I’m interested in the process of conversion, although I’m a fan of long cut snuff. If you have any information you’d be willing to share, I’d be much obliged (here or in private message).
The situation is pretty dire in Taiwan, and now, also the Philippines. Allow me a minute to explain why the two are related.
First, last time I went up to Northdoor (Feb. 2016), they had a very modest selection (maybe 15 tins) of Skoal and Copenhagen; however, all were odd “flavors”, which, fuck me, I’ve been out of the U.S. so long I didn’t even know people were using mango fine cut. Unbelievable. Cherry? Anyway, if you’re into the wintergreen, Northdoor probably has something for you. It’s pricey though. NT$350 per tin, IIRC. Maybe more. Just ask. It will help if you know the Chinese for chewing tobacco, or you could just mime it, which works for me.
Smoker’s Inn (run by Inez, nice lady) doesn’t even carry snus anymore. She does have a wide range of tobaccos, although none appear to be suitable for chewing.
Otherwise, I’ve checked every baseball shop, squirrel bodega, variety store, tobacco retailer from here to Banqiao. Nobody has it, and nobody plans on getting it.
A word about self-importing. Due to myriad contingencies not yet unveiled, I’ve been exploiting somewhat of a loophole in the system by ordering Swedish snus online and having it shipped to me here. By using registered mail, it slips through customs 11 out of 12 times. When it does get pinched, it’s merely a matter of going down to the joint at Jianguo/Xinyi, and paying a very stiff NT$1800 tariff. Were I a serious aficionado of smokeless tobacco, I would get up to speed on the Swedish snus. It’s a better all-around product, IMHO. Anyway, there are more than a few online retailers who offer Cope/Skoal shipment to Taiwan, but I’ve never tried that route. To put a finer point on it, compared to snus, all UST products are toxic, abrasive substances that will really fuck up your mouth after long-term use. Snus is far easier on the gums, devoid of those harsh UST chemicals, and it doesn’t take much to get you where you want to go.
Now, it used to be easy-squeezy to get smokeless in Manila, up until January (?) or so. Bureaucratic bullshit. Nobody, and I mean nobody, is importing anything from the U.S., and I’ve been specifically told that Skoal and Cope is from here on out unavailable. OK, this has something to do with a new customs chief and somebody not getting greased properly. The people at Fuma (the main tobacco outlet in Manila, with half a dozen locations) said they have Timber Wolf on order, and maybe that might come through, but nobody knows when. That sucks because I go back and forth between TPE-MNL on a regular milk run. Which means I used to come back with a couple of sleeves that I would parse out to a few people who wanted it. Problem sort of solved. Not anymore.
TL;DR Northdoor is probably the only option, with a very limited, expensive selection.
Feel free to PM me if you have any questions.