The Snus Dictionary

Here you can find information about snus, how to use snus, snus history and other useful snus links.

The information contained in this website is provided by SnusMe for general information and reference only, we encourage you to contact SnusMe, if you have any concerns about the information provided. We will make every effort to correct any errors once they are brought to our attention.

What is Snus?

In Scandinavia snus is a widespread form of mouth tobacco or oral tobacco. Snus is a semi-moist tobacco which is grinded into powder form to become the smokeless tobacco we all love. The most common form of snus in Scandinavia is loose snus or portion snus. Snus produced in Europe is made from completely different standards than the American and contains less of the deleterious substances like nitrosamines.

How to use Portion Snus?

Snus is placed under the upper lip, slightly to the side of your front teeth. No chewing, sucking or spitting is required, just leave it and enjoy the tobacco flavor. Leave ist as long as you need or want. Normal use is 15-60 minutes. Snus is the smokeless alternative when you are not permitted or choose not to smoke.

How to use Loose Snus?

Grab a moderate to small amount of tobacco with your thumb and index finger. Place the loose tobacco in the palm of your hand, form it into a cylindrical shape by pressing the tobacco with your fingers. Alternatively, you can use a Prismaster to create a pre-formed portion of loose Snus. Place the cylinder shaped tobacco under your upper lip, slightly to the side of your front teeth.

Snus formats and sizes

Loose

Loose snus hasn't changed for 200 years and still remains the historic foundation of the snus tradition. With loose snus the consumer shapes his pinch by hand into a preferred size and shape. Loose snus is ground in three different fraction sizes - fine, medium and coarse. The fraction size affects, among other things, the taste experience and the handling. (Fine ground snus is easier to shape into a pinch than coarsely ground snus.)

Portion

Original Portion Snus: The first snus of the portion format is referred to as "Portion Original". It is pre-shaped into convenient portions in different sizes for easy handling. Portion Original is dark in colour and moist, with a full-bodied flavor.

White Portion

White Portion Snus: The new portion format "White Portion" was introduced in 2003. The pre-shaped portion packets are manufactured with a different technique than Portion Original, requiring no after-moisturising. The portion packets therefore have a white surface, a slightly milder aroma and a longer lasting taste.

Portion snus sizes

Snus portions come in different sizes for different consumer needs.

Maxi

An extra large portion packet, about twice the size of a large portion packet.

Large

The large portion packets, White and Original, are roughly the size of an average loose pinch - i.e. 1gr.

Mini

The mini portion packet was first introduced in 1984, due to consumer demand for a smaller and more discreet portion packet. It is common for smokers to first use the mini size portions when switching from cigarettes to snus.

Other snus information sites:

The history of snus

Snus Production

How to use snus