Snus Review – Jakobsson’s Melon Strong Portion Snus or Thunder Melon Extra Strong Portion Snus?

Back in January of 2012, Gotlandssnus AB made a major change to their business plan.  They expanded their Jakobssons Snus brand and changed the flavor profile to target the US market.

The new products featured unconventional (by Swedish standards) flavors and added sweeteners to appeal to Camel SNUS and other American-made  “snus” customers.  When it came to high nicotine melon flavored snus,  Jakobsson’s had the monopoly.

That changed in July of 2014 when Thunder Melon Extra Strong portion snus was released as a stand-alone product available by the can or roll.  Formerly it was only available as part of a Thunder flavored snus Limited Edition.

Now it is time to compare Jakobssons Melon against Thunder Melon to determine who is the new Melon Snus King.

Jakobsson’s Melon Strong Portion Snus

I personally prefer tobacco-centric or traditional Swedish fruit flavored snuses.  Jakobsson’s does still manufacture these; their Classic Portion (not Classic Strong) and one of my early favorite snuses, Gotlandssnus Flader; renamed with a different tobacco mix as Jakobsson’s Flader portion.  Both of these are standard nicotine level snuses, coming in at 9mg/gr.

Of late, I do have an occasional sweet tooth in the evening and the Gotland’s Easter, Summer and Christmas snuses are very enjoyable while being standard nicotine strength.

This is the first time I’ve used a Jakobsson’s Strong American flavor profile snus since there initial release two years ago.  The taste was too similar to over-sweetened American snus for my liking.  Now that I have something to compare it to, Jakobssons Melon Strong Portion snus is worth a revisit.

Thunder Melon Extra Strong Portion Snus

V2 Tobacco‘s history with unconventionally flavored snuses goes back to their founding back in 2006.  Their Offroad snus brand is overwhelmingly dominated by never before seen (or tasted) snus flavors.

Among many other snuses, my first order of REAL snus back in 2007 contained one can of every Offroad snus then in production.  I wish I had kept the Offroad cans for my collection. 

After trying a half dozen Offroad flavors, I dumped them into the trash in disappointment.  I didn’t like the tobacco contained in Offroad and the flavors; each one had it’s own fatal flaw to my taste buds.

The only one I did and still do enjoy is Nordstrommen Christmas (Julessnus); either portion or loose.

My lack of fondness for V2 products changed radically in 2009 with the introduction of Thunder Original Extra Strong Snus.  This new Thunder brand nailed it with an extra strong nicotine,  great tasting tobacco-centric masterpiece.

Seven months later, V2 released the now iconic Thunder Frosted Extra Strong portion and loose snus.  While Thunder Frosted and the later flavored snus offerings in the Thunder brand were sweeter than the Swedish norm, they did not embrace the American Snus sickly sweetness found in Camel SNUS and Marlboro Snus.

When the new state-of-art V2 Tobacco snus factory began production in late 2011, there was an exponential jump in quality beyond that I was already enjoying.  New tobacco sources were brought in as well.  The Offroad brand improved markedly and is now a great choice for a value priced snus.

V2 has never looked back which brings us to Thunder Melon Extra Strong portion snus.

Comparing Jakobsson’s Melon to Thunder Melon Snus

We’ll tackle the easy part first:  nicotine.

Jakobssons Melon strong portion snus is rated at 14mg/gr of nicotine making it a strong portion.  Thunder Melon portion snus is rated at 16mg/portion making it an extra strong snus.

Two milligrams difference may not sound like much, but the difference to the user is very noticeable.  In my opinion, the Thunder Extra Strong and Ultra Strong brands deliver the hardest hitting yet smoothest nicotine experience bar none.  This includes that of two of my all time and still favorite snuses; General Ekstra Sterk and General Long Extra Strong portion snus.

V2 co-owner and snus maker Marc Vogel has developed a unique process to deliver this outstanding nicotine experience many have tried to emulate but none have yet to succeed at.  I can’t give you any details as Marc would run me over with his high performance automobile; the second fastest at V2.

Next let’s talk about longevity of taste from when you pop a portion into your mouth.

In this category, Thunder Melon is the clear winner.  A portion of Thunder Melon was still flavorable a half hour after the Jakobsson’s Melon had weakened and needed to be replaced.

Saving the best and most subjective topic for last, it’s time to talk about flavor.

While both Jakobbsons and Thunder call these Melon snuses, they chose to use different melons to set the flavor.

Jakobsson’s used the watermelon as the most prominent flavor for their Melon snus.  The salt is very light but the sweetness is very sweet.

The Thunder Melon tastes more of cantaloupe.  The salt is a little more pronounced than the Jacobssons but the sweetness is less overpowering than the Jackobssons.

Perhaps it’s a difference between Swedish and Danish taste preferences, but Thunder has a different way of hitting the tastebuds than most Swedish flavored snuses.  Sometimes that’s good; other times not so much. It’s a heavier, less in your face way of flavoring.  In the case of the Thunder Melon, the flavor sensation seemed almost syrupy to me at times.

I didn’t find using a portion of the Jakobsson’s Melon as unpleasant as I remembered it in 2012; probably because there are more high nicotine flavored snuses on the market today which I’ve sampled.

The first portion, while a little sweet for my liking, wasn’t bad at all.  I found I could not do 2 portions in a row, however, without the taste of the second portion becoming cloying.

I did not experience that issue with the Thunder Melon but chain-snusing it in the bunker with minimal physical activity, the nicotine build-up in my blood had my hands shaking to the point I needed a break.

From a consumer perspective, both the Jakobsson’s and Thunder Melon snuses are strong sellers. 

According to snus legend Moe Unz, Manager of the SnusCentral.com Snus Shop, Jakobsson’s Melon Strong Portion Snus currently ranks #5 on the list of best-selling strong/extra strong regular portions and #8 overall of the current best selling snuses at SnusCentral.com

Thunder Melon Extra Strong Portion has only been on the market since July so it’s too early to tell where it will rank. 

Looking at recent sales, Unz stated that the Jakobsson’s Melon is and has been on sale for about a month now and while selling well, SnusCentral.com has never run out of it.

As of this writing, Thunder Melon is sold out at SnusCentral.com (fear not, more is coming).  Unz added that this was the second time this has happened since the melon product was released last month. 

Several other new Thunder flavors including Lemon, Caramel-Vanilla, and Apple have also sold out but are now back in stock.

This wouldn’t rank as scientifically valid statistics, but it is intriguing and worth considering.

Conclusions

When it comes to snus reviews I have a saying:  taste is in the mouth of each snuser.  These are my thoughts based on my taste buds. 

What is important to note is that despite being being called Melon snuses, the Jakobsson’s and the Thunder each have a unique and very different flavor profile.  Whether you like or dislike the Jakobssons Melon, I suggest adding a can of Thunder Melon to your next order….if Moe has them in stock.

If you want to hold your own Battle of the Melon high nicotine snuses, pick up a can of each and let your taste buds pick the winner. 

If you don’t like flavored snuses at all, then stick with your favorite tobacco-centric/classically flavored Swedish snuses and give both of these a pass.

Feel free to share your opinions in the Comments section below or on the SnusCentral Facebook page.  Just don’t bring my mother into it…

Enjoy your REAL Snus!

LARRY WATERS

Swedish Snus Ambassador to the United States
Reporting for SnusCENTRAL.org