Close, but no Snus - Camel SNUS Robust Review

Written by Mick Hellwig Monday, 16 August 2010 21:53

Author Mick Hellwig As my Grandpa used to say “Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades”. (Who plays horseshoes anymore?)

Being in a big city that RJR seems to like to abuse with new products, Camel SNUS Robust and Winterchill hit the shelves here last week. I despise wintergreen with a passion that makes my dislike of licorice look weak, so I avoided the Winterchill, and after tasting the Robust I definitely won’t be trying Winterchill.

The new cans are pretty nifty looking (who says “nifty” anymore?) not counting the horrid new government required health warnings that take up the bottom third of the front and back of the can. The SNUS pouches are actually quite large. I compared them to a portion of Lab Series 01 and the Camel is about 10% larger, just a tad longer and wider. I would estimate there is a bit over 1 gram of tobacco per pouch. They are very dry, not dusty, but much drier than even a white portion.

One thing that jumped out at me was the “best before” date. 09June2011. A year!??? Only a couple of Swedish snus claim longevity of flavor that far out. Granted the Camel tins are pretty sturdy and close very tightly, but a YEAR!!!????

The pouch material is thicker than we lovers of Swedish snus are used to and rougher on the gums. I split open one of the pouches, I can’t call them portions for some reason. The tobacco inside was finely Only in Amerika would this be called Snus... ground, with evidence of stems. That is not unusual as most snus/dip shows the same. What did bother me was the visual similarity to the dust at the bottom of a bag of mulch. I can’t begin to say for sure what this means in terms of tobacco quality, I will say it doesn’t look like reconstituted tobacco from the factory floor.

I know you are all wondering about the taste. After intentionally NOT smelling the product I stuck one in my upper lip. My first thought was “DRY” and huge. Slightly uncomfortable, but I think that is more because it is a different size and shape than my mouth is trained to expect. I noticed a sweetness right away but had to wait a bit for it to fully develop. I couldn’t place it at first, and then it hit me. Molasses. Silly moles. This is very similar to the Mellow flavor, less pronounced, but the same sickening sweetness. If you like Mellow you will like Robust. The opposite is also true. I fall into the second category.

Our esteemed Grand Poobah of Snus, Larry Waters, has an excellent article with many technical details about the two new Camel SNUS offerings. So I will only post my thoughts or impressions. I’m told the nicotine content is supposed to be @10 mg per gram. That may be true but actual received nicotine is much lower. I’d guess 4-5 mg. After 4 pouches back to back, (I am a chain snuser after all) I had to double barrel some Claq Qui to shake off the cravings. If Camel SNUS has enough nicotine to make you happy, just buy Swedish mini portion snus and you will be content.

At $2.89 plus sales tax here in Columbus, for 15 pouches, this is not a good buy. I can get General Onyx, delivered by UPS at the same price, per portion. Onyx, the ultimate in true snus evolution versus Camel Robust….Onyx will win every time.

Note to those who are charged with making Camel SNUS for the US market; If you want to make dip in pouches, do that but PLEASE stop calling it snus. If this was marketed as dip it would be a decent product.

Real snus users do not want the overly sweetened, over flavored, bits of tobacco that make up 90 percent of the dip market. If we did we wouldn’t spend the extra money to buy snus from Sweden. I understand you are after cigarette smokers and obviously the focus groups said they wanted a super sweet treat to suck on when they can’t smoke. I use Swedish snus because it has the flavor and nicotine content that allowed me to stop smoking.

With the current regulatory climate here in Amerika, cigarettes are a dying form of tobacco use. With cigarette smoker’s numbers dropping from @65% to @25% of the population in the last 40 years and more smokers quitting every day, the market is literally going up in smoke. If you don’t do something to distinguish your products from the 100 or so other oral tobacco products on the shelf you will lose that market also.

I know my pleas fall on deaf ears, just as with your “study” that a lot of us are currently participating in. I doubt whether you want honest criticism of these products, but I have a place to spout my honest opinion and will continue to do so. Whether RJR reads this site or not, and whether they care about my ramblings, I will be honest with my readers and myself.

Will I buy another can of Camel SNUS? Yes. IF they come out with a new flavor, in the continuing hope that one day RJR will get it right.

Will I buy another can of Camel Robust, Winterchill, Mellow or Frost SNUS? NO! If I’m that desperate for nicotine I will buy a can of dip and call it good.

P.S. No, Mr./Ms. Government overseer, RJR did not pay me for this article nor did they send me a can of SNUS for evaluation. I bought this off the shelf at my local gas station.

Enjoying some General Onyx REAL Snus as I write this,

MICK HELLWIG

Grand Master of Snus and Snuff
WHAT I THINK at SnusCENTRAL.org

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12 Comments

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Larry Waters makes this comment

Monday, 16 August 2010

Great idea...Let RJRT compete against Lorillard's latest brainstorm, Triumph dip. They will crush them.

Outstanding insights! Thanks.

Larry
Andrew Romeo makes this comment

Tuesday, 17 August 2010

SWM used to play with Best-Before dates, especially before year-end trade-loads, but never would they go higher than 18 weeks. The one-year mark is extraordinary. Does the pack say "Keep refrigerated"?
Larry Waters makes this comment

Tuesday, 17 August 2010

Only until you break the seal. The scary thing is, most of the stores I buy SNUS from for articles don't have the Camel fridges plugged in.

I bought Winterchill and Robust from 2 different stores...the Winterchill cans were warm.
Andrew Romeo makes this comment

Tuesday, 17 August 2010

BIG BIG issue.

Living in NYC when I was a dipper in the 1980s, I had to endure ancient loose product sold by well-meaning tobacconists who didn't know better, and who were frankly served poorly by UST.

Larry: Get the truth out. There will be snusers who go for the Camel products. Good for them, if it gets them to smoke less, or quit. They simply need facts like any consumer. Your site is the best BS detector in smokeless I've ever seen.
nanookofeclectic makes this comment

Tuesday, 17 August 2010

It is going to take ALOT more than a new flavor to ge tme to buy this garbage again.....
nanookofeclectic makes this comment

Wednesday, 18 August 2010

p.s.- i still play handgrenades. =)
Paul Reece makes this comment

Sunday, 05 September 2010

Wow! I printed out the map of my local area from generalsnus.com, and one store was on the map but didn't have it (they used to have it for a month, didn't sell a single tin, they got rid of it, now a few people are calling/asking about it, so they're getting it back, and so on)

Knowing I was going to regret it, I decided to try the new Camel flavors. They only had robust, they'd sold out on winterchill. I expected to have something I'd expected, you know, an exceedingly dry chemical-tasting tiny portion that produces no nicotine.

Much to my pleasant surprise, these seem to be 1 gram portions, with OK nicotine (not as good as the real stuff, of course). They still taste absolutely disgusting, kind of like sucking on a fruity tea bag that has been rolled in Sweet & Low. But hey, it will do in a pinch until I get to my usual tobacconist.

I wouldn't buy it if I could get General, that's for sure. If no General was around, I could settle for this for short periods of time.
evader1 makes this comment

Saturday, 11 December 2010

I dont take advise or information from someone who has more hair on their face than their head. Camel SNUS was made for the american pallet. If you like swedish SNUS taste more, move there. They will probably take you, and we wont mind losing you...
Larry Waters makes this comment

Sunday, 12 December 2010

@evader1 - LOL. Camel SNUS was made to keep smokers smoking AND pissing money away on under-nicotined, candy flavored crap. Poorly made; cheap tobacco.....if you like the taste and the baggage, more power to you. A lot of people like bargain knock-offs over the real thing. I'll bet you own a "Rolexx" too.... Hey, it looks like a watch...

Thanks for the comment!

Larry
Derek makes this comment

Tuesday, 18 January 2011

Great review, and thanks for it. Readers, try and be open minded. I'm a new snus user who quit 20 years of smoking the day I bought a tin of Camel Robust. Yes, they're sweet and kind of nasty, and nothing at all like real Snus.

Since I received my first order, I've been enjoying Ettan, Grov, and Goteburgs loose, and would never again buy a tin of Camel Snus. But if it hadn't been for those, I would never have learned about snus, and would still be a smoker. I would LOVE to see an American tobacco company figure out how to make a good, available brand of Ettan-style snus; tobacco IS the history of my country. But wow, Sweden has shot to the top of my list, and I'm certainly planning a visit sometime in the next year.

Oh, and my wife has quit smoking with me, and she uses and quite likes Camel Frost and Mellow. We've both been smoke free for three months. Thanks Sweden!
Larry Waters makes this comment

Wednesday, 19 January 2011

@ Derek: Congratulations to you both on being 3 months smoke free!!!

Derek, you are far from alone. Thanks to a coupon, I discovered Camel Spice SNUS one day in 2007. By the end of that day, I was trying my first portion of General Original Portion. One week later, my 37+ year cigarette addiction was history.

If you look in the Forum under Your Snus Story, you will find most American Swedish snusers today have Camel or Marlboro to thank for their discovery of snus.

On my first trip to Sweden in 2009, I exited the plane and immediately kissed the airport tarmac. There is photographic evidence of this in SnusCENTRAL articles I wrote about the trip in June 2009.

God Bless Sweden and her bounty of REAL snus and great people!

Larry
Chiwen makes this comment

Friday, 08 July 2011

Oddly enough you sound a lot like a wine snob. I mean this in the nicest way possible. "Real" Snus users? You have got to be kidding me. Let us be real here, and state the obvious. Not everyone is going to like what flavors/brands you like. There is no such thing as "real" snus users. Just Snus users, and non-snus users.

I walk into the grocery to buy pickles. They have sweet and dill. I like the sweet pickles. I guess I'm not a REAL pickle eater either.

~Chiwen~