Little things matter:  this is one of life’s simple truths. Two and a half years ago no one could have convinced me that first little dinky, dry Camel SNUS portion would change my life. A couple cans of Camel SNUS led to a few cans of Triumph snus, which wasn’t bad in the beginning, to a few days of internet searching and reading, from there to 2 orders of snus from a place called Sweden. Much to the dismay of my long-suffering wife, the rest is history. This is History that someday will lead to my being immortalized in the annals of snusdom as one of the pioneers of snus in America.

Read more: In Snus and in Life, Little Things Matter

UPDATED 23 AUG 2010

Swedish Match announced two new snus products today.  The most intriuging of these is Catch Pure Mint Snus.  The can is totally different as is the portion type used.

Read more: Snus News - New Snus Catch Pure Mint

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!!!????

Read more: Close, but no Snus - Camel SNUS Robust Review

About five weeks ago, Reynolds American officially revealed the existence and national launch of two new Camel SNUS products: Camel Robust and Winterchill. Further, they redesigned the cans for the now four Camel SNUS products and tweaked their marketing back to the themes they stressed in 2007. Camel SNUS was not only a compliment to cigarettes as in the "When you can't smoke, SNUS" campaigns of late but also acknowledged that snus was invented in Sweden hundreds of years ago. Borrowing a little from old Marlboro Snus advertising, Camel SNUS was now also "Swedish Snus....perfected."

Fortunately for all of us, Reynolds was much more restrained in promoting that impossible statement then they were when I was forced to detail outrageous claims and parsed words on the former versions of the Camel SNUS websites. This is 2010 however, where the PACT Act and the Tobacco Control Act have hurt the price and availability of Internet snus and Swedish entrepreneurs; not manufacturers, are left to bring the truth about real snus to an American culture whose oral tobacco roots stop at dip and chewing tobacco.

Read more: Camel Robust and Winterchill SNUS - Is it Real Snus yet?