I have a hard time believing it’s actually spicy. After all, red peppers range from rather sweet to something like death. Here’s a chart I stole to illustrate the differences, notice “red chile” near the bottom.

So this snus should have a tiny bit of fire in it. If it does, I like it — despite it’s kind of 1992 name of “Radical Red.” Remember. These N&J products are designed for Norwegians with bad haircuts, and apparently these dudes are radical and whatnot. Or perhaps it’s a snus for left-wing snus anarchists or something? I doubt it, considering the names of the other N&Js.

The other cool thing about this snus is that it’s a 20 pack at 1.1g instead of the 24 pack at 0.9g most snus got stuck with. So at 1.4% nicotine, you are looking at 15.4 mg.

Apparently there’s some bullshit new tax in Sweden. To keep the shelf price low, some of our favorite portions are going on 0.1 g diet. I’m not sure if or how the price will be affected here, but skinnier snus is anti-awesome. However, I wonder if we’ll see more snus like this new one because of it:

More nicotine, less weight is an interesting way to avoid some tax. This one doesn’t quite meet the level of a regular portion. The math looks something like this 0.5 grams x 1.2% nicotine = 6 mg per portion. Since General Strong White is now 0.9 grams, it weighs in at 10.8 mg of nicotine.

And a slimmed down regular portion would look something like this: 0.9 grams x 0.8% nicotine = 7.2 mg per portion. Unless, of course, they kick up the nico.

General Mini Strong White is set to come out Feb. 6.

Another new one is Catch Lafayette Street. It’s part of the “Catch Collection,” which you’ll remember means that it probably won’t be around forever — I think four months was the rotation in 2011, but that could have been changed. I’m still trying to figure out what the circular colors are on the tin. I see boobs.

This is only for Norwegians — at least for now. If you haven’t noticed a trend here, they’re like the lab mice of the snus world — especially for strong snus. Apparently, there’s something in the air or water in Norway that makes everyone a serious nicotine fiend. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Here’s the math: 0.9 g x 2% = 18 mg/portion. Don’t give this to drunk women unless you want them to puke in your lap.

And a few old friends are getting some new duds. G-Rape has a skiing version that looks a lot like the summer version.

Apparently “Are” is some kind of famous Swedish Swinger/Ski Resort. You can read about it here.

And the brand’s kardus is coming out.

01 is going from black to yellow.

And the 4th most boring snus in the world is going away…. Feb 6. If you like it stock up. General Smooth survived just about 11 months. Too dry for me. But still sad to see it go — if just for the cool tin.

That’s it.

XOXO

It’s not broken, it’s just the start of a new year.

A new year is such a glorious time. If you’re like me, you’ll tell really horrible jokes like, “I haven’t had a drink all year.” You can use great come-on lines like, “I haven’t had sex all year.” Or you can whine to your wife, “I haven’t bought any snus all year.”

As you can see from the banner ad on the left, snusdirect has joined the DrSnus family of supporters, which is a very good thing since my wife is rapidly burning through my Northerner cash with her Boost addiction.

So I ordered a few (41) tins from snusdirect to see if they were legit on Friday, Dec. 9. It shipped Monday, and even though it was in Austin on Thursday, UPS held it an extra day due to “adverse weather conditions.” It was raining very lightly that day…

Anyway, it arrived Friday Dec. 16 in one piece, so that makes five business days, but four if UPS weren’t afraid of a little rain.

Also, the snus had April 2012 expiration dates, which seems like more than enough time to burn through a mere 41 tins.

So when you realize on Jan. 1 that you haven’t bought snus all year, check out snusdirect for me.

So I’ve just loaded up a pinch of Kardus 2011. It’s a little hard for me to control, being such an amateur loose snus user. While we wait to see what happens, I’ll plug my new book.

It’s called Drink Thin: Happier, Healthier, Richer, Thinner (And Better Sex) Through Alcohol, and you can get it at Amazon in both ebook and paperback formats. There’s a ton of research on booze out there, and the health benefits (including that drinkers are thinner than and outlive non-drinkers) are numerous and surprising. So this book covers why you should drink alcohol, and I make a rock-solid case for that, in my very humble opinion.

But there’s a right way and numerous wrong ways to drink, so I cover how to maximize the benefits and minimize the downsides of boozing. Then I created a way to measure alcohol by what’s inside of it, and rank 1,400 drinks from around the world, including more than 800 beers. Anyway, go buy one. You can decrease your risk of “death by any cause” by 30% for a measly $2.99. What a steal…

Here’s what one reviewer had to say:

I’ve always loved authors who dared to be heretics in one way or another.

Anthony Haddad wrote this book (I didn’t ask him, but this is how it strikes me) to help everyone enjoy their guilty pleasure more intelligently. He exorcises some grouchy old Puritan-grandmother ghosts along the way with actual data about how alcohol has real health benefits.

The book is complete with extensive charts so you can find your favorite tipple and determine its “Drink Thin” score.

Apparently, it’s actually possible to drink, have fun and not pack on those dreaded beer bellies.

So let’s all lift a glass to Mr. Haddad who boldly challenges the sacred dogma which claims you can drink or you can be healthy, but you can’t have it all.

-Jacob Nordby author of The Divine Arsonist

Now back to your regularly scheduled Kardus 2011 coverage. It’s mild. I might be immune to the fruitiness others have described due to my Roda Lacket dependency. I get some spice and some wood. Sandalwood? I’m not sure what that is, but that’s what I’m going with. Don’t get me wrong, this is a very nice tasting snus, and it is very comfortable to use — although slightly difficult for my mortal lips to keep together. But it’s not the jump-in-your-face flavor of previous years.

And that’s okay. Artists change and mature. They try different things. Otherwise you end up with AC/DC.

Pictures…

Well, my first impression is that it is very mild. Quite honestly, I can hardly taste it. But I’ve been on an airplane for the past six hours, chewing gum, popping pills, drinking Mountain Dew and nasty-ass Pyrat Rum, which I’d never had before, but it’s a rum for people who don’t like rum…

Alright, several more minutes have passed. I’m getting a mild tobacco flavor and salt. Maybe there’s something more to that saltiness. Could it be cachaca? I’ll try this again tomorrow. But for now I’ll tell you that it’s a very pleasant and mild snus. The kind people at buysnus.com sent this to me. You can get Kardus 2011 here.

Oh yeah, and that’s my new book in the background. You can check out drinkthin.com to learn more. It’ll be available the first week of December.

XOXO,

DrSnus

I got this email the other day. My response is below.

Hi guys

About the snus…

I guess you are making a lot of money from your website
But please let me just inform you about the danger of it and also YOUR SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

Last Saturday night (10 days ago), a friend from Oslo (that is used to snus…) gave me to 1 single “wintergreen” pouch.
www.drsnus.com/snus-review-jakobssons-wintergreen/

As a non-smoker, i did not know it could be dangereous. Afterall everybody does smoke, and my friend was used to snus.. So i thought, this would be fully safe…

You wouldn’t imagine how sick i’ve been since then.
I thought i was going to die.
I had palpitation (tachycardia), high fever, sweating, weakness, dizziness, headache, nausea, impossible sleep and end up with a very heavy tonsils/nymph nodes infection due to the contact of snus spit.

And doctors generally have no clue about what’s happening (down there in Europe)


Are you aware about this?
Sixty milligrams of nicotine  (the amount in about 30-40 cigarettes), has the potential to kill an adult who is not a smoker Patient experiences prostration, convulsions, bradycardia, arrhythmia & finally coma. Death may occur within 5 minutes to 4 hours .

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicotine_poisoning

Maybe you could have some REAL warning about the danger mister “DR.” Snus.

Best

My Response:

Thank you for writing to me. One snus packet cannot kill you. I’m sad that you tried such a strong snus with such a horrible friend for your first time. If you had your first time with me, I would have been much more gentle and given you a snus that you would have really liked.

This asshole friend of yours just wanted you to get sick so he could take care of you. Perhaps Munchhausen by Proxy? Anyway, if I were you, I’d never talk to that dickhead again.

Your nicotine level from one snus is not even close to enough to kill you. Think about coffee or wine. Either one can make people who aren’t used to them sick. The drug in each one, at certain levels that are fairly difficult to reach, can kill you. What you did was tantamount to drinking a Four Loko without ever drinking before. Or a Starbucks four-shot Americano without ever having coffee.

Bad idea.

Kick your friend in the dick for me.

And as a sidenote, I literally make HUNDREDS of dollars a year off this site. Big-money baller, I know. I write about snus because snus is awesome.

Love always,

DrSnus

In this issue, I poke fun at Mrs. Snus because of her Northerner Boost habit.

XOXO,

DrSnus

The new book is about alcohol. I figured that since I can now write off my snus purchases, I should do something on alcohol so I can write that off. Next, I’ll probably do something about sex workers. More info on the booze book soon…

The old book, which you can buy over there on the right sidebar [this right ----->], has sold 63,000 copies as of June 30 — not counting all the spinoffs.  Looks like it’s going to be a while before it goes platinum…

Still, I’ve been pleasantly surprised.

Now to snus.

The coolest piece of news hit us at the end of October. Dr. Rodu is taking his message to the Interstate.

Although this is just one city, it’s a pretty interesting development. You can read more about it here or visit the group’s website here.

Several news items from Swedish Match in the past week or so:

General Onyx portions are going to lose their black material in favor of white material. Instead of making some mildly racist comments, I’m going to link to my N&J Black commercial. Somehow, black portions aren’t cool anymore. I don’t know why. Also, if you haven’t yet seen my Thunder Snus video, check it out. 15k views and counting, I even got an email from Google to monetize it. But sadly, I’m not the creator of the music. Stupid AC/DC is ruining my chance to become a YouTube trillionaire.

Kronan got a catch lid. It makes me wonder about the origin of the lid. If you’ve ever visited Sweden, you know that you get to see snus everywhere you turn, including sidewalks, dance floors and urinals. You can imagine that in the right political environment, a government might go after a company for the mess. What better way to indemnify yourself than having a built-in disposal system. This is pure speculation, by the way. Any other explanation may be just as likely, including a snus tin machine malfunction.

And more flavors are coming out in old-school packaging.

They are coming out every three months or so in 2012. First Götebrogs Rapé, then Göteborgs Prima Fint, then Grov and finally Ettan.

Looks pretty cool.

The tobacco inside is organic, air-cured and flavored with this cachaca:

I’ve never had this brand of cachaca. This is probably a good thing since I’ve never had a cachaca I like. However, I’ve only had white cachaca and this stuff is aged, which may make a difference.

Here’s the flavor description from the company:

“The fragrance is a complex blend of newly ground coffee and a delicate nuttiness, soothed by a sweetness that is reminiscent of figs. The flavor is a combination of spicy oak tones, herbs and new-mown hay.”

Only a hundred will be available online starting the first week of November. They say it will cost SEK 600, which is about USD 90 today. That’s probably the shop price, and it could be more or less online. Chances of the Swedish kronor crashing in the next thirty days seem very small, so start saving.

Here’s the half-naked woman I promised you:

A little Daron Calvados and General Classic Blend are joining me for this snus blog post. If you begin to wonder why it becomes less coherent or more genius, that could be it.

I picked up a tin of Catch Raspberry Pepper the other day.

Pretty sweet. Nice flavor. But it doesn’t rank with Catch Elder Lime, which was the weirdest coolest Catch Snus ever. It was like having a mouthful of sunshine.

In other news, Nick & Johnny got new “cool” names.

While I’m not a fan of the new names, I am a fan of the snus. But you have to remember that these names — and these snus — are really for Norwegian dudes. And while I don’t know anything about these guys, I imagine they have silly haircuts. Feel free to correct me if my assumption is wrong.

Last thing is that a new Kardus will be coming soon. It’s made with aged cachaca and tobacco from Brazil. While I have had great Brazilian cigars, I’ve only had crappy cachaca. I’m sure there must be better stuff out there than what’s available at my local booze megamart, and I’m ready to be impressed.

One more thing: I’m officially announcing my support in 2012 for Calvados Kardus.

xoxo,

DrSnus