Drug info - A Guide to Smokeless Tobacco Products

[Codehead]

Snuff is most addicting nicotine product, because it's only product which one gives you a huge nicotine rush. I used it daily about 2 weeks, after that it ended (I shared it with my friends), I were not able to get more snuff after that, so I started smoking, to get my nicotine. Now I'm trying to quit my smoking by using snuss, after that Im trying to stop using nicotine daily. I like use nicotine while on amphetamine (smoking on speed \m/,) or codeine. Nicotine is my only habit.

[baron samedi]

Yup swim does live in europe, in switzerland. Its quite surreal but snuff is popular mainly because it can give a nicotine rush even to heavy smokers, well thats the reason swim thinks anyway.
Swim does have personal experience, and thinks its much better than smoking tobbaco. It is a lot cheaper, easier to carry around, and more fun. swim puts it on his hand, one or two pinches, then snorts it in both nostrils. In switzerland swim has found its popular to hit someones head after theyve just snorted snuff; it improves the persons rush aparently.

Interesting, that Switzerland remains a snuff outpost. Does SWIYamman13 have a preference for snuff or snus, or does he use both equally?

[yamman13]

swim has never tried snus, he has never seen it around apart from in specialist baccy shops, whereas snuff is sold at every kiosk on every street corner. swim would love to try snus just for the comparison.

[mouthwater]

Pilot study on lower nitrosamine smokeless tobacco products compared with medicinal nicotine.
1:Nicotine Tob Res 2007 Dec;9(12):1309-23.

Transdisciplinary Tobacco Use Research Center, Cancer Center, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55414, USA.
Smokeless tobacco (ST) products have the potential to be used as a harm reduction method for cigarette smokers. These products can deliver significantly less toxicants than cigarettes, although they are not toxicant free nor harmless. It is important to examine potential health risks and benefits of these products. These two small pilot studies examined the effects of two different ST products (Exalt and Ariva) compared with medicinal nicotine, another potential harm reduction product. Dependent, healthy adult cigarette smokers, who were motivated to quit smoking, underwent 1 week of baseline smoking measurement. They were then asked to quit smoking and were randomly assigned to use either an ST product or a medicinal nicotine lozenge (MNL, Commit) for 2 weeks, then crossed over to use the other product for 2 weeks. In the last week, following the sampling phase, subjects could choose the product they wished to use. Assessments were made repeatedly during baseline cigarette use and throughout the 5 weeks of treatment. Outcome measures included biomarkers for tobacco exposure and subjective, physiological, and behavioral responses. Tobacco-specific carcinogen uptake was greater from Exalt than from the MNL, and was comparable between the MNL and Ariva. Physiological effects and subjective effects on withdrawal and craving were comparable among Exalt, Ariva, and the MNL. Ariva was preferred over the MNL, which was preferred over Exalt. With the exception of medicinal nicotine products, low-nitrosamine ST products have the greatest potential to result in reduced toxicant exposure compared with other combustible reduced exposure products and have promise for reducing individual risk for disease. However, the population effect of marketing of such products as reduced exposure/reduced risk is unknown. The need for further research in this area and regulation of tobacco products is evident.

For smoking cessation, ST is not as 'safe' as "medical nicotine," but it's potentials are apparent. The products used in the study were Exalt and Ariva: Exalt is a Swedish product (a spitless pouch) (it's website has full ingredient lists for it's smokeless products-- how fucking awesome is that? (swedishmatch.com)) and Ariva is a US 'dissolvable' product (no spitting).

These products have lower-TSNA content than more common US smokeless tobacco products (moist dipping/chewing tobacco such as Copenhagen and Red Man). It's also interesting they noted that nobody is quite sure how well a 'smokeless tobacco as smoking cessation tool' marketing campaign would go over with the public.

Reputation Comments on this post:

You've contributed hugely, to an oft-not-visited forum, Thanks

[mouthwater]

This post contains products predominately in the U.$. market...

Chew:
A piece of tobacco 0.75 to 1 inch in diameter is placed between the cheek and lower lip, typically toward the back of the mouth. It is either chewed or held in place. Saliva is spit or swallowed.

In 2000, U.S. prevalence of current (used within the past 30 days) smokeless tobacco use (includes both snuff and chewing tobacco) for those 12 years old and over was 3.4%: 6.5% of males and 0.5% of females. [This statistic "includes both snuff and chewing tobacco," and the following produkts are included in this statistic-- note added by poster as commentary.]

Commercially manufactured. Loose cigar tobacco leaves are air-cured, then stemmed, cut or granulated and loosely packed to form small strips of
shredded tobacco. Most brands are sweetened and flavored with licorice. Typically sold in pouches weighing about 3 ounces. Loose-leaf tobacco has a high average sugar content (approximately 35%).

Moist Plug:
Commercially manufactured. Enriched tobacco leaves (Burley and bright tobacco or cigar tobacco) or fragments are wrapped in fine tobacco and pressed into bricks. Moist plug tobacco has at least 15% moisture. Most plug tobacco is flavored and sweetened with licorice. Plus tobacco is packaged as a compressed brick or flat block wrapped inside natural tobacco leaves. Typically weighs 7 to 13 ounces. Sugar content is
approximately 24%.

Chewed or held between the cheek and lower lip. Saliva is spit or swallowed.

Plug (Chew):
Chewed or held between the cheek and lower lip. Saliva is spit or swallowed.

Enriched tobacco leaves (Burley and bright tobacco and cigar tobacco) or fragments are wrapped in fine tobacco and pressed into bricks. Plus or “firm plug” tobacco has less than 15% moisture. Most plug tobacco is flavored and sweetened with licorice. Plus tobacco is packaged as a compressed brick or flat block wrapped inside natural tobacco leaves. Package typically weighs 7 to 13 ounces.

Twist Roll (Chew):
Handmade by commercial manufacturers. Dark, aircured leaf tobacco is treated with a tar-like tobacco leaf extract and twisted into rope-like
strands that are dried. Typically, no flavoring or sweetener is added. The final product is a pliable, but dry, rope. The product is sold by the piece in small (1 to 2 ounce) or larger sizes based on the number of leaves in the twist.

Chewed or held between the cheek and lower lip. Saliva is spit or swallowed.

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Iq'mik:
Alaska (United States)

Users pinch off a small piece and chew the iq’mik. The user may pre-chew the iq’mik and place it in a small box for later use by others, including children and sometimes teething babies.

Alaska Natives (men, women and children). One study found that 52% of Yukon- Kuskokwim Delta Alaska Natives used iq’mik.

Fire-cured tobacco leaves are mixed with punk ash (ash generated by burning a woody fungus that grows on the bark of birch trees). The ingredients are available at grocery stores and retail outlets, but are generally combined by the user before use. It is believed that the punk ash in the mixture raises the pH level in the mouth, increasing the dose and enhancing the delivery of nicotine to the brain.

Dry Snuff:
Typically, a pinch is held between the lip and gum or cheek. It may also be
inhaled into the nostrils.

Tobacco is fire-cured, then fermented and processed into a dry, powdered form. The moisture content of the finished product is less than 10%. It is packaged and sold in small metal or glass containers.

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All information verbatim from cancercontrol.cancer.gov's "stfact_sheet_combined10-23-02.pdf."

U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Company (UST):

[NotImportant]

Havent read everything here. But I am a regular snus user. I use it everyday, and when you start you think its not very addicting, not like smoking and stuff, but damn. It really is :P

Just some info on it:
You can get snus in "bags" or loose. The bags are either in small or big portions. The loose ones you have to bake yourself. And its not dry, as it says in the description. Some is dry, but the one you bake yourself is moist, so you can bake it. And some portions is also moist. You can also get tastes on this. Either plain tobacco taste, or mint or strawberry.

I also use snuff. And I disagree with the description about it not going into the throath and sinuses. It goes there when you sniff it. Its just like sniffing anything else, like coke or stuff like that. The snuff I use is General Mint.

(and snus and snuff is also very regular in Norway. Norway and Sweden are the only once who produce Snus. Not denmark tho)