In Sweden, snus is an established harm reduction tool for smokers, providing the nicotine kick they crave without lung cancer risks. Since the introduction of snus in 1724, smoking prevalence has decreased and Swedish men have one of Europe’s lowest rates of tobacco related diseases. Large transnational tobacco companies have invested in snus and more recently in nicotine pouches that do not contain tobacco leaf (see Bath TCRG’s webpage on Smokeless Tobacco Products). Learn more:https://heysnus.com/et

Snus was initially developed from a variant of dry snuff when Swedish farmers ground their own locally grown tobacco, mixed it into a paste-like consistency, and allowed it to ferment in jars before portioning it out and placing it under the lip as a sublabial administration. The product became known as snus when a monk traveling with Columbus to the Americas came across Native priests who inhaled a powder from their noses through a fork-like tube, the predecessor of snus.

The Science Behind Snus: Understanding Its Composition and Effects

Unlike dipping or chewing tobacco, modern snus is steam-pasteurized rather than fire-cured like smoking tobacco and therefore has lower concentrations of the carcinogens formed during this process (e.g. nitrosamines, heavy metals and polyaromatic hydrocarbons) than other smokeless tobacco products. This process also inhibits the growth of bacteria that facilitate the formation of new nitrosamines and other tobacco-specific compounds.

However, snus may still be associated with oral lesions and an increased risk of pancreatic cancer. An earlier epidemiological study [31] reported a RR of 2.1 (95% CI 0.9-4.9) for pancreatic cancer for daily snus users compared to never-smoking snus users, but this was adjusted for cigarette smoking, alcohol consumption and dental hygiene.

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