First off: What is snus? Snus is a smokeless tobacco that is kind of like American "dip" but you don't have to spit like a cowboy or into a disgusting bottle all the time. It is a far less obvious lump of tobacco you keep next to your gums that is popular in Sweden and other Northern European countries. Because of this product, I was able to easily quit smoking after more than 20 years of being involved in that habit.
There is a caveat though: This product isn't so easy to get a hold of in certain parts of the world and Vietnam is one of those countries. I was still able to get it here at a pretty high price off of online marketplaces that I am not sure are legal or not. They must be to some degree because customs doesn't screw around here and the heightened price on the boxes would indicate that the importers are paying a hefty tariff to get it here.
You may recall from my previous posts what when Vietnam decided to lock down this country for Covid reasons they seriously locked it down including all incoming international flights, even for most cargo. Also, internal mail services were shut down and since the suppliers were located in Saigon and I live 600 miles from there, there was no chance I was getting any.
When services did resume the supplier contacted me because I had been pestering them for a long time about making sure to let me know as soon as they could possibly get it to me. Just like any nicotine addict, I was getting a bit grouchy and even started vaping for a little while to compensate for it. I'm not really keen on vaping because it is a gateway back into smoking and I definitely don't want to do that.
Purists out there would probably say that I should have used this time to just not be addicted to nicotine anymore and if I were a smart man I would have done exactly that.
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So yesterday was a bit like Christmas for me after 5 weeks of going without the stuff. There is something I would like to point out about snus just generally speaking compared to smoking.... The main one being that it is substantially less bad for you.
It probably sounds like a copout but it is actually true and there have been major studies that have been done to show precisely this. For one thing, while a TON of really horrible problems like cancer can be directly attributed to smoking, there is virtually nothing that can be traced back to snus after many decades of studies that were almost certainly trying their hardest to make exactly that sort of connection. The only bad things that can be attributed to it is gum problem and tooth loss but even in those instances the studies do admit that the affected generally speaking had terrible oral care routines anyway.
Since snus is so popular in Sweden, they have the lowest percentage of smokers in all of Europe and this wouldn't be all that impressive if it weren't for the fact that try as they may, there isn't a great deal of "bad stuff" that comes along with snus use as far as health is concerned.
This last graph shows the amount of lung cancer cases per 100,000 people and I don't know what happened to the women in Sweden but at least for the men, they have a lower amount than the rest of Northern Europe. While I didn't include the entire graph because it is huge, it is also the lowest number of men per 100,000 in all of Europe. In fact, no country other than Cyprus, even comes close and they were at 38.
It might sound like I am trying to make excuses for my habit and I suppose in a way I am but as someone who has actually seen a family member slowly die from lung cancer, I am delighted that there is no chance of snus contributing to that. In fact, one would assume that if any cancer were going to be associated with keeping tobacco in your mouth for hours on end that it would be oral cancer, but a series of large controlled studies were not able to make a link between snus and even this type of cancer.
I tell my friends this: "I can brush my teeth... I can't brush my lungs."
Would it be better if I simply stopped using all tobacco? Well yeah, of course. It would also be better if I only ate vegetables and exercised for 2 hours a day but I don't do those things either.
If you are a smoker and like me, tried all the other products on the market that are designed to help you quit, I suggest you have a look at snus. It isn't ideal to use snus, but it is much better than smoking that by all studies basically ensures future health problems.
For now I am at peace because I have way more snus than I will need for the next several months and it has been a long time coming so yeah, I'm a happy guy right now.