Camel SNUS Frost Large Portion: Reynolds is putting on weight

Snus loving nicotine addicts around the world love this time of year.

Week 36 through Week 42 is when Swedish snus manufacturers traditionally begin launching their new snus releases for the remainder of the year. This year they will be joined by Reynolds American with the release of Camel SNUS Frost Large Portion on September 2nd.

Six years ago, Camel SNUS Frost; the Reynolds American version of a mint flavored dry mini portion snus, put snus onto the radar screens of both American tobacco users and Swedish snus manufacturers. It was not the first time Reynolds had marketed American-style SNUS and even for a brief trial period in 2006, Swedish-made Camel SNUS.

Camel Frost was the breakout SNUS product which captured public attention and forever changed snus flavoring on both sides of the Atlantic.

Camel SNUS Frost Grows Up

According to RAI spokesman Richard Smith, Camel Frost Large Portion is identical the original Camel Frost except, as you may have surmised from the name, it is larger…..70% larger.

Said Smith, “In response to adult snuser demand, Camel SNUS Frost — the #1 Selling snus in America — is now available nationwide in a 1.0g pouch. Camel SNUS Frost Large offers the same cool, refreshing taste consumers of Camel SNUS Frost have come to expect – just in a larger size.“

The original Camel SNUS Frost will continue to available at 0.6 grams/pouch. Both versions will contain 15 pouches of Frost flavored SNUS.

I don’t doubt that Camel SNUS Frost is the top selling snus in the US as Camel SNUS currently has an 80% market share. All these numbers I have mentioned so far do need to be put in perspective before we continue, though.

Total snus sold in the United States last year…all 50 states and by all snus manufacturers combined, was roughly equal to the total annual snus sales of the beautiful nation of Norway. The total population of Norway is less than 5 million people today as compared to a total US population of 314 million in 2012.

Give or take a million, there are 46MM American nicotine addicts still smoking lit-tobacco cigarettes as you read this; over 9 times the entire population of Norway.

Like many American snusers today, Camel SNUS was my introduction to this mysterious product called “snus”. Fortunately, Camel SNUS led me to real Swedish snus but without the introduction from Reynolds, I never would have been able to finally quit smoking permanently and would most likely be dead by now. I do mean that literally.

Camel SNUS Frost and its popularity also performed another great service to America: it woke up Swedish Match AB, the world’s largest producer of Swedish snus including the brand General Snus, the #1 selling snus on planet Earth to this day.

Without Camel SNUS Frost, Swedish Match would never have created General Dry Mint Mini Portion snus in 2009 followed by General Mint Large White Portion snus in 2010.

When SNUS meets Snus

The history of Swedish snus spans roughly 300 years; modern Swedish steam pasteurized snus is a little less than 200 years old, and it has been 43 years since Sweden’s version of FDA began regulating Swedish snus subject to food quality ingredients and manufacturing standards.

Through most of that history, the three primary ingredients in snus were tobacco, water, and salt. The proprietary blends of tobaccos used in each brand determined the flavor and character. Speaking broadly, the only other flavors of any popularity broadly speaking were licorice, juniper, bergamot and lingonberry. Although I have yet to see one in person, a bergamot is a citrus fruit and lingonberries are related to cranberries. There was little demand in Sweden for mint snuses.

General Snus had been sold in a small number of US tobacco stores for years prior to the birth of American-style snus in 2006, but the US offerings then were limited to the tobacco and bergamot-centric General Snus traditional flavor profile. The target market was Swedish Americans and Swedes living/working/visiting the United States.

This changed when Camel SNUS Frost suddenly began appearing in the news. Swedish Match began rethinking their lack of interest in the US market.

As Reynolds total advertising budget was probably more than enough to just buy Swedish Match (if you added Reynolds budget for lawyers, it was more than enough), Swedish Match AB had to depend on a targeted strategy as opposed to brute force.

In April of 2009, they released General Dry Mint Mini Portion snus as a direct competitor to specifically Camel Frost. Thanks to the internet, this new General Snus got a lot of publicity in the US snus community and received rave reviews when compared to Camel SNUS Frost. General Dry Mint became a significant seller in the US over-the-counter (relatively speaking…remember Norway) and through internet snus stores like the SnusCentral.com Snus Shop.

Despite this, General Dry Mint Mini was not released in Sweden and that is still the case to this day.

The very vocal US internet Swedish snus fans did have one issue with General Dry Mint….it was a mini portion snus containing 0.6 grams/portion of snus. Regular sized Swedish snus came in full 1 gram portion pouches. Where was the one gram sized General mint snus?

In February of 2010, Swedish Match delivered and General Mint Large White Portion snus was for sale; but only in the United States or through internet snus stores. Like its mini portion older brother, General Mint Large has never been released in Sweden.

And we come full circle back to Camel SNUS Frost Large Portion Snus…..

It took Reynolds a few years longer than Swedish Match, but beginning on September 2nd, Camel SNUS fans will find Camel SNUS Frost Large Portion Snus SOLD COLD in the Camel SNUS chiller on a convenience store shelf near you.

I’m grateful to Reynolds American for the visibility Camel SNUS has given Swedish and Scandinavian snus in the US and hope they will continue to promote it. I do owe my life to a coupon I received in the mail 6 years ago for a free can of Camel SNUS Spice.

If you are part of the 80% US over-the-counter snusers who are Camel SNUS fans; especially if you use the original mini portion version of Camel Frost, Frost Large Portion is a SNUS you should definitely try.

Leave a comment telling me what you think of the Camel Frost Large Portion version over the original Camel Frost. I’m not able to give it a fair review as Swedish snus is my snus of choice.

No disrespect to Reynolds; anything safe that can get a nicotine addict off of cigarettes is a positive in my book. Taste aside, I don’t use any American “snus” because to this day even I have no idea what is in it, how it is made, and American “snus” just doesn’t give me enough bio-available nicotine to satisfy my addiction.

Congratulations to Reynolds for this latest addition to the Camel SNUS family.

Enjoy your Snus and your SNUS!