you'll love this!" Just make sure it doesn't taste like grandma's leftover Earl Grey.
ReplyDeletefalmanac -
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comment and sharing your opinion! I do have to, respectfully, disagree with you. I've been able to help lots of people switch over from Camel "SNUS" to REAL Swedish Snus by helping them see what else is out there. From day one of starting this website/blog 5 years ago I vowed to always be honest when sharing my opinions. And I accept that they are just that, my opinions, and not everyone will agree with me. I'm okay with that.
It's very rare that I encounter anyone who tries Swedish Snus and goes back to Camel "SNUS". I've heard maybe 10 people of the thousands I've spoken with over the past 5 years say it wasn't for them. It's not very common at all.
I'm not telling anyone they have bad taste, by any means. My reviews says that Camel "SNUS" tastes bad. And that's my opinion from reviewing hundreds of different snus products over the past 5 years, Camel "SNUS" ranks firmly at the bottom for me. People may disagree, and that's fine.
As an advocate for harm reduction and helping people quit smoking by switching to snus, I cannot, in good conscience, recommend Camel "SNUS" to anyone. It's a poor product with low grade tobacco and a nicotine amount that is virtually nonexistent. If I am to advocate for harm reduction, I am going to continue suggesting better products that I've seen have a high success rate in helping people quit smoking, and unfortunately Camel "SNUS" doesn't deliver those results.
Thanks for reading, and thanks for sharing your comments!
There's the rub, "real Swedish snus," is just that, and American snus is something else, much like English and American pipe tobaccos. But, I guess we can agree to disagree. Either way, I'm a fan of Snubie.com, and hope it enjoys a long run.
ReplyDeleteI think the thing that always bothered me most was how they approached snus. I wrote this article in 2010 - http://chadizzy1.blogspot.com/2010/07/camel-snus-ad-has-rjr-lost-their-mind.html - about an ad that RJ Reynolds ran about Camel "SNUS". They go so far as to say "We're not saying we invented the stuff, we're just saying we perfected it."
DeleteI know this is an old blog butt I grabbed a can of this trash and to all the older people it taste like certs mints
ReplyDeleteI know this is an old blog butt I grabbed a can of this trash and to all the older people it taste like certs mints
ReplyDelete