General One (Original Portion) - Review (Discontinued). 30 August 2017.

NOTE:  This product has been discontinued and is no longer for sale.  It was replaced with One Svart.

Today we are talking about Swedish Match's latest release - General One Original Portion! When I heard about the new product series I was rather excited to hear that it was two new General products and one Göteborg's Rapé product. These are my two favorite snuses, so it's pretty exciting when there's new variants of my favorite snus products. These products were made in partnership with Alexander "The Mauler" Gustafsson, a MMA fighter in the UFC and massive snus fan!  These products came with a new can design and  different attributes than regular General and GR snus products.  Even if you know and love General and GR, you may find yourself surprised with how much better these little changes made these products!

Swedish Match describes these products by saying, “STRONG, SOFT AND TASTY: For centuries, Swedish Match has been synonymous with the Swedish snus. When we develop a new snus, we build both our long experience and our curiosity for the future. But above all, we look forward to listening to our world. For us, always the goal is to create snus with just the features that snusers demand.” Patrick Hildingsson of Swedish Match said that 14 different tobaccos were used for the One products, and a new portion material was also used. They're calling One the "Modern Premium" format, which is between their premium products and their value priced products, such as Kaliber.  Patrik Hildingsson said Swedish Match wants "to raise quality and taste for price-conscious snusers, and I think that we will achieve with General and Göteborg's Rapé One."

To develop these products, they Swedish Match turned to Alexander Gustafsson. They knew about his interest in snus and during a visit to the Swedish Match store they asked him what he wanted in a snus. He said the products should be General or Göteborg’s Rapé, should have a traditional design, but be softer, stronger, and more filling under the lip. Swedish Match went back to the drawing board and looked at every step in manufacturing such as the choice of tobacco, where it came from, how it was processed, and how it was packaged. In the end, this new series had all the products Alexander was looking for in a snus. These new products have three defining characteristics: softer tobacco through a new manufacturing technique, more strength and taste through a new way of refining tobacco to snus, and fuller portions through a new way of treating the tobacco.  It's interesting to note that on the white portion versions of General One and Göteborg's Rapé One, Swedish Match released some "test products" known as General 22 White Portion and Göteborg's Rapé 22 White Portion. These were only released in Sweden, but they were to gauge consumers feedback about some new product features. I tried them several months ago and did reviews of them. They were presumably released to see what people thought of the new features that would be coming in these products.  They didn't release an original portion version, however, so this product is all new to me!

The flavor description for this product says, "General One represents our latest manufacturing technology that gives the snus new features, developed by Swedish Match together with the snuser Alexander Gustafsson. A strong flavor, which at the same time is soft and tasty. The flavor is the same that has always characterized General Portion - dark and spicy tobacco character with elements of bergamot and citrus, as well as tea and leather." This product comes in a 17.6 gram can with 20 portions for 0.88 gram portions.  The nicotine content is 1.5% (15mg/g) which breaks down to 13.20mg/portion.

When I open the can, the aroma that comes through is distinctively General.  I'm greeted by a present smell of bergamot, an earthy tobacco aroma, and a hint of pepper.  Though the portions aren't a full gram, they still feel very full in the lip.  The portion material itself is incredibly soft, as is the tobacco inside the pouch.  The pouches have a great amount of moisture so the flavor releases quite quickly.  The taste is much the same as the classic General flavor profile.  I notice the present flavor of bergamot right off the bat, and I also pick up a rich, earthy tobacco flavor.  I would say in this one I notice more tobacco taste than in regular General.  And of course, there's a nice amount of pepper which adds a touch of spice to this snus.  The nicotine content is 13.20mg/portion, and it adds a nice little extra kick.  It feels a little stronger than regular strength, but it's not too strong.  The flavor also lasts a good amount of time!  With most original portion I usually keep them in for up to 45 minutes, but with this one I've found I can keep it in for up to an hour.  I'm not sure if that relates to the portion material, but I do notice a little extra life out of this one!

If you're a General fan, it's a no-brainer:  this one is a must try.  These products aren't for sale to the US yet, but should be soon.  A special thank you to Michael Kristensen, a friend of Snubie.com, and Bengt Wiberg, of Sting Free Snus, who helped get these products to us for review!

Comments