Göteborgs Rapé Lös - Swedish Snus Review

Göteborgs Rapé 2024 Lös Can Design - Minimalistic and Geometric

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According to that most trusted source, Wikipedia, Göteborgs Rapé, (Eng. Gothenburg Ripped or Gothenburg Rappee, rappee meaning a coarse shredded style nasal snuff still sold today) was first formulated by sailors on the moors of Gothenburg, who would add spices and herbs to their smokeless tobacco. Some of them would sell these blends, and Göteborgs Rapé eventually became fairly well known in its area. During the monopolization of the Swedish tobacco industry, the hundreds of extant snus blends and brands were put in front of a committee tasked with tasting and evaluating which brands would survive the restructuring, and GR made the cut - the rest is history. Interestingly enough, Göteborgs Rapé was probably used as a nasal snuff at the time of its creation, but rest assured that it is very much a true snus today.

Ingredients List on Side of Can

Göteborgs Rapé (pronounced something like you-teh-borys rah-peh) is one of my all-time favorite snuses, and for good reason. It’s one of Swedish Match’s premium loose snuses, but out of the range it stands out because of it’s overall sweetness and fruitiness in a line that can be otherwise very aggressively tobacco-forward or herbal. It’s the heavy, floral gin in a pool of smoky scotches and rich rums. The flavor is not overpowering, but it is also not uninteresting. Know that I love it before reading the review, but also know that I’ve tried to give as much of an unbiased play-by-play as I can.

The can is much like all of Swedish Match’s other lös offerings, coming packed in a fiberboard can with a molded plastic lid. Göteborgs Rapé has been subject to countless redesigns since its inception, and the current iteration of its design strives for a minimalistic, clean, and geometric design without much crowding. I personally like it, but I wish that it had a little bit more pop going on. The monogram rather than the full text of the name is stylish, but a little bit silly in my opinion; Coca Cola does not advertise their cans with a highway gothic “CC” on a flat red can.

Bottom of Can with Best Before Date

I’m lucky enough to have this snus right out of the freezer a couple hours after the thaw, which is when I find manufactured snus to be at its freshest. Look at the sheen where the lid has met the contents, and how black and rich it looks! As is typical of Swedish Match’s lös grinds, we’ve got sort of a feta cheese texture going on inside, which is quite easy to mold and very moist.

Open can of Göteborgs Rapé Lös - Look at that sheen!

How’s it taste?

Immediately after taking Göteborgs Rapé Lös, a juniper sharpness, along with a strong detergent aroma that is probably from the lavender, and a lemon zesty sharpness are all present. The mouthfeel is good, a mild burning sensation without any pain. The snus is fresh, and is therefore a little juicier than I am accustomed to.

15 minutes in, the snus is noticably sweeter, with a berry-oriented juniper flavor becoming more present while the bitterer, soapish tastes of lavender fall into the background. Nicotine is kicking in at this point; the prilla I’ve taken for this review was somewhat large, and the snus was fresh, so I definitely feel a headrush that you only really get from snus when it’s this fresh. There may be a little lingering ammonia taste from the freshness, but it’s hard to say for certain. A very small amount of tobacco sourness is there, but it’s very much in the background.

30 minutes in, the snus is still sweet, but some bitterness has returned. During initial impressions of this snus, there was a pepperiness that appeared that I had never really gotten out of GR, but I guess I wasn’t paying attention - every time I have this snus now, there’s this spiciness, this peppery note that appears and kind of catches me off guard. It’s not nasty, but I think this snus would actually work better without it. Is it a consequence of the citrus? The lavender? The juniper? It’s unclear. It’s so distinct from all the other notes that I can’t really place it.

The trace tobacco note is now gone too, sublimated under the other notes. The nicotine is still present, as is the mouthfeel.

The snus has begun to mudslide quite seriously after 45 minutes, but there is still flavor. The juniper and the citrus are the most dominant still, and are as strong as they were at the beginning; besides this, a berry-ish sweetness, the same from earlier, and the same pepperiness from earlier are still hanging on, and are especially present if the snus is pecked at with the tip of the tongue. The nicotine is still there, but the strength has backed down a little bit.

After an hour, nothing has changed with the flavor, which is remarkable, but not totally unheard of for loose snus since the prilla just grows smaller as opposed to having the juices sucked out of the plant material, a la matcha versus loose tea. The mudslide is now intolerable at this point, so the snus is getting removed.

This is a phenomenally complex snus full of fresh, brilliant, and sweet flavors that is a break from other, heavier snuses that typically come in loose format. I highly recommend it to all snustakers, if you haven’t already tried it!