“Feels Like Kissing Winter,” Says New Snus User Before Lying Down and Seeing God
By KIP DUNGWORTH, STAFF REPORTER
BANGKOK, THAILAND — With vape cartridges increasingly hard to find and harder to explain to Thai police, a new wave of nicotine refugees has emerged — led not by tech bros or Muay Thai dropouts, but by soft-spoken Swedish men in ironed T-shirts quietly handing out tins like salvation pamphlets.
The product? Snus. Moist tobacco pouches stuffed under the upper lip — no smoke, no vapor, no charger required. Just a slow, frosty drift into what one Australian described as “like chewing on a menthol glacier, then teleporting through your own childhood.”
That man, 32-year-old backpacker Jaxon Bell, tried snus for the first time outside a hostel in Ekkamai. Ten minutes later he was lying on the pavement whispering "it’s fine" while staring at a crack in the sky.
“It feels like kissing winter,” Bell said, eyes wide, heartbeat missing. “Then it feels like winter kissed back too hard.”
He was later found horizontal in the common area, debating whether he still had legs.
The rise of snus in Thailand coincides with the government’s ban on e-cigarettes — a regulation widely ignored until it isn’t, often during roadside searches that escalate quickly and end with an awkward embassy call. In this legislative vacuum, the Swedes saw their moment.
“They came from nowhere. Quiet, clean, organized,” said one Bangkok bar owner. “First it was just one guy asking if we sold cold drinks. Now there’s a tin under every coaster.”
Inside each thumb-sized can: enough legal nicotine to make your thoughts echo.
“I gave one to a German tourist who thought it was chewing gum,” said a Scandinavian man in flip-flops who identified himself only as “Linus.” “He tried to do karaoke two minutes later. He did not finish the song.”
Thailand has yet to issue clear guidance on snus, mostly because no one in government appears to know what it is. For now, it's legal by omission — a bureaucratic grey zone that's quickly becoming a mint-scented gold rush.
Swedish expats, long relegated to the shadows of IKEA, now walk with quiet power. They speak of buzz duration. Of wintergreen vs. bergamot. Of “upper lip enlightenment.”
Meanwhile, Bell says he plans to try a weaker pouch “maybe next week” — once he’s sure his soul has returned to his body.
As of press time, Bell remained seated in his dorm, blinking slowly, and softly humming the Swedish national anthem.