I started smoking cigarettes when I was about 16 years old. My dad started when he was eight. His dad probably came out of the womb with an unfiltered Pall Mall hanging out of his mouth.

I smoked like three packs a day at one point in time, then I quickly started to realize how much of a toll it was taking on my body. I was breathing more smoke than oxygen.

That was around the time those huge box mod vapes were catching on. Everyone swore they were a virtually harmless way to have your cake and eat it too because iTs jUsT vApOr.

So I did that for the better part of a decade. It was easier to breathe after the first couple of weeks. I quit hacking stuff up every morning too. But the new problem was that they just taste so goddamn good you wanna keep hitting the thing until it makes you sick. My heart rate was always through the roof, I was sweating like crazy all the time and I was spending at least $60 a week on disposable vapes that were more high tech than some of the first smartphones.

At this point I’m more nicotine than man, so I can’t imagine trying to quit. At least not right now; I have too much shit going on to try and quit the most addictive substance on the planet.

I have however switched to a secret third thing: Swedish snus. The American stuff is absolute garbage that’s pumped full of sugar and who knows what else, and a can of it is just as expensive as a pack of cigarettes.

So I order it from Sweden. What a weird and unnecessary addiction right? I’m dependent on this thing that’s only made in a tiny country on the other side of the planet. But holy fuck is it good.

The cost of shipping is pretty brutal but it STILL comes out to about half the price of the stuff I can buy here AND I get the same uber high quality brands people in Scandinavia are using.

There’s a lot of research in favor of Snus as a means of harm reduction. It’s pasteurized, so all the nasty stuff you’d find in ‘merican dip or chew is neutralized. You don’t even have to spit. They have a whole department similar to the FDA specifically for smokeless tobacco products over there, so that’s a plus too.

But I’m not going to kid myself; pretty much any drug is going to have some kind of ill effect on your body. Habitually shoving a pouch of literally anything into your gums all day every day is absolutely terrible for your teeth.

It’s an undeniably disgusting habit but it’s nice not sucking on a battery powered fog machine all day.