What do YOU want in American snus?

[endity]

I want the tabacco being grown not to be fertilized with radioactive chemicals. Yes please!

[Darwin]

Veterans are all over the map taste wise but newbies tend to go for heavily flavored versions at first so perhaps a straight tobacco and, say, a mint flavor should be on the initial rollout.

[snusjus]

Most importantly... NO ARTIFICIAL SWEETENERS. I think making a snus that tastes similar to Copenhagen would be amazing; slight hints of leather and a strong flavor of tobacco. In order to assure decent nicotine delivery, please keep the pH level in the 8.3-8.5 range. Nicotine content should be at the very least 8mg per portion.

[chadizzy1]

Make sure your product is approved by people in Sweden before you sell it here. :P

That's all I ask.

[Mr. Snuffleupagus]

What? This is the USA! It's got to be strong! 37mg/g or bust

[bsd777]

Other questions I have for your guys.... what was your first snus? What drew you to keep snussing?

And for your favorite snus, why do you like it so much? Is it the flavor, the cut, the nicotine delivery, the aroma, the design - what "does it" for you?

I think you'll find two camps here. Former smokers or former dippers. I won't attempt to speak for the reformed smokers, other than to say they definitely appear to prefer portions.
As a former dipper, I'd read about the reduced risk, low TSNA levels etc of Swedish snus. I bought a sampler of various loose brands, tried Grov and I was sold. I'm pretty well settled on a few regular flavor brands that I supplement with Gotland Anis, but will probably always enjoy trying new stuff. Oh one more generalization about former smoker-portion users....They don't like the smell?!! I think that's strange, I love the smell, but it's not a deal breaker. I think I prefer really fine cut, like Roda Lacket, but the courser stuff has it's use. It seems to lower-side cheek better, which I do occasionally, to avoid over use of some areas. For me cut is not a deal breaker either. Two most important factors are taste and price (I'm a cheap bastard). I used to think cardboard cans allowed snus to dry more quickly, then I figured out it was the snus and not the can. Grov goes dry a lot quicker than Roda. Another thing I like about Roda, it stays moist really well. I don't really care too much about the can, not a deal breaker.

[weeg3]

LOL. Bigger, better, bolder, and should come with a shotgun and a bottle of whiskey. UNNNNGGGH!!!!

[TBD]

Rely on quality tobacco to provide flavor. Don't try to cover bad tobacco with flavor. Air cured not flue cured. Keep the sugars to a minimum or non existent. Low and published TNSA's are a must. My best advice is to pay to have one of the Swedish companies to teach you how to make it right. The old way. Discreet is made right, but not flavored right.

My favorite snus, except Phantom Blue, are all primarily tobacco flavored. Ettan was my first and still my favorite. What kept me snussing was the tobacco and nicotine.

[weeg3]

Most importantly... NO ARTIFICIAL SWEETENERS. I think making a snus that tastes similar to Copenhagen would be amazing; slight hints of leather and a strong flavor of tobacco. In order to assure decent nicotine delivery, please keep the pH level in the 8.3-8.5 range. Nicotine content should be at the very least 8mg per portion.

I agree with you on this. I don't want to see a product with lower than 8mg/g nicotine, and I'm not a fan of sweeteners in my snus - that's for dip, IMO.

[PipenSnus]

3. I think that the Frosted Long + is a good size, personally. But I also like 01 Lab Series for a regular.

I agree, I find the long, thin portions to be much more comfortable.

As far as expanding out of a niche market goes, I think the crucial point is to make it as clear as possible that snus is entirely different from dip or chew. If American consumers see snus as being in the same category as the smokeless tobacco products they already know, then snus will never be more than a niche market in the US. I think this is what Swedish Match has in mind by going after the urban professional young adult demographic. They want a wholly different image for snus, and I think they're onto something there.

I don't think you can pin down what makes a favorite snus to one single factor. It's a combination of things. And it seems to me that snusers are more like pipe smokers than cigarette smokers in their usage patterns. Cigarette smokers generally smoke the same brand exclusively, day in, day out. Pipe smokers and snusers both talk about their "rotation" -- a group of favorite brands. Often the choice from the rotation depends on mood, time of day, or other factors. Maybe you like a certain sterk with morning coffee, or a "dessert snus" after a meal. So you should start by talking about favorites, plural, not singular.

[weeg3]

I think you'll find two camps here. Former smokers or former dippers. I won't attempt to speak for the reformed smokers, other than to say they definitely appear to prefer portions.
As a former dipper, I'd read about the reduced risk, low TSNA levels etc of Swedish snus. I bought a sampler of various loose brands, tried Grov and I was sold. I'm pretty well settled on a few regular flavor brands that I supplement with Gotland Anis, but will probably always enjoy trying new stuff. Oh one more generalization about former smoker-portion users....They don't like the smell?!! I think that's strange, I love the smell, but it's not a deal breaker. I think I prefer really fine cut, like Roda Lacket, but the courser stuff has it's use. It seems to lower-side cheek better, which I do occasionally, to avoid over use of some areas. For me cut is not a deal breaker either. Two most important factors are taste and price (I'm a cheap bastard). I used to think cardboard cans allowed snus to dry more quickly, then I figured out it was the snus and not the can. Grov goes dry a lot quicker than Roda. Another thing I like about Roda, it stays moist really well. I don't really care too much about the can, not a deal breaker.

I have tried to get people to snus over my time snussing, and the approach IS different talking to a dipper than a smoker. For a smoker, I've tried explaining the nicotine delivery, and how much money you can save doing it. They have, in my experience, been less picky about taste and flavors. However, the dippers I have been in contact with are hardcore. I was a dipper, but, honestly, I didn't find it all that enjoyable for a lot of reasons, so snussing was easy. It seemed to have more of a kick, my throat didn't burn, I read a lot of studies and felt safer, and the flavors were, to me, for a more refined palate. However, there are dippers that expect to move from dip to snus having it be the same experience, and it's just not. I think there's a reason no one has tried to sell watermelon snus. It seems to me they were the ones who complained more about the smell and the taste than smokers, who maybe are more used to a tobacco smell and taste from smoking.

[weeg3]

Rely on quality tobacco to provide flavor. Don't try to cover bad tobacco with flavor. Air cured not flue cured. Keep the sugars to a minimum or non existent. Low and published TNSA's are a must. My best advice is to pay to have one of the Swedish companies to teach you how to make it right. The old way. Discreet is made right, but not flavored right.

My favorite snus, except Phantom Blue, are all primarily tobacco flavored. Ettan was my first and still my favorite. What kept me snussing was the tobacco and nicotine.

I'm right there with you, TBD. All of the things in your first paragraph are things that we are currently working on and things that I, and probably the owners, very much agree with. I have done Discreet as well, and while I think it's the best American snus product, it falls short for me. The flavors are a bit sweet for me, and the portion size is just small.

I love Ettan, I love everything about it

[bsd777]

Veterans are all over the map taste wise but newbies tend to go for heavily flavored versions at first so perhaps a straight tobacco and, say, a mint flavor should be on the initial rollout.

This may be true for former smokers/portion users, but not me or most former dippers, I suspect. Americans start dipping with all sorts of different dip, but sooner or later, most end up with Copenhagen (a few weird ones with Skoal). IF you want dippers, I'd suggest loose, natural. Something that tastes like Copenhagen or Grov.

[Simplysnus]

As a former smoker, I learned of snus via the camel snus showing up. No smoke and spitless sounded good. Google then led me to this fine forum maybe 8 months ago. I finally jumped in and haven't looked back many weeks ago.

Since harm reduction may not be there for marketing, you'll probably have to take a similar approach as marlboro and camel as far as spitless and discrete. The key thing would be tying into the Swedish process and getting the quality aspects that brings into the branding here.

Personally I mostly use general mint and thunder long. I'm not a huge fan of the tfunder, but the portion is more comfortable to me while around work and town. Mint is good, but not all day. I appreciate Los, but you lose some people versus more discrete portions.

Educating people may be your biggest challenge.

Excited for this development, though

[Fury]

I am en ex-smoker. I smoked 2 packs of Newports a day for 18 years. For lös I like Skruf Xtra Stark & Oden's Kanal ES & Göteborgs Prima Fint. For portions I like Ettan OP, Grov OP, Skruf Xtra Stark, Claq Qui & PM 1847 OP. The strong portions is what helped me quit smoking, I could not have done it with 8mg portions, just not enough nic. So yes, high nic content is a must, but at the same time you need to make 8mg portions/lös for those that are not nic junkies.

Unlike smoking, when it comes to snus I like a wide variety of flavors. Everything from pure tobacco flavor to berries or spices, maybe thats why I like buffets when I go out to eat I know starting out you will have to limit the ammount of flavors and strength you come out with but at some point you will have to expand your portfolio.

And as others have said, nothing really sweet, I wanna see the ingredients on the tin & a best buy date, 1mg portions/45g lös. For lös I really prefer the plastic cans instead of the cardboard, Skruf and Oden's lös stays pretty moist much longer than any other lös I have tried.

Something that doesn't have to be refigerated is almost a must imo to really make it here in the US, I just can't imagine gas stations and quicky marts installing snus freezers/fridges, I just don't think they would be willing to do that unless they are going to make alot of money from it.