If you want to learn how to make Swedish snus but you don’t know what tobacco to use. Prillan Norrland is an affordable starter package. You get good snus that you can use every day. For the price, you get decent snus.

This is the ingredients I used in the snus

Tobacco

The tobacco I use is:

Prillan Norrland tobacco flour You get 2 plastic boxes with a lid to use in the oven. 1 kg (2.2 lb) Grind tobacco with a natural flavor. You get approximately 2.5 kg (5.5 lb) snus after preparation. The nicotine content on the snus is 0.88%

tobacco flour

Flavor

The flavor I used in my snus is as follows:

Grundarom (base aroma) Humectant Smok flavor Colouring

Bergamott Citrus flavor, take the edge of the bitter taste.

Vanilj Vanilla flavor

Ceder Cedar wood flavor

Dark syrup Sweetener, takes the edge of the bitter taste.



Water

I used 1.6 l of water in the batch (1.69 qt)

Sodium carbonte

I used 70 g of sodium carbonate (2.47 oz)

Salt

I used 170 g of salt (6 oz)

Base aroma, bergamotte, syrup and vanilla

This is how I prepared my snus

As usual, I prepare my snus in the Crockpot for 36 hours. When I use a roosting bag I don’t stir it after 24 hours. Something you have to do if you don’t use a roasting bag. Without the bag, the heat from the pot dries out the snus, but with a bag, the moist is better preserved. After the cooking, I let it cool to room temperature. I wrap the pot in a blanket and let it slowly cool to room temperature. With a blanket this takes 8 to 12 hours.

Base aroma and first kneading

When the snus is at room temperature I add the base aroma and knead it for 5 minutes. At this stage in the process, the kneading is just to mix in the base aroma with the snus. I let it rest in the fridge a couple of weeks before I knead it to get the right consistency.

After a week in the fridge

After one week in the fridge, I add the flavors. I don’t overdo it with the flavors at this stage in the process. It’s better to add little and let it rest for a week in the fridge before you test it. If you put in too much flavor you can’t take it out. Then you have to dilute it with an unflavored batch.

10 drops of Cedar

20 drops of bergamot

20 g dark syrup (0.71 oz)

I kneaded it for 5 minutes.

With this batch, the taste was a bit on the bitter side, but that I normal before the snus has matured. Depending on the type of tobacco you use you get more or less bitter tasting snus. But the storage tends to lessen the bitter taste, so I let it rest for another week in the fridge before I continue.

After two weeks in the fridge

After two weeks in the fridge, it was still a bit too bitter for my taste, so I added some more flavors. The citrus flavor and the sweetener take the edge of the bitter taste.

20 drops of bergamot

20 drops of vanilla

20 g dark syrup (0.71 oz)

After I add more flavors, I knead it for 15 minutes to get the right consistency. If you have crumbly snus after kneading for 15 minutes, you may have to knead some more. The consistency and the taste are dependent on the type of tobacco you use and how you knead it. With a good food processor, this should be enough. But if it’s not, knead some more until you get the consistency you want.

After these steps the consistency was perfect, and the bitterness a bit reduced. But I let the snus rest for another week in the fridge before I know. As you experience is growing you know that the snus matures and the taste develops during the storage.

After six weeks in the fridge

After six weeks in the fridge, it gets better and better every day. You never can tell beforehand if it’s going to be good or if it is going to the compost. But this snus I like.

Sometimes a batch starts okay but turns bad after some time. And another time it can start out tasting bad and bitter but get better and better with time. In my opinion, Prillan Norrland gets better and better with time.

A bucket of Prillan Norland Swedish snus

Are you a supertaster?

To some extent, we are genetically pre-programmed to enjoy or abhor certain types of food. In particular, the bitter taste separates super tasters from normal tasters. Bitter substances taste awful to some, while others are completely untouched.

In Asia, supertasters are more common. More women than men are super tasters. Roughly speaking people can be divided like this:

supertasters 25%

Normal tasters 50%

Low tasters 25%

Supertasters often avoid foods like broccoli, Brussels sprouts, green leaves and whole grains that contain bitter but healthy and cancer-protecting substances. Many supertasters experience the taste of alcohol as unpleasant. Wine experts are rarely supertasters, however, they have phenomenal noses. There is also research to suggest that supertasters are more sensitive to consistency and hot spices.

So, I suspect that I’m a bit of a supertaster, I don’t like bitter snus and I can’t stand Brussels spout. Where do you fall in the spectrum?

Prillan Norrland - My conclusion

Prillan Norrland is an okay every-day snus. You don’t get any deeper taste experience, but it’s ok. Good snus develops and deepens during the time in your moth, but you don’t get it here. It’s a bit shallow in taste and without real depth. But for the price, it’s well worth it.

What is your favorite?

Leave a comment and let me know what’s your favorite snus recipe.

Anders

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