8 Nov
Epok Snus: What Happened?

Epok Snus: What Happened?

Brands

One of the benefits of having written about snus for as long as I have is that I have lots of fun and interesting stories. Many of these stories I often like to share relate to snus history. Today, we’re going to be doing just that and talking about a brand of yesteryear, and the transformation and evolution it went through to become one of the most popular nicotine pouch brands on the market today. Of course that means we’re going to be talking about the one and only Epok Snus.

 

Epok originally launched in 2014, and was made by a small company in Sweden called Winnington AB. They launched a product called Epok which contained white tobacco. White tobacco is much like regular snus tobacco but goes through a water based cleansing process to refine brown tobacco into white tobacco. Epok would grow over the years, and be noticed by tobacco giant BAT. In fact, in 2017, BAT bought this small company and would help push it to new heights. In a way, you can thank BAT for making nicotine pouches as popular as they are now, and it all started here.

In 2019, Epok would gradually begin to disappear from the market, and would be rebranded as Lyft. The white tobacco was taken away and replaced with white plant fiber. These Lyft Nicotine Pouches were tobacco free, but had a similar mouthfeel and sensation to what you would experience using an Epok pouch. Epok would continue to be sold in smaller markets, existing in Switzerland, Norway, Poland, and in small pockets of the EU as “chew bags”. However, over the past few years, BAT began completely delisting Epok in support of their growing nicotine pouch empire. Epok still exists in Norway, but who knows for how much longer.

Epok inspired a new generation of white tobacco products in Swedish Match’s G.4 series, which would eventually be discontinued. I was a big fan of white tobacco, so I’m not sure why it didn’t continue to grow. My suspicion is that it was easier (and cheaper) to produce nicotine pouches, so companies seemed to veer into that direction instead of pursuing more white tobacco products moving forward.

So, what was it about Epok Snus that people liked so much? What made it so popular?

 

What was it about Epok that made it so popular? Well, a lot of it was the benefits you got from using it. Epok felt like a regular snus when you used it. The pouch was very much the same in the lip, it felt the same, released nicotine the same, and had a similar flavor release. However, an Epok pouch would remain white before, during, and after usage. There was also no “brown drip” like you commonly would experience with a snus portion. It was perceived as a regular snus, but with these extra benefits that people really flocked to.

Personally, I liked using them at night. I’m one that likes to sleep with a mint snus in, and I found with Epok I could get the same experience as using regular snus, but I wouldn’t have a heavy drip. Or, if I did get a drip, it wasn’t brown. This meant no stained pillowcases. If you’re married, you know your significant other is often displeased with a brown drip onto pillowcases. So, Epok alleviated that problem, and to me that was a major benefit of using Epok Snus.

 

Epok had a pretty wide array of flavors. Just to name off the ones I remember: Coffee, Creamy Coffee, Mint, Juniper, Licorice, Berry Frost, Grape, Melon, Tropical Fruit, Ginger, Orange, Elderflower, Blueberry, Lime, Pineapple, Green Herbs, Energy Drink, Strawberry, Lavender, and Wintergreen. There were quite a few others, but you get the gist: the Epok Snus range had a lot of different flavors available.

I was partial to the mint flavor, it was one I used a lot at night. Their lime flavor was also great; I used Epok Lime for many years. It was a great all day snus, but also great for beer pairing, which is something fun I look for in a snus product. Many of these flavors may sound familiar, because they would eventually go on to live in the Lyft or Velo series, as well.

 

Did you miss the boat on Epok? If so, I am sorry, because it was a great product line. But, if you’re new to snus, you may be curious about Epok, and what happened to it, and where you can experience a similar sensation to what Epok once represented.

First, let’s start with Lyft. As I mentioned earlier, Lyft came onto the market around 2019. There were others doing nicotine pouches here and there, but Lyft was the first one to really capture any attention. Even to this day, the Lyft/Velo series remains the most highly regarded in terms of quality in the world of tobacco-free products. Lyft was a heavy hitter on the market for many years, and brought forth a lot of exciting flavors.

Next came Velo. A few years ago, BAT began making their line more uniform. Around the world you had Lyft, Velo, and even Epok in some small markets. Honestly, it was a bit confusing to consumers. So, they said “hey, let’s make this more uniform”. All the Lyft products began being rebranded as Velo. You would find the same flavors and products in the Velo series as you would in Lyft, but now rebranded as Velo.

Next, Lyft came back. I know, this is confusing. Sometimes it doesn’t make much sense to me. BAT began bringing Lyft back onto the Swedish market (and online outside of Sweden). This new Lyft line had some similar flavors in it that you would find in the Velo line, such as mint, but also some more new flavors such as honey/eucalyptus. So despite the attempt to make the line more uniform as Velo, I guess somewhere along the way they scrapped it and decided to let Lyft live on. Probably a good decision, because the Lyft name does have a lot of heritage to it, which is pretty neat.

If you missed out on Epok, check out Lyft and Velo. These aren’t quite the same because they don’t have tobacco in them. But a lot of the quality and flavor experience you get with Lyft and Velo is very similar to what I remember with Epok. The only difference, to me, is the nicotine release. Epok, being a snus, had a slower and more gradual nicotine release. Lyft and Velo are similar to other nicotine pouches, with a quicker nicotine release. But, that’s really the only main difference I notice. Well, that and the lack of white tobacco.

To name a few products in the Epok series that you can now find in Velo, if you’re interested in comparing or checking out some flavors of yesteryear:

Epok to Velo:


Many Epok flavors didn’t live on, but there are many that did that you can still check out today!

The Bottom Line

To me, it’s a bummer to see white tobacco didn’t live on and get more popular. I really enjoyed the format, and it was a great alternative with a lot of benefits and uses. I often find myself surprised that it didn’t grow and stay around. Whether it was Epok or G.4 Snus, both were very enjoyable to me. If you weren't around then, I’m sorry you missed out! It was a fun time in the world of snus.

Don’t get me wrong, Lyft and Velo are pretty solid products. When you look at the world of nicotine pouches and the 9000 brands that are out there, these definitely stand head and shoulders above all the rest. So the quality that I enjoyed with Epok I still see today whenever I use or review a Lyft or Velo product. So even if you missed out on the neat product that Epok was then, you can still, in a way, check it out today with Lyft and Velo.

Will white tobacco ever come back? I hope so, but it seems like a thing of the past at this point. Honestly, it seems like snus in general is getting less and less prevalent as nicotine pouches are taking over the smokeless market. But, there once was a time when snus reigned supreme, and if you ever said the term “all white”, you weren’t handed a nicotine pouch can, you were handed a can of Epok.

I hope this walk down memory lane was fun, and informative. Sometimes its fun to take a look back on the past, and products we once enjoyed. There were fun times indeed! While we may no longer have the neat white tobacco products around that we once had, I will continue to cross my fingers and hope that someday, some manufacturer may find an interest in white tobacco and let it make a triumphant return!