What's new

General Los Snus in US?

Has anyone seen General Los (loose) snus for sale in the US? Their website says that it's here, but I haven't seen it in any of the few places I've seen carrying the portions.
 
It's available to any retailer that's currently carrying the portions, all they have to do is place an order for it with General or whichever distributor they buy from. That being said, los doesn't sell as well as portions, so retailers are reluctant to carry it in any real quantities. If it sold better, you'd see it everywhere....but that's the problem. Retailers only like to regularly stock items that sell through fairly quickly and knowing that General has short expiration dates (compared to Thunder, Oden's and Jakobsson's) retailers are just reluctant to stock it. I'm sure your local tobacconist would special order a roll for you if you asked, if they already carry General.
 
I might have to go that route, then. There's a cigar shop near my office that I know carries General. I tried to stop in and check if they had los yesterday, but they were closed. Worst case I'm sure he'd be happy to add a roll to his next order for me.

I feel like this snus odyssey that I've found myself on would have been a lot easier if I'd started it 4 or 5 years ago.
 
I might have to go that route, then. There's a cigar shop near my office that I know carries General. I tried to stop in and check if they had los yesterday, but they were closed. Worst case I'm sure he'd be happy to add a roll to his next order for me.

I feel like this snus odyssey that I've found myself on would have been a lot easier if I'd started it 4 or 5 years ago.

I think with the Swedish made stuff barely starting to break into the US market really in most places, 4 or 5 years ago would have been even harder to find the few options we can find on the shelves now.
 
I think with the Swedish made stuff barely starting to break into the US market really in most places, 4 or 5 years ago would have been even harder to find the few options we can find on the shelves now.

You sir, are correct. 5 years ago, you could ONLY find Swedish snus in certain "test" markets in the US. So, to buy it from Sweden you'd have to order from one of the few online vendors and wait for it to be delivered Swedish Post (normally 14 days or so) to your house. Now with the PACT act and Tobacco Control Act in place...these online vendors should (most do) charge you the state and federal taxes and then you have to wait for it to be delivered to your home, via UPS..which is far more expensive than Swedish Post. This is why it's generally less expensive and more convenient to buy your Swedish snus locally now. And if you're local tobacconist isn't yet carrying snus, let me know their name and number and I'll have my sales team contact them asap :)
 
You sir, are correct. 5 years ago, you could ONLY find Swedish snus in certain "test" markets in the US. So, to buy it from Sweden you'd have to order from one of the few online vendors and wait for it to be delivered Swedish Post (normally 14 days or so) to your house. Now with the PACT act and Tobacco Control Act in place...these online vendors should (most do) charge you the state and federal taxes and then you have to wait for it to be delivered to your home, via UPS..which is far more expensive than Swedish Post. This is why it's generally less expensive and more convenient to buy your Swedish snus locally now. And if you're local tobacconist isn't yet carrying snus, let me know their name and number and I'll have my sales team contact them asap :)

Sadly, here in NY, there is no real option that is less expensive than others for snus. :( I found that if I go through a few online vendors and bought in some serious bulk, that was the best price per tin I could manage. I just ended up with dozens of tins in the fridge, and I don't go through it nearly that fast. *sigh*
 

Mike H

Instagram Famous
I can find Portion Snus in about many local spots, mostly convenience stores. However, I have only seen the Los at one location and it was a Pipe and Cigar shop.
 
Turns out one of the local cigar shops does stock the Los, so I'll be stopping there today to pick up a can of it. If I get lucky they'll have prismasters as well, but I'm not going to count on it.
 
Was able to get my hands on two cans of Los and just attempted to make my first prilla. Hand baking is harder than it looks! Once I got the prilla formed I attempted to put it in my mouth and had a good chunk of it land on my tongue. After some pushing with my tongue and spitting out the excess I've got it in. Definitely need to get a prismaster or an Icetool if I'm going to stick with loose.

ETA: Anyone have suggestions on where to get an Ice Tool without paying $30 for shipping?
 
Last edited:
Sadly, here in NY, there is no real option that is less expensive than others for snus. :( I found that if I go through a few online vendors and bought in some serious bulk, that was the best price per tin I could manage. I just ended up with dozens of tins in the fridge, and I don't go through it nearly that fast. *sigh*

You know, sadly I hear this quite a bit. Part of the problem is that once I sell the snus to a retailer, that retailer can turn around and add whatever margin he wants. Essentially pricing himself/herself right out of the market. Also part of the problem is taxation in some states is wicked high, and forgive me but I don't remember the tax rate on snus in NY. I know MA is crazy high, as is WA...anyway, the brick and mortar retailer HAS to add the taxes to the snus and certain online retailers from other parts of the world choose not to do this. Right or wrong, who knows...but it's makes it difficult for retailers in high tax states to compete with these smart (or unscrupulous depending on your view) online vendors.

Now, all that crap being said, lol....I always try to tell the retailer what snus should be priced at retail. That doesn't always mean they listen. Whenver I find a retailer "gouging" on pricing...I go out of my way to find another retailer right across the street from him that is willing to carry the same brands for less money. Somehow the pricing on the brands always finds a nice equilibrium :)
 
Out of curiosity..what was the shop?


Was able to get my hands on two cans of Los and just attempted to make my first prilla. Hand baking is harder than it looks! Once I got the prilla formed I attempted to put it in my mouth and had a good chunk of it land on my tongue. After some pushing with my tongue and spitting out the excess I've got it in. Definitely need to get a prismaster or an Icetool if I'm going to stick with loose.

ETA: Anyone have suggestions on where to get an Ice Tool without paying $30 for shipping?
 
You know, sadly I hear this quite a bit. Part of the problem is that once I sell the snus to a retailer, that retailer can turn around and add whatever margin he wants. Essentially pricing himself/herself right out of the market. Also part of the problem is taxation in some states is wicked high, and forgive me but I don't remember the tax rate on snus in NY. I know MA is crazy high, as is WA...anyway, the brick and mortar retailer HAS to add the taxes to the snus and certain online retailers from other parts of the world choose not to do this. Right or wrong, who knows...but it's makes it difficult for retailers in high tax states to compete with these smart (or unscrupulous depending on your view) online vendors.

Now, all that crap being said, lol....I always try to tell the retailer what snus should be priced at retail. That doesn't always mean they listen. Whenver I find a retailer "gouging" on pricing...I go out of my way to find another retailer right across the street from him that is willing to carry the same brands for less money. Somehow the pricing on the brands always finds a nice equilibrium :)

It's not the retailers in this case, it's NY. The highest tobacco product taxes in the country. Before pipesandcigars.com was merged with CI and moved their operations, they had a warehouse in NY, so they had to charge NY residents the full NY tax on pipe tobacco orders. Tins of any sort of snuff/snus average around $6-$8 each, borkum riff pipe tobacco pouches are close to $11 in the drugstores here, etc.. lol
 
Out of curiosity..what was the shop?

Tuttles Cigars in Grand Rapids. They've carried General since at least this summer, but don't have any other brands. The owner didn't seem to know a whole lot about it and didn't know what I was talking about when I asked if they had prismasters, but he did say that it's been selling well.
 
I ended up cutting the end off of a 3ml syringe and using it as a portioning tool. As close as I can get to an Icetool for next to nothing. MUCH better than my sad attempts at hand baking. Very clean too. I don't like having tobacco all over my hands and under my finger nails. I do wonder how long it will be until someone questions why it's sitting on my desk though! :lol:

Rick, or anyone else who has used one, is a 3ml Icetool the same size and shape as a 3ml syringe? That's what I used for my homemade hack. Just thinking about size of the prilla if I were to get a real one.
 
yeah, pretty much the same size. Truthfully, I've heard people prefer syringes over their IceTool, but I'll admit that I love my 5ml IceTool.
 
I'm still up in the air on loose, though it's only been a couple of days, so I can't judge yet. I feel like I get more flavor out of a fluffed portion than I do from a pris. If I do stick with loose, I'll probably want to get an IceTool just for the cool factor. Do you know of a place to get them state-side? BuySnus and SnusCentral force me to UPS since I'm in the US, even without snus in the order.
 
I'm still up in the air on loose, though it's only been a couple of days, so I can't judge yet. I feel like I get more flavor out of a fluffed portion than I do from a pris. If I do stick with loose, I'll probably want to get an IceTool just for the cool factor. Do you know of a place to get them state-side? BuySnus and SnusCentral force me to UPS since I'm in the US, even without snus in the order.

I don't think anyone in the US carries them, not at brick and mortar shops. I've been talking IceTool about distributing them, but we're not there yet, we've got a few wrinkles to iron out first :) Right now, I think online is your only recourse....sorry bud.
 
Well your lucky if you can get it delivered in your state as it is forbidden in WI. Thank goodness for Swedish Match bringing General to the US. I am glad I can still get it but I do favor SKRUF.

Correction: While I couldn't place an order on Buysnus, I could on SnusCentral with delivery to my home.:thumbup1::thumbup1::thumbup1:

 
Last edited:
I'm still up in the air on loose, though it's only been a couple of days, so I can't judge yet. I feel like I get more flavor out of a fluffed portion than I do from a pris. If I do stick with loose, I'll probably want to get an IceTool just for the cool factor. Do you know of a place to get them state-side? BuySnus and SnusCentral force me to UPS since I'm in the US, even without snus in the order.

PM sent.
 
Last edited:
Just get a 3 or 4 mil oral syringe from the drug store and cut off the end with a razor knife. Works the same and most drug stores give those away for free. I have a 3 ml Icetool and it was really not worth the purchase to be honest.....
 
Top Bottom