Back again in Northern Los Angeles. Its warm and dry, my eyes are running, my Margarita is delicious, and i am once again dining in the company of Snus royalty, and this time, i met the KING!
So here i am, about to embark on another journey into the seedy underbelly of American "Snus".
I remember my last US Snus experience. It was 2009, so much talk was surrounding Rj Renolds, and as a former Camel Turkish Silver smoker, i just had to try the 'mellow' for myself. needless to say i had 3 portions, they tasted like crap, threw the rest in the trash and used the tin for a coin purse.
I am so hoping Discreet is going to be better. If its not i have nothing to show for it. no cool looking tin, just 3 empty plastic bags and a feeling of utter disgust and mouth violation. we shall see.
Discreet Snus, a brand from Virginia based American Smokeless Tobacco, has been around the traps for a few years now. Selling the business a while ago (and if the portions i have got are not already 2 years old) somebody has once again started production. It comes in 5 flavors: Full Flavor, Emerald Ice, Cool Mint, Strawberry and Peach. I have been given Emerald, Strawberry and full flavor so those are what i will review.
Im dragging my feet as you can see; i do not want to try this, and what i don't want to do i don't do, but my word i keep so here goes!
Upon opening the pouches the first thing you notice is the smell. These people use so much flavoring they put V2 to shame! good lord! is this Snus or candy??
The portions are small and as dry as a nuns gusset. They requite proper crushing with ones fingers before placing, otherwise you have a hard bullet in your mouth.
I will break down the taste and flavor individuality as follows:
Strawberry portion: My favorite of them all. The smell of sweet berries with a slight medicinal undertone. Kinda like a Ricola, yummy and funky all in one. It reminds me of strawberry flavored salt water taffy, and being a food grade product, it would not surprise in the least me if they used the same flavorings meant for candy production. Very tasty and decedent with a slight hint of tobacco, a nice change.
Full Flavor portion: The smell; kinda like Camel mellow but not so
mellow. A real hint of enhanced tobacco and pepper that is not present
in the other two. My least favorite of the three though. If im going to
have junk floor sweepings in a pouch, i want it to at least taste good.
I like the flavor or REAL tobacco, not tobacco that has been enhanced with the taste of tobacco for the sake of trying to get something that should be present in the first place. It's a sweet smokey tobacco that people will either love or hate.
put me in the hate basket please!
Emerald Ice portion: The smell of this is identical to Crest toothpaste. I dont know if its a good or bad thing but its true. Its unlike anything i have smelled in the Snus department. It has the slight tingle of super clean mint with a sweet aftertaste. By the smell i was expecting these to be laden with artificial sweeteners. Its there but no where near as bad as General Nordic mint or American marketed catch mint. This one wanders around the mouth a lot more then the rest, somewhat acts like a breath-mint..Bonus! not bad, not bad at all.
Mocca Mini Left Discreet Snus Right |
The nicotine level is decent at 7.4 mg's. I definitely did not need to put in two pouches, but that might be because i have just done three portions in a row.
I do believe Discreet has a place in the Snus market. Live long, snus, prosper and come out with a tin already!