Chainsaw (Cold Dry) Chew Bags - Review (Discontinued). 19 June 2018.

NOTE:  This product has been discontinued and is no longer for sale.

V2 has launched another chew bag product on the market - Chainsaw Cold Dry! This product comes with a bold can design and the insanely strong nicotine strength of 45mg/g! V2 describes this product by saying, "CHAINSAW Cold Dry White provides a cutting-edge experience of strength and freshness! Cold Dry White chewing bags contain strong cut tobacco mixed with a ripping mint flavor, that gives a truly unique experience." The product details at Northerner.com say it comes in a 13.5 gram can with 15 portions for 0.9 gram portions. The nicotine content is 45mg/g which, with 0.9 gram portions, breaks down to 40.5 mg/portion. I'm not going to go to in depth on this review about the differences between Nordic Chew (as these chew bag products are called) and Swedish Snus, but if you want you can check out this video and it's more in depth about the differences.

In case you're new to chew bags, here is a V2 chew bag and a V2 snus portion, cut open to show a comparison between the two. This is how V2 describes their chew bag products: “The tobacco leaves are heated and moistened with steam so they can be cut into smaller pieces. The tobacco for Thunder Chewing Bags are pieces cut with a length of between 5 - 50 mm and a width of 0.6-0.8 mm. The bags used are specially designed to be chewed to release flavor and nicotine. It is made from a paper with a special weave which is thicker and much stronger than the type of bag that snus is packed in. Thunder Chewing Bags are also fundamentally different from the other chewing tobacco products on the market by being cut tobacco in small bags while others are made from spun tobacco.” Though these are called "chew bags" and V2 mentions the pouches being able to be chewed, I have never done that with these or any other chew bags. I simply put them in my upper lip and enjoy them like snus! Chew bags are basically made the same as snus but are called "chew bags" so they can legally be sold in the EU where snus is banned. I know, it makes no sense but hey - that's the EU.

When you open the can, the aroma that jumps out is a sharp, biting peppermint smell. The portions are plump, but the tobacco inside is relatively compact so I just fluffing these to break the tobacco up. When you put a portion in, there is a mild burn in the lip, then a gentle cooling sensation. The taste is much like the aroma, a sharp taste of peppermint accompanied by a gentle taste of menthol. These are super strong in the nicotine department. I can’t keep these in for very long because after about 20 minutes my head is spinning. But, with most chew bags, they usually last me about an hour and a half on average.

If you're somewhere where you can't get snus but can get chew bags, these are worth a try.  Especially if you like the really, really strong stuff.