What Types Of Snus Are There?

The main types of snus are loose snus, original portion and white portion, and tobacco free nicotine pouches now share the same shelf and, very often, the same name. In Norway, the word snus usually means a pouch, while loose snus is the older format you shape by hand (18+ only). Beyond those names, three details separate one can from another: the size of the pouch, how moist it is and how much nicotine sits in each portion.

Choosing between them is a little like choosing between a hot dog from the kiosk and a sandwich you make at home before work. The pouch is ready the moment you open the lid, while loose snus asks you to shape your own, and plenty of people enjoy each for exactly that reason. I will take every type in turn, show the simple sum for comparing strength, and finish with keeping a can fresh. The terms below will help you read any can in our snus range, and when you are ready to buy snus, we deliver to Norway.

What Are The Main Types Of Snus?

There are three traditional types of snus, loose, original portion and white portion, plus a fourth group of tobacco free pouches that the word is often stretched to cover. Loose snus is a moist powder you shape yourself, while the two portion styles come prepacked in small pouches. The word itself has drifted over time, too, since snus first meant snuff, the powdered tobacco once taken through the nose. A quick way to keep the types straight is to ask two things of any can: is there a pouch, and is there tobacco inside?

Portion snus is what the word usually means in Norway today, whether you are in Oslo, Bergen or Trondheim, and loose snus is the more traditional choice of the two. Snus reached Norway in the late 1800s, while the country was in union with Sweden, and the oldest snus brand still made dates back to 1822, which gives the older format a long head start. This page sits in our Snus Guide, and if the longer history interests you, where did snus come from traces it properly.

How Do You Shape A Pris From Loose Snus?

You shape loose snus by pressing a pinch of the moist powder into a small, firm pellet, known as a pris, and placing it under your top lip. Some users skip the shaping altogether and simply pinch a little straight into place. Loose snus is the oldest of the formats, and it is mostly sold in a wax coated cardboard box of 42 grams, which held 50 grams before 2008. For many fans the hand shaped part is the whole appeal, much like boiling coffee in a kettle at the cabin rather than pressing a button on a machine.

The steps are simple once you have repeated them a few times. First, open the box and take a pinch roughly the size you would like, between your thumb and two fingers. Second, press it firmly with your fingers so it holds together. Third, lift your top lip and set the pris against the gum, towards one side. Fourth, press it gently into place with a fingertip, then wipe the rim of the box so the lid closes cleanly.

Loose snus is a moist powder, and you can either shape it into a pellet or simply pinch it into place. As such, it could be argued that loose snus gives you more say over size than any other type, because the size and shape are all in your hands.

What Is The Difference Between Original And White Portion?

Original portion has a moist, brown pouch that is wetted during manufacturing, while white portion skips that step, so its pouch starts drier and releases flavour more slowly. Original portion arrived in 1973, which makes it the first prepacked style and a much newer arrival than loose snus. White portion came later and is generally described as milder in taste, because less moisture is carrying the flavour forward at the start. Original tends to fit the reader who wants the tobacco character straight away, while white fits the reader who prefers the flavour to build gradually.

White portion is a label for how the pouch is made, not for its colour, and some versions use black pouch material while still being sold as white portion. So, a photo of a can tells you less than the wording printed on it. The difference in feel is largely about drip, the flavoured liquid that forms as the pouch and saliva mix, and original tends to give more of it early. A slim white pouch under the lip is a little like a sugar free gum in a Trondheim lecture hall, small and slim, while a fuller original portion is more like a thick slice of brown cheese on bread.

What Do Mini, Slim, Normal And Maxi Mean?

Mini, normal and maxi describe how much snus sits in each pouch, and slim describes a narrower shape, so none of these words is a strength. As a rough guide, a mini portion weighs about 0.5g, a normal portion 0.8 to 1g and a maxi up to 1.7g. A typical can of portion snus holds 20 to 24 pouches of around 0.75 to 1g each, which is the middle of that range. Those figures are loose guides that vary from can to can, and the weight printed on your own is the number to trust.

Size changes the feel more than you might expect, even before flavour comes into it. A mini sits small and light, the sort of pouch someone on a long Sunday walk above Bergen or a quiet seat on the train from Gardermoen might reach for. A normal portion is the comfortable middle ground, and a maxi fills the lip more fully for those who like to know it is there. A small tub of mini pouches slips into a jacket pocket on a ski trip, whereas a box of loose snus is bulkier and more of a deliberate choice.

How Do You Work Out The Strength Of Any Type?

Strength is clearest as mg per pouch, found by taking the mg/g printed on the can and multiplying it by what one pouch weighs, in grams. Take a pouch listed at 50mg/g with a weight of 0.60g: 50 times 0.60 gives 30mg. If the same 50mg/g blend came in a 0.5g mini, it would hold 25mg, and in a 1g normal portion it would hold 50mg. That is why two cans showing the same mg/g figure can hold different amounts of mg per pouch, and why I would always do the sum before comparing a white portion with an original.

To make the numbers easier to read, we group pouches by mg per pouch into four bands: Light from 1 to 8mg, Medium from 8 to 16mg, Strong from 16 to 25mg and Extreme at 25mg and over. The 30mg pouch above would therefore sit in Extreme, while a mini at a lower mg/g figure could land in Light. Loose snus is the exception, since a pris is whatever size you shape it, so the mg/g figure is the only fixed point. Perhaps the most useful habit is to note the mg per pouch of a can you like, then use it as your yardstick for every other type.

Which Flavour Families Will You Find In Snus?

Common flavour families include mint, fruit, liquorice and tobacco only, with plenty of blends sitting in between. Mint is the family many people reach for first, and it ranges from a soft spearmint to a sharp, icy chill. Fruit covers berries, citrus and the like, and it tends to sit more gently on the palate than a bold mint. Liquorice is another option, and it is a flavour that can spark a friendly debate around a cabin table.

Tobacco only means the snus tastes of the tobacco itself, with no added flavour taking the lead. Most snus, whatever the flavour, is steam pasteurised rather than fermented and built on ground tobacco, water, salt and an alkalising agent such as sodium carbonate. If you are curious about each of those, what is in snus? ingredients explained goes through them one at a time.

Flavour strength is a separate dial from nicotine strength, so a Light pouch can still carry a powerful mint. Moisture plays its part here as well, because original portion tends to bring flavour forward quickly, while white portion lets it build more slowly. Pasteurisation, which Jakob Fredrik Ljunglöf brought into snus making, cut production time by several weeks, and how is snus made tells that story in full. My suggestion is to pick a flavour you can describe in your own words, then compare intensity within that one family before wandering further.

Which Type Suits A Newcomer, And How Do You Move Between Them?

A drier, slimmer pouch is a simple format to compare first, and white portion or tobacco free pouches in slim or normal sizes fit that, because they are ready to use and start drier. Original portion makes sense for anyone who enjoys a quicker, moister start, and loose snus suits anyone who likes the idea of shaping their own. The table below sets the types side by side on moisture, size, pace, discretion and who tends to enjoy each one. If you would like to know why moisture changes the pace, how does snus work covers the reasoning.

Moving between types works best with one change at a time. Someone who uses a normal original portion on the tram in Oslo could try a white portion of the same size and a similar mg per pouch before changing the flavour as well, so the moisture alone is what differs. Moving to loose snus is a bigger step, and it is worth practising a few pris shapes at home before a box goes along on a long drive to Ålesund. Keep a note of the mg per pouch at every step, and each comparison stays fair.

Where Do Tobacco Free Pouches Fit Among The Types?

Tobacco free pouches sit beside white portion in look and handling, but they contain no tobacco leaf, so they form a separate type even though the word snus is often used for them. They tend to come in familiar formats such as mini, slim and normal, and the same sum applies, with mg/g multiplied by pouch weight giving you the mg per pouch. Some cans are labelled all white, and it is worth reading the contents line to see whether tobacco is inside, because a pale pouch alone does not tell you. That one line of small print tells you more than the colour of the lid.

If you would like to see the format in practice, Zyn snus is a tobacco free range and a straightforward way to set a pouch without tobacco against the portion styles above. Compare it as you would any other can, by size, moisture, flavour family and mg per pouch, rather than by the name on the lid. Think of it as choosing between two loaves at a bakery in Stavanger, where the shape and the slice are familiar and the recipe inside is what sets them apart.

How Do You Keep Each Type Fresh?

Every type is best kept with the lid shut, and the storage note printed on the can or box is always the one to follow. Loose snus comes in a wax coated cardboard box, while portion snus and tobacco free pouches come in a can, so check the note on whichever you have.

My practical suggestion is to keep spare cans unopened until you need them and carry only the one you are using, whether someone is heading to work in Tromsø or out for a Sunday walk near Kristiansand. If you are trying a new type, open it at home first, look closely at the pouch, check the weight and the mg/g, and do the sum before it goes in your pocket. Then compare it with the type you already know over a few ordinary days, noting how the moisture, size and flavour pace feel side by side.

Sources

• Wikipedia: Snus
• The Local Norway: Norwegian word of the day, snus
• The Local Norway: What is snus and why do so many Norwegians use it?