# Snuff, snus, and chew banned in the EU? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 29, 2007, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snuff-snus-and-chew-banned-in-the-eu/428180 "2007-11-29T15:17:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![neorxnawange](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f4b2a3/32.png) [@neorxnawange](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neorxnawange)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2007, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snuff-snus-and-chew-banned-in-the-eu/428180/1 "2007-11-29T15:17:53Z")
Friend just returned from a business trip to Europe and claims that smokeless tobacco is not for sale there, banned for health concerns. Is this for real? I was surrounded by cigarette smoke on my own trips to Europe, it seems to be the cultural norm to smoke cigs. So it seems bizzare to me that smokeless tobacco would be banned while cigarettes are as common as candy. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2007, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snuff-snus-and-chew-banned-in-the-eu/428180/2 "2007-11-29T15:24:48Z")
I believe, of the EU, it’s only available in Sweden. It’s definitely OK in Norway, which isn’t in the EU, as a Norwegian colleague of mine used to bring about 200 tubs with him whenever he returned from visiting home. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2007, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snuff-snus-and-chew-banned-in-the-eu/428180/3 "2007-11-29T15:48:18Z")
[QUOTE=jjimm] I believe, of the EU, it’s only available in Sweden. [/QUOTE] [Hmmmm.](http://www.the-tobacconist.co.uk/snuff_menu.asp). ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2007, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snuff-snus-and-chew-banned-in-the-eu/428180/4 "2007-11-29T16:09:21Z")
Sorry, missed the “snuff” part of that. But Skoal Bandits, etc. are indeed outlawed [according to this](http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,1713148,00.html) from the Guardian in 2006: > [@](#): > > British American Tobacco, the UK’s biggest tobacco company, confirmed to The Observer that it wants to sell snus - smokeless tobacco - across the European Union where, except for Sweden, it is currently banned. ---
**Author:** ![neorxnawange](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f4b2a3/32.png) [@neorxnawange](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neorxnawange)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2007, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snuff-snus-and-chew-banned-in-the-eu/428180/5 "2007-11-29T16:54:11Z")
Wait, so snuff (dip) is legal in Britain, but snus isn’t? That seems wierd. I 'm just not getting the logic of tobacco laws in the EU. I’m also still fuzzy on exactly what they are. Cigarettes are legal and are in fact a cultural norm. Cigars, I assume are also legal. But snus is illegal everywhere in the EU, except Sweden, and snuff is legal only in certain other EU member nations. Is this correct? And what possible logic could there be to this? All tobacco is health hazardous, but I’d think steam-cured snus would be far less toxic than cigarettes. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2007, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snuff-snus-and-chew-banned-in-the-eu/428180/6 "2007-11-29T16:56:03Z")
Snuff for the nose, not dipping snuff. ---
**Author:** ![neorxnawange](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f4b2a3/32.png) [@neorxnawange](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neorxnawange)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2007, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snuff-snus-and-chew-banned-in-the-eu/428180/7 "2007-11-29T17:00:11Z")
[QUOTE=jjimm] Snuff for the nose, not dipping snuff. [/QUOTE] OK, that makes a little more sense. So it’s ok to smoke tobacco, and snort it, but don’t suck on it or chew it. Is there a European cultural objection to dipping or is it really a health concern? ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2007, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snuff-snus-and-chew-banned-in-the-eu/428180/8 "2007-11-29T17:00:56Z")
[QUOTE=neorxnawange] OK, that makes a little more sense. So it’s ok to smoke tobacco, and snort it, but don’t suck on it or chew it. Is there a European cultural objection to dipping or is it really a health concern? [/QUOTE] Probably a bit of both, with some mouth cancer hysteria thrown in. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2007, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snuff-snus-and-chew-banned-in-the-eu/428180/9 "2007-11-29T18:01:36Z")
You can buy snuff in my local corner shop (Ireland, Europe). Only old women and hipstery people buy it though and even then, rarely.