As posted by TrojanScott on 2-1-07
Thought I'd give my reviews of the three Herbal Snuffs I tried, tell you what I've liked and disliked about each one.
They have helped me through various times, and for sure, through various "trigger" moments.
First, and foremost... for anyone who hasn't tried one, or wants to try one, make no mistake... they taste like shit. They suck. You get flavor for about 10 minutes a pop, they're even messier than normal dip, and there's no buzz, that's for damn sure. However, they do trick your mind in that the actual physical habit of putting something in your lip, reaching for the can, etc, etc, is achieved. Was for me anyways. Another thought... every one is herbal, has no nicotine, no bad shit period. You can swallow the juice. You can eat the stuff if you wanted too. I was never one to swallow, (insert joke here) but I did have no issues with spitting out whatever I was using, and feeling just fine by not having to rinse out if I didn't have to. I could swallow, eat, do whatever, and not feel like I might get sick. I know, some of you sick fuckers used to do that with Cope/ Kodiak/ Rooster/ Skoal/ or whatever, but I never did. I was kind of a pansy dipper in that regard.
Okay... worst to best...
Worst? Bacc-Off. Someone in here liked it best, I found I liked it least of all. I think it's because of the consistency of it. It's like little beads of clay crap. The taste is marginal. I also didn't like that I needed to order 6 cans of it to get it shipped! The straight stuff was probably the best. The wintergreen was so bad I threw it out, then picked up a piece of my pet Rottie's steaming shit, and shoved it in my mouth. It was an improvement. Cleaning up after dipping Bacc-Off is a little better than the other brands, because the beads are easy to just wash out, spit out, whatever. Imagine having a mouth full of miniature pepples in your mouth. Kinda pointless, but easy to spit out with a little work.
COST: 2.15 per can, 6 can minimum plus shipping costs. ($5 or so)
Available in stores too, but I've never seen it.
Taste: C (only because the Straight is Okay..)
Consistency: F
Clean up: B
Spit factor: C-
OVERALL: D+
***** Wanna add something positive to the Bacc-Off review******
It did come with a pamphlet of a "quit-program" which basically entailed the mixing method. 90/10 real dip to BaccOff week 1, 80/20 the following week, 70/30, and so on. Pretty cool that they took the time to throw this in there. They offer a program on their website too, you can purchase. Of course, Bacc-Off arrived when I was about 10 days into my quit, so I was pretty pissed off thinking I could have been at that point, having 90% of real dip in my lip while I was reading. UGH. Oh well.
Smokey Mountain Chew. A close runner up to the champion who I'll get to in a second. I like SMC better than I did the first time I tried it. This is made of corn silk and other stuff, and it has the same type of consistency of long cut dip. The straight was pretty good, but the wintergreen was even better to me, especially when I poured a cap full of Jack Daniels in it. Taste lasts a bit longer, and I found that out of the three types of herbal I tried, this one was best for spitting. Clean up after dipping? This one is worst. The little slivers of corn silk or whatever are EVERYWHERE, and difficult to get out. No way can you look like you weren't dipping this unless you have access to a gallon of water, beer, soda, whatever. Also seemed to stain the teeth a little more than other brands as well.
Cost: About $4 a can at my local Ralph's store, probably cheaper in other states.
Taste: B
Consistency B+
Clean up: D
Spit factor: A
OVERALL: B
Hooch Herbal Snuff. Best stuff. Must buy the Spitfire Chew over the Mint. Mint isn't bad on taste, it's actually quite good, but the Spitfire Chew is a lot better. The consistency is closer to Cope. Pretty fine stuff, and actually not very sticky (like the other two brands are.) It's the closest to actual dip when you open the can. The can itself is tin, which is kinda cool. I have to give this stuff an extra credit grade of "F" for it taking a half hour to open, however. No way can you run your fingernail across this can and open it. It took a steak knife and half a finger nail for me to get the first can open, and when I did, I lost half the can to the kitchen floor. (if it were real dip, I'd have scooped that shit right back into the can, but with this, I just swept it up into the trash can.) Okay... back to the review... Hooch makes this stuff with some sort of peppers and tabasco included! This gives the dip a little "kick" and you can actually feel a little burn against your gum.
The flavor lasts for a bit, (again, better with JD poured in, but that's me) but not quite as long as SMC, but still pretty good.
Spit factor is good too. Clean up isn't as easy as Bacc-Off, but not as bad as SMC, it's somewhere in between. I'd actually say it's like Cope would be. Not the easiest, but nothing a couple swirls of water can't fix. Also doesn't leave any coloring on the teeth the way SMC does.
The taste on this really sets it apart from the others, and the little burn you get on your gum really tricks out your brain for a second or two.
Cost: 2.95, internet only, plus shipping. (I think it was like $3 or so)
Taste: A
Consistency B
Clean up: C
Spit Factor: B
OVERALL B+
Extra credit (can opening) F (this is offset by the extra extra credit score of A+ for having an actual tin can.
Hope this helps out any fellow quitters who need to have something in their lip to get through those tough craves. It's helped me.
This post has been edited by TrojanScott on Feb 1, 2007, 4:14 pm
