Oral Tobacco and more recently Oral Nicotine products have been popular on the market, with many people opting to want to use these in a bid to move away from smoking cigarettes, or even using E-Cigarettes as using these doesn’t involve any form on inhaling and they do not emit any form of smoke or vapour either, which is something that is appealing to many people.
Oral Tobacco products are classed as Snus, where as Oral Nicotine products are classed as Nicotine Pouches and whilst they’re both used orally, they are actually very different from one another due to what they contain.
In this article, we’re going to take a look at Snus and the history of them as well as delving into what goes into making them, and we’ll be doing exactly the same thing for Nicotine Pouches as well as establishing which one is the better one to use to get your Nicotine fix. Let’s get into it!
A Brief History of Snus
Snus is an oral tobacco product which originates from Sweden. The first version of a Snus pouch was produced way back in the early 1600’s which is crazy to think that it’s been around that long! And of course with anything, they have evolved over time significantly to what they are today. Usage of these pouches was relatively up and down, with the biggest spike in popularity and use happening in 1919, but it was soon after this that the use of Snus declined quite a bit.
It was then in the 1970’s to 2005 that saw a continuous rise in the use of Snus pouches amongst patrons of Sweden and in turn the smoking prevalence figures started dwindling down with the big crossover of people using Snus to people smoking happening in the early 2000’s.
If you didn’t already know, Snus is a smokeless moist tobacco powder that is contained in a small white pouch. These pouches are then placed in the mouth, between the upper gum and lip and the nicotine from the tobacco is then absorbed through the gum and into the blood stream. They normally come flavoured also with mint being the common flavour used.
Snus is hugely popular still today in Sweden as well as Norway, but it’s been banned from sale in all countries within the European Union as well as the United Kingdom since the early 90s. This is because the marketing techniques being implemented by companies who make Snus were considered aggressive and encouraging younger people to use them even if they weren’t smokers. And also, the cause for concern on these being harmful to health due to containing Tobacco was another primary reason for the ban. Which leads us on to the next part quite nicely…
Snus Is Safer Than Smoking, But Not Completely Risk Free
Using Snus as a replacement for smoking cigarettes is obviously a massive improvement from smoking. This is because they do not emit any smoke and a person won’t have to do any inhaling of any kind when using them, therefore eliminating the risk of ingesting toxic chemicals from the smoke produced when a cigarette or tobacco is combusted.
However, using Snus is not entirely risk free. Experts say that using Snus is probably less harmful than smoking a cigarette, but there is a big difference between “less harmful and safe” which is understandable. The reason that these cannot be classed as safe to use is that they do still contain tobacco, and within the tobacco is a small amount of carcinogens which can be harmful to a person, although in Sweden the amount used has been limited but still remain present within.
Choosing to use an Oral/Smokeless Tobacco product can heighten a persons chances of contracting a form of cancer affecting the mouth like cheek or gum cancer compared to those who smoke. Where the flipside is people who smoke stand more chance of developing lung cancer than what an Oral Tobacco user would.
To place these on a “harm spectrum” for Nicotine consumption, at the most harmful end are tobacco products that you burn and inhale, and the least harmful end being Nicotine replacement therapy options like Nicotine Patches, which only contain a very small amount of Nicotine which is gradually absorbed
A Brief History On Nicotine Pouches
Nicotine Pouches haven’t quite been around as long as what Snus pouches have, with the first inception of them not actually being seen until the 20th century. The inspiration and idea for Nicotine Pouches was drawn from the design features of Snus pouches, in the fact that they are also small white pouches in design, but instead of moist tobacco, it contains a moist nicotine powder solution as well as flavourings.
They’ve been around since 2003, and in recent years have started seeing an upwards projection in the amount of people using them as well as global awareness increasing and in turn the global nicotine pouch market value now sitting at over $1 Billion.
Nicotine Pouches come in an array of flavours as well as varied Nicotine strengths also which caters for everyone’s individual needs and gives the user full flexibility to pick a strength that suits them as well as a flavour that they like. There are ovver 100 different brands of Nicotine Pouches on today’s market, and there’s also heavy involvement from Big Tobacco companies producing and marketing their own brands of Nicotine Pouches in a bid to make safer alternatives for nicotine over their more well know combustible tobacco products.
Nicotine Pouches Are Safer Than Snus AND Smoking
Now we come on to the head to head to head of comparing the safety of Nicotine Pouches against Snus and Combustible Tobacco products, and it goes without saying really that Nicotine Pouches are safer than snus and smoking to use in this head to head.
There has not been any proven evidence that Nicotine is harmful to a person when consumed from smoking cigarettes. It’s widely believed that Nicotine is one of the harmful chemicals in tobacco that can cause deadly diseases like cancer or lung/heart disease but this in fact is wrong to believe. Nicotine is a highly addictive chemical yes, but it is not harmful.
When using a Nicotine Pouch, all you are absorbing into your body is Nicotine from the nicotine powder, and not through any form of tobacco nor any carcinogens like you would if smoked a cigarette or used Snus.
Of course, using these is not completely risk free either as you may develop some side effects such as Dry mouth, headaches and dizziness but these are common side effects when taking on board Nicotine in any shape or form.
To conclude, I believe that using Nicotine Pouches are the best option for getting your Nicotine fix. They are the safer option out of the three I’ve spoken about here, and also carry the most minimal risk. If you’re looking for somewhere to buy Nicotine Pouches and have them delivered to your door, be sure to check out Snusmail.co.uk
