After years of hearing about Sting Free, the day has come that an actual product is in my hands. If you aren't familiar with Sting Free, I've talked about them for many years now. I wrote one of the
first articles about this new company, as well as doing the
first interview of Bengt Wiberg, founder of Sting Free. I first met Bengt at the 2017 Snus Con event I hosted, and got to try a prototype of Sting Free way back then (check out
this video). Bengt was
a speaker at the 2017 Snus Con, as well as
being a speaker at the pandemic-era 2020 Snus Con At Home. I've followed Sting Free closely for many years, and I'm excited to finally see how product brought to life. Note, this is a prototype, and something that people are testing right now to get him evaluation and feedback. The final product may change. But, I wanted to at least write something about it.
The can notes, "
Great taste, no burn. Two-sided nicotine pouches. White side provides flavor and blue side shields your gums. White side against your lip, blue side against your gums". As you can see from the photo, the portions have two sides, blue and white. This product comes in the "
strong blue mint" flavor. For the contents, I note the can to say 13 grams, and I counted 23 pouches, which would be around 0.57g each. The nicotine content is a 3/4. I'm not sure what exactly that means, but that would put it at the strong level, presumably. To review this, I'm going to put this into my lip and as mentioned, the blue side will sit right against my gum.
As far as this product itself goes, I'll do a little review of it. In the aroma department, it's your standard peppermint, but a little on the sweeter side. It's relatively gentle, but not lacking. The Sting Free pouch is soft on both sides, though I find the white side to be slightly softer. Under the lip, I don't encounter the usual "tingle" I get from a mint product, but I do still notice the cooling "sensation" in my mouth I get from a mint product. The flavor profile is a fresh, sweet taste of peppermint. It's present, but not too sharp. I find it to be a gentle, balanced taste. The nicotine strength feels to be around regular strength, maybe a little above. And the flavor hangs out for about 40-45 minutes, same as regular nicotine pouches. The Sting Free pouch did not affect the flavor release, nor did it affect the flavor longevity.
Final Thoughts
Obviously, I won't do my usual rating on this one, because it's a prototype. But, as far as some final thoughts, here goes. I don't mind the burn and sting of snus. So this isn't a product for me. I'm also a snus guy, so I don't really use nicotine pouches. But who knows, maybe I'll make a Sting Free
Artisan Snus someday. However, Bengt has done
extensive surveys and found a lot of people don't like the sting and the burn, so this is a product for that demographic. Some may try snus or nicotine pouches to quit smoking and the sting turns them off. In the interest of harm reduction, it's important that products like this are out there because they'll help more people and save more lives.
I personally am very proud of Bengt, and excited to see this product out there. I know how much work he's put into it, so it's exciting to see it come to life. As always, I'll keep you updated on when this product becomes widely available, because it seems like it's getting close to that point!
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