Snus!

In reading about an overseas acquaintance of mine, I came across a brief survey.

When asked about his nasty habits, he answered, "Snus."

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Before I continue, I must digress with an aside: What the hell is a snu?

Well, snus is not the plural form of snu. Snus (which rhymes with noose, not snooze) is (not are) Swedish snuff. Camel now offers it in the U.S. as little packets, similar to the ol' Skoal Bandits. The difference with snus is that allegedly, you don't have to spit out the juice. So you can pretty much pop one between your cheek and gum anytime/anywhere and nic' up fairly unnoticed.
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He and I have some basic things in common, and my imagination fills in the gaps so that I can relate to (my perception of) his story.

We both are males of the same age with 1 child and very generally have similar lines of work, temperament, self-esteem, etc.

In continuing to weave a fictitious tale based on my personal interpretation of little factual knowledge, I would say:

He smoked cigarettes before his daughter came along. He tried to quit, and found it to be beyond his power, as most of do; especially under the stress of being a slacker/artistic type suddenly expected to transform into a bread-winning father.

Snus was right there waiting; such a simple solution! No need to go through the never ending hell of withdrawel; you don't have to quit; you just switch over to snus. No second hand smoke to damage your family's lungs with; no foul smells in the air, on your clothes, apolstery, etc. Even the disgusting constant necessity to spit out the juice into a makeshift spitoon that comes with chewing tobacco or dip is gone!

I just barely slipped past the snus trap. Just (in falsetto:) baaaaaaarely.

When I bought what was to be my final pack of cigarettes, I was given a free promotional gift by the clerk behind the mini-market counter. It was a little tin of Camel Snus. Brand new product; try it!

I was scared of it, for some reason.

I think I was afraid because I didn't know how to guage the intake/impact. I thought I might overdose on nicotine, and feel sick. I wouldn't go without a cigarette for long enough to clear my system enough to take nicotine in an additional form.

Also, I sensed (imagined) some evil about it, but I couldn't put my finger on it. It just seemed to be another way to get people addicted. With many of the stigmas associated with smoking removed through this product, tobacco companies can still thrive and reap profits in a world where smoking might actually decline.

I feel lucky I chose to quit when I did, and that I used the lozenges rather than snus. Snus arrived in my awareness at a very critical time. If I had given in to try it, I would have definitely switched over to it. To the rest of the world, I could say, "I quit smoking!" but really I just switched products.

Obviously, I did, in fact, switch products; from cigarettes to lozenges. What would be the difference if I had switched to snus instead of lozenges? Well, I believe that the lozenges contain less nicotine, but more importantly less of all the other toxic chemical additives that enhance the tobacco products making them more addictive. I think the lozenges are less addictive and therefore somewhat less difficult to quit taking.

The idea of the nicotine replacement is the same as methadone for junkies, I believe. The replacement is only supposed to be temporary. One makes` the switch in order to get off the hard stuff immediately without one's body being shocked too drastically. You are switching to a less dangerous alternative to ease the severity of withdrawel symptoms. But eventually you have to stop taking the replacement to truly be a successful quitter.