Marlboro "snus" and Skoal "SNUS" in 2011: The Facts.

[chadizzy1]

Recently, I began hearing words about ads for a new Marlboro "snus" and a new Skoal "SNUS" product to be released in 2011. Well, being the inquisitive person I am, I felt the need to dig as deeply into this as possible. In a back and forth exchange with Kenneth Garcia who handles Media Affairs for Altria, he made it quickly obvious to me that he wasn't going to give up hard facts about the new product. I was barraged with links to websites that had no info whatsoever about what I was looking for, and even at one point in time told, "...a quick google search will provide you with previous media coverage of the Marlboro Snus product." It was obvious to me that Altria wasn't going to tell me anything about Marlboro "snus" or Skoal "SNUS". But then again, why would they? My buddy Feck from the new Snuff Takers publication recently noted at SnusOn, "Big Tobacco, USA looks at us (American users of Swedish Snus) as the enemy. They don't care what we know about their products because we're not their intended market."

So how did I find out the information I needed? As Chad, the tobacco using consumer, not Chad Jones the writer for Snubie.com. And I was pleasantly surprised to see how much information the consumer hotline gave me. Granted, they didn't reveal processing/snusmaking practices, but I did get to find out some facts about the new products rolling out in 2011.


Okay, so what about Marlboro "snus"? I've written review after review about this stuff, a head to head article about Camel vs Marlboro, and one in the past about American "snus" vs Swedish Snus, so I really don't have to go into much detail about that kinda stuff. The new Marlboro "snus" is simply a new can. The product quality itself isn't changing in any way, shape or form. It's the same portions, just in two new flavors - Original and Mint. These are different flavors from the currently available Marlboro "snus" flavors that will be exclusive to these new cans. These two flavors will not be available in the smaller Marlboro "snus" pouches currently available. It's simply more in a can. The can will be 1 gram, and will have 15 portions per tin (this is what the consumer relations lady said from her packet of info she had). I'm guessing that figure was wrong, but who knows. I think I heard Marlboro "snus" was currently around 0.4g of tobacco per portion. This is not a test market situation, a national rollout is said to occur in January 2011. The reason for this change is that consumers wanted more portions per tin. Simple as that. No change in the quality, just two new flavors and more portions in a container. Who knows what the price point will be.


Okay, what about Skoal "SNUS"? Skoal "SNUS" is going to be released nationally at the same time as Marlboro "snus". It will come in round cans this time - 15 pouches per tin, 1.1 grams per pouch. The flavors will be Smooth Mint and Mint. No information is currently available about nicotine content or moisture content. Also, no information was offered about production methods. (wonder why?)

[chadizzy1]

Part 2...

SnusOn currently only lets you do 4 images per post.


Larger image here - http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_G2KIETJONE...SkoalSnus2.jpg

A recent article at http://snus-news.blogspot.com in November of 2010 (which seems to be an anti-snus site as far as I can tell) had some images that were given out to retailers. It looks like it's going to come in 5 can rolls, but of course you'll be able to buy it in individual cans.


Larger image here - http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_G2KIETJONE...alSnus2011.jpg

According to a survey, 83% of adult smokeless consumers said they would buy Skoal "SNUS". Something else interesting to note is that refrigeration is not required for these tobacco products. The release date is being listed as January 10th, 2011. A source told me that the reason for the Skoal "SNUS" introduction is due to Skoal being a more recognizable and respected name in the smokeless tobacco biz than Marlboro, which would make sense. Don't put all your eggs in one basket, and since Altria has Marlboro and Skoal (via their US Smokeless acquisition - $10 billion dollars in 2008) they might as well see which floats and which sinks and focus on one. So this may be the end of Marlboro "snus" and the push for Skoal "SNUS", but again, who knows.

[xMurderJunkiex]

Though I don't care for minty snus, the Skoal sounds promising. I'll give them a try.
Can't be any worse than the Marlboros.

[pinklungs]

Great post man,...very informative, but I lost interest at "no information was offered about production methods"

......my snus $ will continue to go to Sweden.

[Crow]

I'll try them both out. I'm looking forward to the new Skoal snus, since I didn't get to try it the first time.

[tom502]

I'm just wonderin' when and if, any US company is going to seriously try to make a Swedish style snus?
Remember when Discreet was kinda popular here, and the maker tried to make a Swede style, just for us, and I thought it was not bad, though I think it needed a little tweek. But apart from his effort, I guess really, the US makers see no market in making a Swede style snus, or they don't want to curtail cig sales.

[Jwalker]

Yeah I was afraid marlboro would be the same but bigger, hopefully the skoal snus isn't nasty like that. I have hopes for it and hope they realize that they're permanently going to damage their brand if it sucks, well whatever is left of it anyway after they changed the can design to the retro 90s look. If it's weak it will reinforce the skoal is weak and overpriced dip grizz idea.

By the way my standards aren't high they go something like this 1. Nicotine content is satisfying (hoenstly you'd think a company that spent millions of dollars on how to make their cigarettes have a better hit would know people want nicotine). 2. Flavor isn't nasty, It can be sweet which is what I expect from something called smooth mint just not like marlboro snus is that stuff tasted like poop. 3. They don't try to charge some ridiculous amount for it like say the same as general or copenhagen If I were out of snus and I had six bucks I'd go with the later.

[G_Jones]

Give us some snus!!! Why is it so hard for these people? Give us actual snus and stop pretending its not a delicious tobacco product. That Marlboro snus is a wasted opportunity.

[snusjus]

Grrr... I was hoping the new Marlboro Red "Snus" portions were going to be one gram. Hopefully they use strong tobacco in the portions and raise the nicotine level to 8mg along with a high pH level.

[EricHill78]

I doubt they'll ever raise the nic level.. They want people to still be on the cigs at the same time.

[chadizzy1]

Grrr... I was hoping the new Marlboro Red "Snus" portions were going to be one gram. Hopefully they use strong tobacco in the portions and raise the nicotine level to 8mg along with a high pH level.

Nothing changes except the flavor from what I was told.

[Old Frothingslosh]

The first snus I ever had was Skoal snus a couple years ago. It was worthless and I don't expect the new Skoal snus will be any better.

[Jwalker]

The funny thing is they list rich as having 15mg of nicotine, um maybe but the ph is low enough it feels like absolutely none I can actually confirm marlboro snus is weaker than nicorette 2mg gum. It's close but I'd say nicorette actually tastes better.

[Experimental Monkey]

Nothing changes except the flavor from what I was told.

It's official. I want nothing to do with this garbage snus. Marlboro or Skoal. I was kinda anxious to try it but screw them.

[snusjus]

The funny thing is they list rich as having 15mg of nicotine, um maybe but the ph is low enough it feels like absolutely none I can actually confirm marlboro snus is weaker than nicorette 2mg gum. It's close but I'd say nicorette actually tastes better.

While its true Marlboro snus has 15mg of nicotine per gram, the portions are tiny (about 0.4 grams of tobacco), so the nicotine content will be less than half the amount per gram. Along with the pH level, the moisture content is also important for delivering nicotine; both of these levels are very low in Marlboro snus.