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My first snus was kinda like loosing my virginity... It felt forbidden, exciting and turned out to be a complete disaster. I was 14 at the time and someone had left a can of loose Grovsnus behind at school. It just sat there, looking seductive. So I opened it and took my first whif of that wonderful snus scent. I had thought about trying snus a few times before but I never got around to it. I wanted my first time to be in solitude in case I didn't react cool enough for my friends. I should have known something wasn't right when I tried to form (or "bake") the snus with the tips of my fingers but the darned thing wouldn't at all get that perfect, round shape I had seen more experienced people create. No matter how I tried, it wouldn't hold together and it turned out more like a pyramid than a perfectly round sphere. In retrospect the person who left the can there probably did so intentionally, since the expiration date was long gone and the snus had dried up. I did however, eventually manage to shape it into something slightly resembeling a "prilla" and placed it under my upper, left lip. I had yet to develop the proper "tounge skills" though and I had a hard time keeping it in place. The snus just moved around in my mouth, becoming moister and moister by the second. It started cracking up and soon enough I had swallowed more than half of it. I was starting to feel a little quesy and the inside of my lip started to throb and burn. Some time passed before I tried snus again.
I did, however, eventually recoved from my first snus experience and over time I found a snus that fir me like a glove - Röda Lacket. From there my preferences evolved to Grov, General snus and Göteborgs Rapé which has been my long time favourite. 15 years and almost 5000 cans of snus later here I am. A lot has happened to myself and to snus as a phenomenon. Snus has made the leap from construction workers and jocks to be viewed as something a little more up scale and the market has been flooded with new brands. I was never one to be afraid of trying out new snus and for some reason I kept the empty cans, well one of each brand atleast. The one can missing from my collection is one called Mick's Mint, it's damned near impossible to get a hold of. The cans themselves are important of course, sorta like the clothes of snus. It's easy to become a little sentimental, remembering the goold ole' days when I look through my collection of cans. The old cardboard cans almost brings a tear to my eyes. Another nostalgic detail are the tin lids. These days tins lids are only availible as collectables and not as something that comes with every can you buy, like they used to.
In conclusion, a lot has happened since I took my first taste of snus. In 1992 when the EU first introduced it's ban on snus I was terrified, but snus has endured. And today snus is stronger than ever. Doctors and scientists are speaking about "The Swedish Experience" and what snus has done for Sweden in terms of reducing smoking and as a result smoking related deaths. It's getting international recognition, especially in the US. Who knows, we might just beat the snus world record from 1919 yet, when a total of 7.000 tons of snus was consumed...
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