Ckiф Mint (Extreme and Ultra Strong) - Review (Discontinued). 11 December 2018.

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

Today we're going to be talking about something completely different from what I usually review: Ckiф. Ckiф (from what I've heard this is pronounced "skif"), is a product sold in Russia. Sales of snus are illegal in Russia, but this product, from what I've been told, is legal. This is a smokeless product containing nicotine but it doesn't contain tobacco. From that definition, we could group it into the "nicotine pouches" category that I review from time to time.  A special thanks to my friend Snusfreak who hooked me up with a few cans of this to try.  I've had some requests for it but it's not something available to the US.  I see this stuff posted on Instagram all the time, so I'll be honest, I've been curious to try it myself!

Inside the Pouch:

Last night, I spoke with a distributor of Ckiф who sells this stuff to local shops in Russia. I was curious what went into this product, and he told me "inside [is] crushed peppermint, nicotine, and flavors". A lot of these nicotine pouch products these days use plant fibers inside, so I was interested to hear that this one used crushed peppermint instead.  I'm not sure how they make it, but I did open a pouch up to see what was inside.  The material itself looks similar to tobacco used in snus, so they must process that crushed peppermint in such a way that it looks like tobacco.  I'm not a chemist, so I can't analyze it myself, but that's what I was told goes into it.

Side of the Can:

I found the side of the can and the contents to be particularly interesting. One side has Russian (I think?) and one side has English. I absolutely loved the description of this product on the side of the can. "CKIF - Melting vegetable-based candies for control of smoking."  I just thought that wording was really neat.  The instructions also say to put it under your upper lip for 5-30 minutes, don't use more than 1 bag within 4 hours.

Ckiф Extreme Mint

The top of the cans look the same, so to see what product you have look at the side of the can.  It has the flavor and strength listed, as well as a different color.  I don't have a flavor description for this one.  The side of the can says it's a 16 gram can with 20 portions at 0.8 grams each.  I was told the nicotine strength of this one is 23mg/g (2.3%) which is 18.4mg/portion.

When you open the can, the aroma is a sharp, sweet smell of peppermint. The portions look like original portion snus, and are pretty soft to the touch. When you put a portion in the lip you’ll encounter a burn, which gives way to a cooling presence. The flavor is a lot like the aroma; this one has a fresh, sweet, sharp flavor of peppermint. I can’t keep these in too long because of how strong they are so I can’t speak to how long the flavor lasts. As far as the nicotine goes, it has a solid kick and feels firmly above the extra strong level.

Ckiф Ultra Strong Mint

The top of the cans look the same, so to see what product you have look at the side of the can.  It has the flavor and strength listed, as well as a different color.  I don't have a flavor description for this one.  The side of the can says it's a 16 gram can with 20 portions at 0.8 grams each.  I was told the nicotine strength of this one is 45mg/g (4.5%) which is 36mg/portion.

This one is basically the same as the other one except for a few small differences.  The portions look to be more moist, and the nicotine kick is much stronger.  I thought the red one was strong, but wow, this blue one packs a kick.  I felt the nicotine almost immediately and was only able to keep a portion in for about 5 minutes before taking it out.  I don't use a lot of strong stuff, so generally I can't keep high nicotine stuff like this in for long.  There is, however, a market for these high nicotine products, so I bet people with a craving for nicotine are going to like them.  But the aroma, feeling in the mouth, and taste - it's the same as the red one.

If you're in Russia and can't get snus, you could give these a try.  They have a decent flavor, look like snus, and have a really strong nicotine kick.  As far as where they're sold, I have no idea.  I've heard they're sold in local stores in Russia.  But I'm glad I got to try them after seeing them on Instagram so much!