Snus

[Lorenzai]

So I imagine this has probably been asked a lot. I started using snus about 4 months ago and have replaced smoking with it. General Mint is now my goto and I love this stuff! But it's got me thinking, could I do it better? And just as importantly, could I do it cheaper?
I don't like bergamot or peppery citrus notes in smokeless, so I'm thinking a mint + chocolate combo. I know that snus uses air cured burley tobacco because fire cured contains more of the bad TSNAs and such, but would just a small amount, maybe 5% be enough to give snus some character? I thought about liquid smoke but honestly if you've ever had home smoked meat and compared it to crockpot pork with liquid smoke.. it just ain't the same. I figured a small amount would keep the risks as minimal as they can be while adding some American character to it, and chocolate tends to pair well with burley leaf in my book (at least when I smoked it.)
So what does the price per can look like?

 

[squeezyjohn]

It's very difficult to do better ... the snus companies have been at it for years and blend many different tobaccos to eliminate bitterness and increase aroma (bitterness is rarely a factor even considered for smoking tobacco). However you can certainly do cheaper! My estimation is that you can make snus for about 50p (about 70c) per can if you use bought whole leaf tobacco ... or it costs practically nothing if you grow and cure your own (apart from your own time and effort of course!).

If you've got a good variety you shouldn't need fire-cured in the mix ... all the commercial brands which have a smokey quality use liquid smoke ... only you can decide whether you're willing to put something potentially more carcinogenic in your mouth than it needs to be ... but I err on the side of caution with home made.

 

[Hasse SWE]

Mint and chocolate work very well in "snus", if you ask me Burley tobacco's gives the smokeless tobacco a taste similar to Nuts such as hazelnuts and not a chocolate taste, but that is my own feeling.If you really care about the TSNA You should try to make your "snus" from L-C variants (low converter). If you don't know what that means I can give you a link that explains pretty well ( http://nwtseeds.com/TN 86 LC.htm ). I know that Swedish match use that type of tobacco (don't think they use TN86LC but LC-variants).When it comes to different taste you can play with in your Snus I can tell you that I only put liquid smoke in my own grown tobacco. But when I make different "make your own snus kit" I always add Bergamott, Citrus, Anise and smoke Aroma (because they doesn't taste much). But I don't have much of each.