Swedish Match pushes into the US market this summer...two new varieties

[lxskllr]

My question about refrigeration is if V2 and Gotlands does not need to be chilled, for whatever reason, why do they put them in fridges in Sweden? Because SM does is not an acceptable answer.

I think "Because SM does" is a very good answer. SM is a monopoly in Sweden. They control everything from production to distribution. If SM sells every single brand chilled, and they tell people they have to for safety standards mandated by GothiaTek(Where did that "standard" come from again? ;^) )any newcomer that comes along will have to follow suit. How would tiny Gotland tell people SM is full of shit?

Standards are anything you want them them to be when you're the one making them. Sometimes it's easier to follow along than buck the trend.

[whalen]

Why is it that every product aimed at the US has virtually no appeal to a US Swedish snus user. I would be all over a can of Ettan, If I lived in a test city, but how in the heck am I going to support a weak toned down expensive product. I applaud the effort to bring a more than half assed product out. I am banned from buying Swedish snus over the internet, and after 3 years of searching I found a can of General Wintergreen at a store 35 miles from here, expired. If they had offered to give me a can I would not have taken it!

It is fascinating the see the marketing efforts at work here. But I am feeling a sense of complete hopelessness. Quitting or using Cope seems the only way out, sad that.

[GN Tobacco Sweden AB]

Rick primarily deals Jaks and V2, it may be different from SM stuff

They Do GN as well i know;(

[Lcarvone]

They Do GN as well i know;(

I am awaiting my first real GN stuff from Northerner but to the point, does your product fit into the SM camp or the Jaks V2 camp as far as need for refrigeration GN?

[TheJanitor]

Sadly, I don't think snus will ever "take off" in America. It's just too different than what everyone's used to. Not everyone is gonna do enough research/join a forum to find out what it's all about. Most will buy a can, say "It's too salty, where's all the godd@amn sugar?!" and that will be it. And not to be too much of a downer, but if it does get really big, you can expect it to be lumped in with dip as far as the health nazis are concerned. The FDA would ban any flavored varieties "for the kids".

[rickcharles606]

I don't live near any of the stores listed on the Snus Retail Locations so are the Jaks brands etc that you distribute displayed on shelves/racks then in the tobacco shops etc versus fridge?

Correct, we use a clear acrylic display that sits on the counter ;-)

[GN Tobacco Sweden AB]

I am awaiting my first real GN stuff from Northerner but to the point, does your product fit into the SM camp or the Jaks V2 camp as far as need for refrigeration GN?

My Friend Lacvorne : ) very big American Company asked us to Do snus that not need refregeration and We did ..... And it was disaster . Why ? Becouse Swedish snus in minds of people is produkt that has to be stored in Cold place it is fresh produkt. If you want to feet American Market you have be not Camel Frosted But unik you It is water deciding should you have refregirator or not but Cold is good anyway

[rickcharles606]

Yeah I forgot about that when I posted, But still begs the question... What makes Jaks and V2 any different than SM products... I mean what is the secret ingredient that makes some snus not need to be refrigerated yet others do.... Hell! I refrigerate all no matter anyway.... But inquiring minds want to know especially when purchasing from a US based Tobacco store or any store for that matter in the near future...

Unicorn Tears ;-)

[rickcharles606]

Sadly, I don't think snus will ever "take off" in America. It's just too different than what everyone's used to. Not everyone is gonna do enough research/join a forum to find out what it's all about. Most will buy a can, say "It's too salty, where's all the godd@amn sugar?!" and that will be it. And not to be too much of a downer, but if it does get really big, you can expect it to be lumped in with dip as far as the health nazis are concerned. The FDA would ban any flavored varieties "for the kids".

We'll not have any of that talk here mister, lol. I'll bet you're a real joy at parties too ;-)

[Ephemeris]

We'll not have any of that talk here mister, lol. I'll bet you're a real joy at parties too ;-)

Debbie Downer alert!

He has a point though. American users of Swedish snus are a fraction of a fraction of the smokefree tobacco market. Quite honestly, the big distributors don't care what we like, because 99.7% of the buying public wants something that tastes like Camel.

It bothers me terribly that my fellow Americans prefer something that tastes like sweet dookie, but at the same time I like the fact that we're such a tiny minority. It shows that we buck the trend, don't buy into passing fads and don't let the big tobacco companies tell us what we like. We're truly the most rebellious segment of an even more rebellious subculture.

[tom502]

Oh, and some relatively good news I forgot to mention: Ettan Snuff is doing really well in their test market. Almost every single Copenhagen dipper that tries Ettan says that Ettan is a better product. They like the taste and the nicotine. The only complaint is that the grind is too fine. (These guys are all lower lipping it). I'm thinking that SM is probably going to end up seriously considering a Long Cut Ettan to sway the dipper crowd.

As an American myself, who has dipped and chewed, as well as used Swedish Snus, I see what the stores sell, and/or have available. I think a LONG CUT ETTAN, or GENERAL would sell, and be liked IF they maintained their original flavor. I also think a GENERAL, or ETTAN brand LOOSE LEAF CHEW would sell, as I believe the market needs a GOOD flavor blended non-sweet loose leaf. Maybe a strip like cut, like ribbons, not like WB which is like hair. I think in the USA snus is either gonna be a "something to hold you over till you can smoke" product(is this what the new 7g General is?), or it has to compete with the dip/chew users. To get in the market with sales, that is. I am talking of the common people, not us.

[rickcharles606]

Debbie Downer alert!

He has a point though. American users of Swedish snus are a fraction of a fraction of the smokefree tobacco market. Quite honestly, the big distributors don't care what we like, because 99.7% of the buying public wants something that tastes like Camel.

It bothers me terribly that my fellow Americans prefer something that tastes like sweet dookie, but at the same time I like the fact that we're such a tiny minority. It shows that we buck the trend, don't buy into passing fads and don't let the big tobacco companies tell us what we like. We're truly the most rebellious segment of an even more rebellious subculture.

It's less about the distributors, and more about grassroots education of retailers and consumers. The distributors will merely sell what people are buying, when people stop buying it, the distributors will stop selling it. You're right that the snus market in the US is small, but it's growing and the trends are showing exponential growth. What we're working against here, is the marketing macine that is RJR. They have the money and means to advertise like they have and put an inferior product on the shelves and STILL sell millions of cans.

You say "my fellow Americans prefer something that tastes like sweet dookie", but they don't necessarily prefer it but it's more that they just don't know any better. How many of us here, tried RJR's garbage and then tried real snus and the proverbial 'light' came on? It's the same way all over America right now. People that are buying cheap American snus want a better product, and it's my job to give it to them. Given the choice, people will choose Thunder, Jak's and Oden's over RJR's snus if they understand the differences.

It's an incredibly slow process though, because I don't have the resources that RJR or PM have...and don't even get me started on how I think SM is squandering an incredible opportunity to utilize their deep pockets to crack the US market, lol. I'm fine with the floundering efforts thus far, that's just more market share for us ;-)

[Darwin]

Rick I bow to no one in my enthusiasm for all things snusy but as many of us here have discovered in our sundry missionary efforts to propagate the product it can one hell of a hard sell. Therefore I believe that even if the penetration of snus into the tobacco market is growing exponentially the starting base is incredibly tiny and major acceptance is years, or possibly even decades away. You mention public education about the product but if we as individuals have had such meager success in convincing others to adopt it, even with Olympian levels of enthusiasm (as witnessed by our mutual experience with a local retailer), I seriously doubt that anything short of a massive saturation promotional campaign requiring several tens of millions of dollars will ramp up snus acceptance to country-wide commercially significant levels.

In addition to your mention of how slow the process is I also am beginning to think that even the most salutary result, at the years or decade-long "end of the day", is that snus, real or otherwise, will ever be a niche product in the U.S. market. It will likely be a commercially comfortable niche for the players with staying power but I think there will be a fairly limited "ceiling" of acceptance if for no other reason than the increasingly difficult upstream swim against the global anti-tobacco jihad which in its impacted brainlessness insists that there is no difference between an unfiltered Camel cig and and an Ettan White Portion. In this cluelessly pinched world view all tobacco is inherently and irretrievably evil and the vast harm differences between smoking and using snus are destined to be ignored by these toxic yobs. That may well be the most important obstacle to far greater snus acceptance than any issues of market penetration or public acceptance. But all that to say that the situation is hardly all depressing grimness. One never knows when a product might escape its surly bonds as a niche product and catapult into national awareness. Could happen, and even if it never does I think that, niche or not. we are lucky to be around right now to enjoy this wonderful product and can take comfort in that frisson of satisfaction that we are discriminating "in-the-know" connoisseurs of something about which the lowing herd of the public is mostly ignorant.

[GN Tobacco Sweden AB]

Americans Will learn to snus I am seinggaranty But it Will take à while .

[GN Tobacco Sweden AB]

It's less about the distributors, and more about grassroots education of retailers and consumers. The distributors will merely sell what people are buying, when people stop buying it, the distributors will stop selling it. You're right that the snus market in the US is small, but it's growing and the trends are showing exponential growth. What we're working against here, is the marketing macine that is RJR. They have the money and means to advertise like they have and put an inferior product on the shelves and STILL sell millions of cans.

You say "my fellow Americans prefer something that tastes like sweet dookie", but they don't necessarily prefer it but it's more that they just don't know any better. How many of us here, tried RJR's garbage and then tried real snus and the proverbial 'light' came on? It's the same way all over America right now. People that are buying cheap American snus want a better product, and it's my job to give it to them. Given the choice, people will choose Thunder, Jak's and Oden's over RJR's snus if they understand the differences.

It's an incredibly slow process though, because I don't have the resources that RJR or PM have...and don't even get me started on how I think SM is squandering an incredible opportunity to utilize their deep pockets to crack the US market, lol. I'm fine with the floundering efforts thus far, that's just more market share for us ;-)

right Rick