A Year Long of Cheek and Gum

Sometime last year, I started a habit that I never planned on being a habit.

snus front
New packaging vs. old packaging – warnings clearly marked

Back in 2009, our local indie rag – SLC City Weekly – included some free coupons for this product called Snus. It’s a smokeless tobacco that requires no spitting or chewing. I’ve always found chewing tobacco to be disgusting ever since metal shop in high school when I did smoke, but a couple of my friends chewed. They used to make spittoons from scrap metal so they could spit during class.

I’ve been smoke free from cigarettes since May 2003, but I was curious each week these free coupons would fall out of the paper. So I eventually decided to try them.

snus back
More warnings

At first, it was a rush. You place the little pouch in your upper lip between your cheek and gum. There is no drip, no spitting. It’s just a small bit of tobacco flavor that gets mixed in with your saliva, but that’s it.

snus pouch
small little pouches

As you can see above, the pouches are self contained and no tobacco comes out. All very fine bits of tobacco. So what’s the deal? Well, it seems that I’ve enjoyed using these throughout the day. I do about 3 a day, leave them in for about 40 mins at a time, sometimes less, sometimes longer. I’ve found that instead of being just a casual thing, it’s become more of a habit. Maybe to calm my neves some. Or to have something to do while I’m working or drinking at the bar. I didn’t plan on that happening, but then again, it is a form of tobacco.

Come January 2nd, I want to be done with these. Why not January 1st? Well, there’s New Year’s Eve and it’s one last bang. Plus, if they can’t be something I can do every so often without feeling like I need them, then for me, it’s time to call it quits.

And let’s just call this a precursor to my TINTFA 2011 list. A head start to change, if you will.

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