Actually, now that the OP discusses chewing tobacco, I realize that I have never tried chewing a twist or rope. I'm not sure, either, that I would like to try.
It's actually really nice, you just cut off a piece, about the size of a lozenge maybe, not even, like a smartie, pop it in between your lip wherever it's comfortable and just kind of let it sit there. For me at least I find you don't actually chew it, I find just letting it sit there it releases slowly enough where you can swallow the juice, which actually is not unpleasant at all. It is kind of unpleasant if you chomp into it and you get a huge dose of juice and it turns into a mess. After awhile it becomes really soft and kind of breaks down into a wad, I find a piece lasts me a good hour or two, and I can do it at work where there's no smoking and nobody knows. It's also much nicer than dip which I finds really makes your lip sore, as there's some kind of stuff they put into dip to irritate your gums to enhance nicotine absorption. I really enjoy it and recommend to give it a go if you have rope or twist laying around.