About 6 years ago, Swedish Match released
Göteborgs Rapé Humle, a beer-inspired snus. Hey, what a minute, that's the name of the snus we're reviewing today! If you remember my review from last time, I wasn't a big fan of the last Humle snus from Swedish Match. My faith in Swedish Match's ability to make a beer-inspired snus has been a bit low, to say the least. However, Swedish Match recently released
Göteborgs Rapé West Coast IPA, and that is one of the best beer-inspired snuses I've had yet. That one was a limited edition, and right around the time that one faded from the market, this one popped up. It made me wonder, would this taste like the old GR Humle? Or, would this taste closer to the recently departed GR West Coast IPA? As soon as this one popped up for sale on
SnusMe.com, I immediately placed an order. Honestly, the flavor description sounds pretty similar: "
Inspired by American microbreweries at the forefront, Göteborgs Rapé Humle is now released in a limited edition. As the name suggests, inspiration for the taste has been taken from modern American hop varieties that have been complemented with clear tones of mango, passion fruit, red grapefruit and dried apricots. Limited edition packed in our thinnest paper. An exciting taste bridge between beer and a classic snus brand." Each can, like the last one, weighs in at 24 grams, with 24 portions, for 1 gram each. The nicotine content, like GR IPA, is 8mg/g or 8mg/portion. The old GR Humle, for comparisons purposes, was 14mg/g.
First, I'm going to do a review of this snus, and then we'll talk about comparisons between this one and the old GR West Coast IPA. When you open the can, a tropical aroma greets you. I pick up clear notes of mango, pineapple, a little citrus, some pine, and a hoppy character. The pouches, like the last one, come in the (as I've come to call them) "Spiderweb Portion". This is a new type of white portion from Swedish Match that is super thin, and gets you pretty close to the tobacco. It's soft, and has a quick flavor release. The flavor on this one is pretty darn tasty. I pick up some hops and pine right off the bat. A tropical character starts to mingle in, which has notes of mango and of pineapple. It is a little citrusy, which reminds me of grapefruit due to the tart nature. The nicotine strength feels about regular on this one. I find the flavor to last up to about an hour.
So, comparisons. Well, looking at the photo, you can see the portions are the same. Also, the nicotine strength is the exact same. The flavor descriptions were similar, as well. I finished about 1.5 cans of the new one, and cracked open a can of the old one so I could do an adequate comparison. Honestly, I can't notice a difference. The aroma on this one was a little more bold, but that could be perhaps because this is a fresh can, and the older one is one I had in my freezer since May. I'm not sure the logic behind this, if it is the case, that Swedish Match would immediately re-release it with a different name, but the snus world is a mysterious one sometimes. However, I felt it would be disingenuous to review this one without doing a proper comparison between the new one and the old one.
Rating and Final Thoughts
If you saw my rating of the old GR West Coast IPA, you'll notice this one is identical: 4.42/5. I didn't notice a difference between this one and the other one, so the rating will stay the same. 4.42/5 is a good score, though. I like this snus. It's one that you can have on it's own, but it's also one that you can pair with a beer. I paired it with an IPA, a West Coast IPA, a non-alcoholic IPA, and a non-alcoholic West Coast IPA, and it worked just fine with each one. Like the last one, this one is a limited edition, so if you want to try it out - grab some before it's gone.
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