Click Swedish Snus is back!

Back in 2001, Swedish Match launched Click Portion Snus in India. Don’t worry; it tasted absolutely nothing like Chaini Khaini.  Click Snus was REAL snus and was a huge success.  On Feb 21st 2003, Click Licorice Portion Snus was added to the line-up.  The Click brand was becoming such a success that Swedish Match decided to take Click international.

The Click brand was launched in Russia and plans were made to launch Click Snus in Japan.  Back then, Swedish Match’s entry into South Africa, Russia, and India was the talk of the international tobacco industry and Click Portion Snus was the star.

While Click Snus was made at the Gothenburg Factory under the same GothiaTek standards the other Swedish Match snus products were held to, it was never released in Sweden.  Click was created to be a Swedish snus product for emerging world markets.

Fast forward to 2010: Swedish Match and Philip Morris International continue their joint venture designed to use PMI’s clout, Swedish Match’s products and snus making expertise to enter new global markets as a much more aggressive/significant force to be reckoned with.  As for the Click brand name, 2010-2011 brings back a great snus with a very unique product launch schedule.

Click White Portion Snus 2010 – The Snus

The first snus being launched under the new Click Snus brand is a white portion.  Driven in particular by focus groups and sales in the US, Swedish Match has now become particularly fond of white portion snus variants. Their new snus factory in Kungälv specializes in making white portions so the new Click White will be made there instead of it’s original birthplace in Gothenburg.

The first batch of US consumer try-out kits included General Original Portion Snus.   By the second batch, General Original had been removed and samples of 4 different white portions were included:  General White, General Wintergreen, General Mini Mint and General Large Mint.  Don’t look for those try-out samplers today; FDA and the Tobacco Control Act made them illegal as of Jun 22nd, 2010.  Fortunately, they served their purpose in establishing that potential American snusers in general desired a slower running snus than wet portions delivered.

A can of Click White Portion snus contains 24 one gram portions which is very refreshing in this day of 0.9 gram or less so-called regular portions.  Click White is a regular strength snus; 8mg/portion of nicotine.

As the product hasn’t been released yet, I was unable to find any Click sample cans (at least ones with snus left in them) when visiting our warehouse in Lidköping Sweden earlier in the month.  SnusCentral.com Store Manager Moe Unz had a very guilty look on his face so we know what happened there.

The one sentence flavor description of Click White Swedish Match published seemed similar to the one for their Tre Ankare snus.  I’m told in very broad terms, this may be true but Click will have a flavor all it’s own distinct from Tre Ankare.  Logically, since Click White Portion and the Click brand is not a limited edition snus but a full production brand, it wouldn’t make sense for it to be a re-branded Tre Ankare.

Samples for myself and Julls of SnusCENTRAL YouTube should ship out of our Snus eStore this week.  We will both bring you our thoughts once we have tried them.

Click White Portion Snus 2010 – The Product Introduction

Swedish Match has decided to introduce Click Snus differently than other new snus releases.  A very select group of Swedish Snus eStores will be the only places to order Click Snus for the first 6 months.

In month 7, Click will be made available to almost all of the remaining authorized Swedish Match Internet snus shops.  Roughly the same time this occurs, Swedish Match Distribution (SMD) will launch Click Snus over the counter in Sweden.

Fortunately, Moe Unz was in hiding at the time and I’m very happy to report our humble Snus eStore at SnusCentral.com will be among the first to offer Click Snus for sale.  Our Snus eStore is accepting pre-orders as of now.  We are hoping to receive our first shipment of Click before Christmas or no later than the following week.

Click Snus and more new REAL snus

A new brand of snus from an established and excellent Swedish snus maker is always exciting for snus lovers around the world.  I’m hoping Click White Portion Snus will be worthy of inclusion in my regular rotation.

During Week 1 of 2011, the Catch Collection Flavor will be Catch Chill.  Swedish Match consumers in Sweden were invited to vote on which previously released Catch Collection flavor they wanted to come back.  With all the votes counted, the winner was Catch Chill.  If this was one of your past favorites, you’ll be able to re-live the Catch Chill experience very soon.  More on Catch Chill in a future article.

The FDA may be trying to stamp out snus and the EU is now trying to eliminate shipments of snus between EU countries.  Despite this insanity, REAL snus lives on and so does Click Snus by Swedish Match.

Merry Christmas and a Happy Snus Year,

LARRY WATERS

Swedish Snus Ambassador to the United States
Reporting From Sweden and the USA for SnusCENTRAL.org