EXCLUSIVE: Snus Review – Phantom White Portion Snus and more V2 Tobacco Snus News

For the last two days, I’ve been using a snus I’m pretty confident most of you aren’t:  Phantom Classic White Portion Snus by V2 Tobacco.  The reason for my confidence?  The official release date for Phantom Classic White Portion Snus is still more than a month away as of this writing!

Not only do I have the first review of Phantom White Portion Snus on the planet, but more on the new products and brand names V2 will be releasing over the next few months!

V2 describes all the Phantom brand snus’s as having a smooth round taste.  I would agree with that and also translate it as mild.  The Phantom White is an interesting addition and I believe the first White Portion Snus V2 has released.

As with all the V2 Tobacco brands, Phantom has a wonderful mouth feel.  The pouch is very comfortable and there is no burn at all.  The aroma is a mild ammonia and citrus.

As to taste, milder than I prefer personally but then again V2’s Thunder Original and Frosted Snus are two of my favorites.  They are anything but mild and loaded with 16mg/g of nicotine.  More on new Thunder Snus in a moment!  (this is called a teaser by literary giants like myself.  It’s designed to keep you eagerly reading the article!)

Phantom White Portion Snus has an excellent salt balance:  you can taste it but it is not overdone and indeed complements the flavor.  As always, I hesitate to ever use the word “Bergamot” except when Swedish Snus Review Laws require it.  There is a noticeable citrus taste to the Phantom White Snus, but it really doesn’t strike me as bergamot.  More of lemon with orange overtones.  It’s subtle as is the tobacco flavor and wrapping it all together, Phantom White is a very pleasant snus!

Phantom White starts running relatively quickly:  within 5 minutes.  They lasted me well over an hour, but since I don’t generally use mild snus, those of you who do or are “Official Phantom Phanatics”, you will probably experience much longer use than I.

For those of you who enjoy a milder but very well balanced and subtly flavored snus, I think you’re really going to enjoy Phantom Classic White Portion Snus ….when you can get it.  Like all the Phantom Snus’s,  you’re getting a great taste at a great price!

The official release date is July 1st, 2009 but like prior releases, I suspect V2 is giving themselves a cushion.  This is speculation on my part, but I would not be surprised if Phantom White was released mid to late June.

For those of you Phantom Blue Portion Snus and Phantom Brown Portion Snus fans, White Portions of both of these are also scheduled for future release.  I do note with all three white portions, the content per can is slightly less than the portion snus versions.  This could be due to slightly less moisture as White Portions do not go through the additional wetting process Portion Snus does.  I’ll verify that for you though.

Before we talk about the new Thunder Snus offering (another teaser; pretty subtle how I worked that, isn’t it?), The big news is V2 is offering a completely new line of snus specifically for woman called Fellinni Mini Portion Snus.

Fellinni Snus will initially be available in three flavors:  Mint, Liquorice, and Eucalyptus.  The Fellinni line consists of all mini-portion snus products.  As you can see from the can, it is very attractive and the flavors are among the most popular of women surveyed.

There is no published availability date for Fellinni Mini Portion Snus yet but I would estimate between 3 and 5 months, based on conversations with Patrick Vogel, co-founder of V2 Tobacco.

To the left is a spy-camera photo of Patrick Vogel at the V2 Tobacco Booth at Tobacco Plus Expo 2009.

And now, no more teasers; lets talk about Thunder Snus.  I’ve reviewed both the Thunder Original Extra Strong Portion Snus and the Thunder Frosted Extra Strong Portion Snus in the past and have made no secret of what excellent snuses I believe both are.

Not being a Wintergreen fan in general, I’ve never tried the Thunder Extra Strong Wintergreen Portion Snus before nor am I planning on it.  I just don’t like the taste of any Wintergreen, OK?  If you do, try the Thunder Wintergreen Extra Strong Portion Snus and write a review about it under the Member Reviews of Swedish Snus section on SnusCENTRAL.org.

The additions to the Thunder Snus family are not new flavors, but Strong Mini-Portion versions of  Original and Frosted!  Both will be the identical snus used in their one-gram fore-bearers; just in a smaller size.  The Mini-Portion Thunder’s will contain 8mg/pouch of nicotine making them pretty much the strongest mini-portions available.

Thunder Frosted Strong Mini Portion Snus will be the first released this summer followed by Thunder Original Strong Mini Portion Snus.  There are no plans at this point to release Thunder Wintergreen Snus as a Mini Portion.  Personally, that’s fine with me.  If you like Wintergreen Snus and want a mini portion, email V2, not me.

V2 Tobacco is located in Silkeborg, Denmark and all their snus products are among those having the lowest TSNA levels in Scandinavia.  Their brands include OffRoad Snus, Phantom Snus, Nordstrommen Snus, Thunder Snus, BaccOff Nicotine and Tobacco Free Snus (since tobacco taste and nicotine are why I use snus, I have no idea what the point of BaccOff is, but it’s none of my business I guess) and coming soon, Fellinni Mini Portion Snus for Women.

Other new flavors and products are planned by V2 for this year as well.  These have just concluded the Tasting Focus Group tests and not finalized as of yet.  I’m hoping for all those new Norstrommen Loose Snus flavors to be offered in Portions too, but Patrick intentionally answered me in Danish so I have no ideas what he said about that.

V2 continues it’s innovative, great tasting, and popular snus products and never really stops.  That’s probably why they have quickly become one of the best known names in Scandinavian Snus.

LARRY WATERS
Activist Snus Guru
Reporting From SnusCENTRAL.org