I know, I know, it's been quite a long time since we've been together and actually reviewed snus. The past year has been a pretty hectic one here in Snustopia and I must apologize for not being here to bring the new Snustopians reviews on all of the new snus flavors that are out there today. As I sit here, it's hard to believe that in only 2 short years we've seen such a huge influx of new flavors from so many different manufacturers! I can remember back to a time when Swedish Match only had 45 types of snus in their portfolio and ..."Hey Snus Guy, as much as we'd love to hear about your walk down memory lane, we want to hear about Göteborgs Rapè Lime!". Well, as you can see I'm still the same Snus Guy and I still ramble on so, without any further delay, sit back, pop in a portion and let's get started on our review of Göteborgs Rapè White Lime portion snus!
What I smell is licorice and an herbal scent that, when combined with the tobacco, gives the snus a black tea type scent. The flavor is just like the smell with the Licorice flavor being predominant. The flowery flavor of Violets gives the snus an herbal taste and really combines well with the licorice and the hand selected tobaccos from around the world. The earthy, leather flavor of the tobacco mixes with the herbal taste to give Still Catch Violet Licorice a sweet taste without the need for any added sweeteners. The addition of the licorice flavoring to the others is what gives it the slight tea taste in the background.
Stark as an anniversary present? We all know your favorite is Skruf!” Well, I think it’s because either they really like Nick & Johnny Stark or, I’ve been working them too hard lately and they were trying to make a point! Either way, I’ve been meaning to do a review on it for some time now. Nick & Johnny Stark was introduced to the snus world by 
with very little added to it. The flavor of pure tobacco may not be something that all Snustopians have tasted, let alone understand when used in descriptions on Swedish snus flavors so, let’s explain it now so everyone understands! Tobacco has a very similar scent of Fall leaves. “Hey Snus Guy, why Fall leaves?” well, they are leaves and dried like leaves get in the Fall and, have the same scent as a pile of them when they are not processed. They do have their subtle differences in taste though. Tobaccos from Honduras and Cuba for example, have peppery notes in them while tobacco from America has a bit of a leathery flavor. There are even some tobaccos grown in Sweden that have a flowery, herbal taste and smell. In Nick & Johnny Stark, the tobacco flavor is of fall leaves and leather with a slight pepperyness. I hope this cleared up the pure tobacco flavor description a bit but remember, different people taste things that other people don’t so, what I taste in a snus may not be what you taste. Ok, let’s get back to the flavor review!
citrus. I know what you’re saying “Snus Guy, what does classic and memorable taste like?” I agree that using “Classic” and “Memorable” as taste descriptions really don’t make sense to Snustopians that have never tried snus or, seasoned Snustopians that haven’t tried Jakobsson’s before so, let’s try to describe it in a language that everyone can understand! The main taste in 
Diet Coke with Lemon. The acidity in the Diet Coke also helped to bring out the tobacco flavor as well. The Monster didn’t do that well since its flavor was a bit too strong for the snus but the one thing that did go well with Jakobsson’s Classic was an Arnold Palmer! “Hey Snus Guy, how could a golf pro go well with a snus?” No, no, not that Arnold Palmer, the drink! For those of you that don’t know what an Arnold Palmer is, it’s made with half sweet iced tea and half lemonade. It’s named after its creator, Arnold Palmer, and really goes well with Jakobsson’s Classic. The iced tea flavor helped to enhance the tobaccos and the lemonade brought out the citrus. It’s really the best combination!
I would automatically think great cigars. Actually, this is pretty much the norm in the states since Montecristo snus is relatively new in the tobacco world. While the Montecristo brand has been on fine Cuban cigars since the 1930’s and on Dominican cigars since the 50’s, Montecristo snus was launched in 2008. Just like the cigars that share its name, the taste is unmistakably unique! Taboca describes Montecristo as having a rich tobacco taste and flavors of lemon and bergamot. The rich tobacco taste comes from the Cuban tobacco. If you have ever experienced smoking a Montecristo Cuban cigar, you’ll be able to tell the distinct flavor of Cuban tobacco. For those Snustopians that have never smoked a Cuban cigar or, are living in America, Cuban tobacco has a unique flavor that distinguishes it from its cousin Dominican tobacco. Cuban tobaccos tend to have a peppery flavor with earthy, leathery undertones and a touch of flowers that almost give it a black tea flavor while Dominican tobaccos have just the opposite.
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that artificial flavors were used and that the final product was developed by some scientists in white lab coats and poured into the flavoring drums. But now that I’ve personally experienced the process, I know that this way is not entirely true. While there are white lab coats and a scientist or two, 
many different places in all their snus. In my snus, we used 
smell. The taste is really close to Juicy Fruit gum but when it’s added to tobacco, takes on a completely different flavor! The Ettan has a leafy, peaty almost leathery taste by its self. When you add the vanilla and Tutti-Frutti flavors, the vanilla gets mellowed while bringing out a bit more of the licorice flavor in the Tutti-Frutti! “So, you basically made a Vanilla and Black Licorice flavored snus, Snus Guy?” Not really. The licorice flavor is still barely noticeable like it is in Röda Lacket but with the vanilla and berry flavor mixed in; the entire combination is pretty complex! Imagine sitting in a just raked pile of fall leaves while eating a bowl of mixed berry sorbet with a portion of 
Spain and America are used just to name a few. Once these tobaccos are air-dried, blended and packed, they are shipped to the factory where they are taken to the grinder and ground to the specifications of the snus they happen to be making. The picture to the right shows the bales of tobacco being prepped prior to entering the grinder! “Hey, is that you Snus Guy smelling the tobacco? How does it really smell?” Yes, the one in the middle is me. The guy on the right is Larry Waters from SnusCENTRAL.org and the one on the left is Andreas Riksén, Master tobacco grinder and our guide thru the grinding process. Andreas is very passionate about what he does, as are all the great folks at Swedish Match, and allowed us to feel and smell the raw tobacco, something that outsiders rarely get to do! I know, you asked about the smell. That’s something that may surprise you!
are unboxed, they travel up a conveyor to the grinding mills. The grinding mills look just like a flour mill and pretty much work the same way. Since this step was proprietary, I couldn’t take any pictures with exception to the one on the left. The guy in the picture is Joakim, one of the team from the Stockholm office, and he takes this very seriously as you can see by the “Area 51” reference he’s pointing to, so a small flour mill is the best way to describe it! Once the tobacco is ground, it’s moved to a sifting box that shakes rapidly and separates the ground tobacco into sizes. If it’s not the right size, it goes back into the grinding mill until it is. Like I said, the tobacco grinding process is very similar to the flour milling process. From here, the tobacco goes to the steam pasteurizing area.
holds the flavoring machines, it’s pretty quiet and plain. All there is in this part of the factory are large, insulated drums that mix the flavorings in to the snus. There are a few interesting things here though. The first thing is that the machines are actually made by the same company that manufactures Tanks for the Swedish military! This means, to me anyway, that these machines are built to a quality standard and will last a long time! But that’s not the most interesting thing. You see, the flavoring machines are actually on the 3rd floor of the factory! “Snus Guy, why would flavoring machines being on the 3rd floor of the factory be so interesting?” Remember when I said that after the grinder, the snus is never touched by human hands? Well, how do you think the snus gets from the flavoring machines to the packaging line? Probably the same way I thought it got there, by dumping it into a hopper. Well, I was wrong!
factories are that at Kungälv, they package the portion snus with the “Star” pattern in the can like 
which they make a portion is mind boggling! It’s even more mind boggling when you consider that portions are made by the machine at a rate of about 2 per second and the error rate is around 2%! But understand that the errors also include under or over filled cans, misaligned labels and things that will not allow it to pass GothiaTek standards! “Snus Guy, if a can is not filled or a label is crooked, they consider it an error? Why not just add the missing portions or put a new label the can?” While it would be the easy way to reduce an already really low error rate, the GothiaTek standard is still in force here, any snus that doesn’t make the cut, gets destroyed, end of story. I know it sounds cruel but, if sacrificing a few cans is what it takes to be the best, I can live with that! “Snus guy, that’s pretty cool and all, but not that surprising. What are you leaving out?” Let’s discuss that now!
packed in 10 can logs, it’s put in cases and moved into the cool room to rest for at least two days. The room is large but not as big as you may think. This picture is of Larry and I in the cool room at the Gothenburg factory. If I had to venture a guess, they wouldn’t give us the exact dimensions of the room, I’d say it’s about 20,000 Sq. Ft., and holds approximately 4 million cans of snus! “Whoa, Snus Guy, 4 million cans of snus in only 20,000 Sq. Ft. of space? Can’t be!” I thought the same thing until I began to do the math. If you figure there are 10 cans of snus in each roll, and 20 rolls in each box, that’s 200 cans per box! Depending on how many are on a pallet, perhaps 40, that’s 8,000 per pallet so, as you can see in this picture, there are 22 pallets just in this line. There are 176,000 cans just in this line alone so, you really don’t need a lot of space! “Snus Guy, you’re rambling again! What does this have to do with the portions and the wetting process?” You’re right. It was just really intriguing to see that much snus is such a small space! Let’s go on to the end process.
Copenhagen or Red Man smokeless tobacco and Camel SNUS Mellow, we taste a generally earthy, herbal and sweet flavor. In some cases, like Camel SNUS Mellow’s overly sweet taste, this is due to the sweetener that is used in the processing of most American smokeless tobacco and SNUS. In Swedish snus, the sweetener is omitted from the process leaving just the earthy, herbal tobacco flavor. I say this for two reasons. One, when I was just beginning to use Swedish snus, I would get confused and sometimes disappointed when a snus that was said to have a “pure tobacco flavor” didn’t have the sweetness I was accustomed to with the American tobacco and two, I felt that new Snustopians shouldn’t have to go thru the same thing I did in the beginning. So to recap, Swedish snus that’s described as having a “pure tobacco flavor” means just that. No sweetener, since Swedish snus manufacturers do not use sweeteners in their recipes, just true tobacco flavor! Ok, back to the snus.
the saltiness of Ettan. I really recommend trying iced Earl Grey with Ettan. Another great pair was Lemonade! Again, the citrus did bring out more of the tobacco flavor while mixing well with the higher salt content.
In General Silver, the filler is vegetable fiber. Now, don’t get worried that there is grated Artichoke or pulverized potatoes in it or that they are trying to pull something! In fact, most Nicotine free snus like Onico or Elixyr Free use vegetable fibers like Sugar Beet or Carrot fibers as fillers. It’s pretty common and it doesn’t change the flavor in any way. I’m on my 3rd can and I wouldn’t know it unless I read about it so, trust me, I wouldn’t steer my fellow Snustopians wrong! Now, let’s go on to the flavor!
