Snus - an alternative to smoking

Sleepeee

I'm not sure am I allowed to suggest this, and I apologise if I'm not.

But I recently discovered Snus. It's a moist tobacco containing nicotine that is in the shape of a mini tea bag and you put it under your gum. It'sa Swedish idea and you can only buy it online you cannot buy it in IReland. It has the same effect of a cigarette and you can use it in the car, in work, on a train etc.. anywhere. It looks quite funny when you are using it (looks like you have a swoolen lip) but people around you get used to it.

Sweden has the lowest rate of lung cancer in the world. They have tested this stuff to death and they couldn't find any results to show that the product causes cancer, so they had to take cancer warning signs off the packet. It may cause gum problems, but no more than if you never brushed your teeth.

I used to smoke alot. Now I use snus whenever I get a craving. Now I might have a couple of cigatettes on a night out but that is it.

I'm not saying it helps you quit, Snus companies themselves don't even claim to do this, but it certainly helped me cut down.

Just an idea. Worked for me

Morlar

Would that not be the same as keeping a nicotine gum habit on an ongoing basis ?

I can see how it might help to break the psychological and physical habits of smoking but the underlying addiction is being maintained.

To the best of my knowledge nicotine itself is not cancerous but it is not exactly good for you either. On the other side of the scale I took a ryanair flight the other day and the attendants are now selling smokeless cigarettes which are safe to use onboard - the exact opposite ie no nicotine just to feed the psychological and physical side of smoking.

I think if your aim is to stop smoking, gum patches etc are a good interim measure but even then there is a risk of dependency if you don't wean yourself off them as soon as possible.

Sleepeee

The underlying addiction is still absolutely being maintained. I haven't tried gums or patches so I can't make a comparison to the effects. But the level of nicotine in Snus is effectively much higher at an average of 8-10mg per portion compared to 2-4mg for gum. So it is quite an addictive product.

I suppose in terms of objective you can't compare them as Snus is still a tobacco product and not entirely intended for you to give up smoking. It's a product I enjoy in it's own merit as it is, a tobacco product, but without the serious health consequences of smoking. I enjoy the flavours it comes in and the tingly feeling it leaves in my gums and the ever so slightly 'calming' effect of it in general.

So ya I do still suffer the physcological and physcial habit but I don't find the cravings for Snus any way as strong as cravings I used to have for cigarettes.

Fair play to anyone who can give up fully. I guess I am happy with being able to cut down.

Just out of curiosity, did you try the nicotine free cigarettes, and if so how were they?

Morlar

Sleepeee wrote: »

Just out of curiosity, did you try the nicotine free cigarettes, and if so how were they?

Na, didn't try them as I was busy monching on nicotine gum and checking to make sure the patch hadn't fallen off at the time, this is despite having them waved in my face by an orange make up wearing ryanair hostess. If I wasn't giving up smoking and it had been a long haul flight I might have gone for them though.

Sleepeee

Morlar wrote: »

Na, didn't try them as I was busy monching on nicotine gum and checking to make sure the patch hadn't fallen off at the time, this is despite having them waved in my face by an orange make up wearing ryanair hostess. If I wasn't giving up smoking and it had been a long haul flight I might have gone for them though.

Maybe if the person selling them had yellow teeth yellow fingers loads of smoke induced wrinkes and a big dirty cough it might persuade people to buy them more!

I tried some of these (have since given up smoking completely) and found them ok but try a weak flavour initially as the liquid that gets produced from them being in your mouth can be nasty and give you an unpleasant indigestion effect - I nearly gagged at one point....

dMaN24

As an avid user of this, i can tell you all that kicking the "snus"-habit is ten times harder than quitting smoking.

The trouble for me was moving to Ireland from Sweden only to have it shipped over on rare occasions. Sure you can order it online from the maker, or from a swedish online-store (not branding any names here, but do pm if you need to know)

My advice is: If you need some completion to cigarettes.. try something else but snus.

Recent studies show that it contains more nicotine/gram than "stated on the box" to rope more people in. It's been denied for some time, but when study after study show more scientific proof they came clean and admitted that "some of our brands may exceed annotated levels of nicotine".

Sleepeee

dMaN24 wrote: »

As an avid user of this, i can tell you all that kicking the "snus"-habit is ten times harder than quitting smoking.

The trouble for me was moving to Ireland from Sweden only to have it shipped over on rare occasions. Sure you can order it online from the maker, or from a swedish online-store (not branding any names here, but do pm if you need to know)

My advice is: If you need some completion to cigarettes.. try something else but snus.

Recent studies show that it contains more nicotine/gram than "stated on the box" to rope more people in. It's been denied for some time, but when study after study show more scientific proof they came clean and admitted that "some of our brands may exceed annotated levels of nicotine".

I haven't tried giving them up as imo they don't pose any threat to my health. However anyone I know who has used them is addicted to them so I'm not surprised to hear they are difficult to give up.

I am surprised though that the companies would intentionally midlead the level of nicotine in them. They are so highly regulated and the main Swedish company producing them have very high corporate goverence codes so I wouldn't see the point in them doing this. Do you have a link to the study that was done out of interest. I believe there are alot of studies which aim to find fault with them as much as possible. To the point where they actually had to remove the cancer warning signs because no evidence could be found to support that snus caused cancer.

All in all I think they should be viewed as a tobacco product that will give you similar benefits to cigarettes as the nicotine addiction is still being maintained but without the serious health consequences as smoking.