Olde Viking Review

Not too long ago, I received an order of snus which contained a tin of Olde Viking. Manufactured by GN Tobacco, Olde Viking is an original portion snus with a traditional tobacco flavor. Having been a fan of the Oden’s Extreme snus, I was excited to give another GN Tobacco offering a try. Unlike other brands of Swedish snus, Olde Viking is fermented rather than steam-cured, the implications of which I will discuss later on in this post.

Old Viking snus

As soon as I put a portion of Olde Viking into my mouth, I was greeted with a tasty tobacco dominant flavor. This tobacco flavor had a smoky element to it in addition to a slight citrus undertone. Having been on a tobacco flavored kick lately, I really enjoyed the taste of this snus. The material used to make the portions was fairly comfortable in my lip, and I was able to keep a portion in for approximately half an hour before it began to drip. Being an original portion snus, the nicotine hit was rather quick, and very pleasant at 9mg per portion of snus.

As Larry on Snus Central notes,

Steam Pasteurizing snus kills all of the micro-organisms in the product including those which form TSNA’s or nitrosamines which are carcinogens. If you open a can of Steam Pasteurized Snus 6 months after the expiration date (unless you froze it prior to the expiration date), it’s not going to taste as good or even have quite the nicotine levels it did when made, but it won’t hurt you. The TSNA levels will be the same.

This is NOT true of Fermented Snus. A can of fermented snus straight off the assembly line will have a TSNA level of X. Even in the sealed can and regardless of how well that can is sealed, the TSNA levels will begin climbing exponentially until they are well above acceptable limits. This is why in America, Copenhagen Moist Snuff (which is fermented) is pulled off the shelf every 30 days and replaced. Skoal pulls their fermented Moist Snuff every 60 to 90 days. If you purchase a can of Fermented Snus, don’t use it after the expiration date, PERIOD.

However, fellow snus blogger Chad Jones of Snubie has informed me that

One thing I want to make note of is that after what Larry said above, GN Tobacco sent us (I think Larry saw it too) copies of their TSNA reports from Eurofins. Though I wasn’t able to publish the numbers (per their request) I will say that their TSNA levels were on par with Swedish Match’s GothiaTek standard and their snus (Ettan, General, etc as well). The type of fermentation that they use is perfectly fine and isn’t the same as “American Dip Fermentation”. You can use this snus with confidence, even after it’s expired.

Overall, Olde Viking is a great snus, which also happens to be in an affordable price range. I recommend it to those who enjoy a good tobacco dominant flavor.