Grimm & Triepel Kautabak (Chewing Tobacco) - Reviews. 4 September 2020.

And now, for something completely different! Today, I'm going to be reviewing Grimm and Triepel's "kautabak", or, chewing tobacco. This is a product available in Germany, made by Grimm and Triepel, which was once the largest chewing tobacco factory in Germany. They have quite a history, going back to 1849! A good friend of mine grabbed me some of this from SnuffStore.de, because I've always been curious to try it. It reminds me a lot of the Oliver Twist I reviewed a few years ago, but these are much bigger in size and more substantial in the lip!  As far as these go, this is what the manufacturer description says:  “The tobacco sticks are spun by hand from exquisite tobacco, cut into bite-sized pieces and refined with a unique sauce mixture.”

It comes in a little package that is rolled up and sealed with a bit of tape.  Inside the pouch are the tobacco sticks themselves.  You can see it's similar in size, relatively, to a snus can, but is slimmer and fits great in your pocket!

To compare to a regular snus portion, you can see they're obviously smaller.  However, they weigh as much as a regular snus portion.  Each pouch weighs 14 grams, and I counted 16 tobacco sticks per pouch, which would put them at about 0.88 grams per pouch.  Most snus is between 0.7-0.9g in total so it's similar in weight.

As far as how they're used, this is what they say:  "Chewing tobacco is not, as its name suggests, chewed, but only a little is chewed and then placed between the jaw and cheek, where the tobacco develops its taste and effect. For more flavor, the piece of chewing tobacco is chewed a little again and then placed under the upper lip or in the cheek pocket."

Reviews:

Note:  So I don't get too repetitive, there are some attributes of these that are the same.  Basically, how they feel in the lip, the nicotine strength, and the flavor longevity.  The tobacco cuts themselves are pretty soft and moist, and feel comfortable once you bite into them and park them under your lip.  These all seem to be comparable to regular snus in terms of strength.  The flavor on these lasts between 40-55 minutes on average.

Grimm and Triepel No1

Flavor Description:  "A pure, spicy tobacco aroma and a subtle rum note."

Nicotine Strength:  "Medium"

Review:  The aroma is a dark, rich, and spicy tobacco presence.  It seems to have a hint of raisin to it, and a light sweetness.  The flavor is delicious!  It has a rich tobacco taste, with a mild hint of raisin, a touch of lemon, gentle notes of rum, and a slight saltiness.

Grimm and Triepel No2

Flavor Description:  "Fruity and sweet aromas and a pleasant licorice note."

Nicotine Strength:  "Medium"

Review:  This one has a mild black licorice presence to it, accompanied by a robust tobacco smell and subdued hints of fruit.  The tobacco taste is rich, and quite present.  The licorice flavor comes through clearly with a light sweetness to it.  I notice a light saltiness, and a very faint touch of citrus in the background.

Grimm and Triepel No3

Flavor Description:  "A subtle sweetness, a moderate licorice note and a spicy tobacco taste."

Nicotine Strength:  "Medium"

Review:  This one has a dark tobacco smell to it with a subtle licorice presence.  Compared to the last one, I don't notice a fruity presence to it.  The flavor is a pretty balanced ix of robust tobacco and black licorice.  The licorice is gentle in nature, and I notice the tobacco flavor to be darker and lightly spicy.  In comparison to No3, it doesn't have a lot of sweetness to it.

Grimm and Triepel No5

Flavor Description:  "A fresh mint taste and a spicy tobacco aroma."

Nicotine Strength:  "Medium"

NOTE:  I know this seems out of order, and you're probably asking, hey, where's number 4?  Well, they do make Grimm and Triepel No4, but I didn't get any.  It does come in a 40gram pouch, and is more similar to American chewing tobacco.  I'll work on getting some for a future review.  Now, back to No5!  

Review:  The aroma of tobacco comes through right up front, and is rich in nature.  There are hints of mint, which seems mostly like peppermint, but with a smooth nature like spearmint.  There is also a cooling presence when you put one under your lip due to the mint.  The flavor is a lightly salty, gentle tobacco character.  The mint taste is smooth, and reminds me of spearmint with hints of peppermint.

Grimm and Triepel No6

Flavor Description:  "A subtle sweetness, a fresh spearmint taste and a spicy tobacco aroma."

Nicotine Strength:  "Medium"

Review:  The aroma of this one is more mint forward than the last one, and seems to have attributes of peppermint and spearmint, with a rich, earthy tobacco in the background.  In the flavor, the mint taste is more present than the tobacco, and is mostly spearmint in nature, but seems to have a smoother touch of peppermint behind it.  The tobacco character is in the background, and comes through in a mild, earthy way.

Final Thoughts

I've been experimenting with adding a rating system to my reviews, so this is the first product I'll be doing that with.  For this one, I'll be rating them all together, as a whole, to keep it simple.  This rating is my personal score and what I think about the product, your results may vary.

Packaging - 3.5/5 (pocketfriendly, but I imagine could be not weather friendly)

Aroma - 4/5 (pleasant and present aromas)

Mouthfeel - 4/5 (soft, moist, and not too tiny in size)

Flavor - 4/5 (great flavors, easily detectable tobacco character)

Nicotine - 5/5 (regular strength, steady/smooth delivery)

Longevity - 4/5 (flavor lasts a good amount of time)

Average - 4.08/5

I enjoyed these, and I'd definitely use them again.  They were all quite tasty and well balanced in flavor.  I imagine people who like tobacco cuts, or even loose snus, would enjoy these.  But also, if you aren't too good with loose, this is a good way to get close to the tobacco without having to do too much extra work.