http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,21709656-2,00.html
Can this be true? One can light up a cigarette or cigar, or pipe tobacco, but one can’t chew it or dip snuff? Can Aussies confirm/deny?
Color me surprised, if this is the case. Smokeless tobacco, while far from safe, is much less detrimental than cigarettes.
I never saw it for sale in the EU, outside Scandinavia. Believe me, I looked.
Most forms of smokeless tobacco are illegal in most of Europe, as well. I know, because I became a fan of Scandinavian snus whilst I lived in Hungary (lot of medical students from that region studied in Budapest and were notorious snussers), and was unable to find it anywhere on the continent. I found out later on that it was illegal in Germany, at any rate, and a internet search confirms it’s illegal through most of Europe.
Makes no sense to me, either. I hate American-style smokeless tobacco (Skoal and the like), but the Scandinavian stuff (which isn’t fermented and does not require spitting) is quite a nice little vice to have. Camel is actually test marketing the stuff in Portland and Austin. Which reminds me, it’s been over a year since I’ve snussed–should put an order in with Sweden.
I thought there was a higher incidence of mouth type cancer (which is nasty, and has a high death rate) amongst those who dipped? 
Is that just an urban legend, or am I remembering a study which has subsequently been rebutted?
I remember a big fuss about Skoal Bandits being introduced here in the UK when I was at school - probably around 1981 or so. They were banned.
Here is an article about BAT’s recent attempts to get the snus form of smokeless tobacco legalised throughout the EU.
I’d never even heard the term ‘smokeless tobacco’ until I saw this thread.
A quick search suggests that there has been a ban on its importation and sale at the Commonwealth level since 1991. Various individual states had enacted their own bans prior to 1991.
Yes.
And, of course, I’ve always wanted to try it as a result. Just like absinthe.
No, chewing tobacco definitely increases the rate of mouth cancer. But it’s a rare cancer to begin with, so dipping hardly causes an epidemic, unlike the sorts of numbers we get for smoker’s diseases like lung cancer and emphysema and heart disease.
Morbidity and mortality per 1000 smokeless tobacco users is far, far lower than the morbidity and mortality per 1000 tobacco smokers.
Smokeless tobacco: NOT A SAFE ALTERNATIVE TO SMOKING [sub]but a lot less risky than smoking[/sub]
I don’t do either [sub]anymore[/sub]
AFAIK, historically there hasn’t been much of a market for smokeless tobacco in much of Europe, or in Australia.
Rightly or wrongly, the perception a few years back was that the tobacco companies were trying to open up new markets, importing and promoting new smokeless tobacco products to these countries. The general response was to ban these new tobacco products.
It may be true that the smokeless tobacco products are less dangerous than smoking, but that is irrelevant unless the users of these products are people who would otherwise be smoking. I don;t know whether there is much evidence that smokeless products are used as a ‘step-down’ by smokers, or as a route to quitting entirely. It’s a safe bet that that wasn;t the expectation of tobacco companies importing and promoting them, though.
When I lived in Paris, a French friend of mine told me that a decade prior, chew was offered up as a sacrificial lamb by the tobacco companies to appease some anti tobacco lobbies.
Now, this is coming from a Frenchman who: a) loves to smoke B) loves a good mild conspiracy.
I don’t know why the abolishment of chew (which probably wasn’t that popular to begin with) would appease any kind of respectable anti tobacco lobby.
That’s the word on the street though.
I can tell you anecdotally that I and several of my friends have quit smoking, aided by Scandinavian snus. IIRC, Sweden has one of the lowest smoking rates in Europe, and that’s partly attributed to their snussing habit. This very recent article agrees, and seems to state that, while snus is not harmless, in terms of harm reduction, it seems to be significantly safer than cigarettes.
I’m a smoker, not a dipper, but this I don’t get. Do the Scandanavian Snus users swallow the tobacco juice? I understand it’s in a self contained pouch, but wouldn’t the impulse still be to spit away the juice?
Not all smokeless tobacco is illegal in Australia and the EU – nasal snuff is still permitted, and England and Germany are the two main centers of worldwide snuff production.
Well, no. Snus is pretty tasty (it’s generally unflavored, but there are snusses with whiskey, bergamot, mint, and that sort of thing). I think it tastes a little on the peppery side. From the first time I tried it, I never felt compelled to spit out the juice–it doesn’t really produce a lot of juice, anyway. When I came back to the States I once ran out of snus and bought some Skoal as a substitute. I thought I was going to vomit the taste was so bad.
Tried to edit, but time ran out. Prepend this to the last post, and delete the “Well, no” part:
Yes, we swallow our juice. And while some snus is in single serving pouches, more experienced users generally use loose snus. (BTW, “snus” rhymes with “loose,” in case anybody was wondering.) You compress it down to about the size of a pea or two and tuck it away in your upper lip around your canine teeth.