Don&#146;t smoke, chew

last updated 8 January 2015

Stockholm

Sweden this week became the latest European country to ban smoking in public places. But the ban produced far less protest here than similar bans in Ireland and Italy, because Swedes have another way to satisfy their nicotine cravings. The Swedish form of snuff known as snus, a minced tobacco product placed under the upper lip, has been popular for centuries. More than 1 million of Sweden’s 9 million people already use snus, and health officials expect the number to rise as the smoking ban takes effect. Other Europeans can’t follow suit, though: Snus is banned in the rest of the E.U.