NEW SNUS! It’s Christmas time for Snus Lovers!

UPDATED: October 19th 2009! This is the time of year REAL Snus lovers wait all year for. Week 42 of each year is the customary time for Swedish and Scandinavian Snus Makes to start releasing new and special snus product for 2009.

Kind of like Black Friday in the United States: the day after Thanksgiving which used to signal the start of the Christmas Shopping Season. I say “used to” because the Christmas Sales and products are arriving earlier and earlier as retailers duke it out for the big 4th Quarter win they need to turn a profit for the year.

How 2009 will shake out for American retail in general is a big unknown right now….

Week 42 in the Scandinavian Snus world has inched up a little too. But for Swedish and Scandinavian Snus lovers, this is the time for Limited Editions, special Julesnus (Christmas Snus), and other new product launches. Julesnus is only available in the month of December and as of now, only from Gotlandssnus and Nordströmmen. Grab them while you can….imagine gingerbread, cinnamon, and just a hint of clove. I didn’t buy any freezer stock of these last year. I won’t be making that mistake this year.

Yesterday, V2 Tobacco’s Offroad Limited Edition for 2009 went on sale. It contain portion snus in 5 new exciting flavors: Mandarin Orange, Mango Cream, Moonshine, Sweet Clove, and Chocolate Raspberry. Try these and if you like them, buy some for the freezer. It will be 2010 before you know it! The Offroad Limited Edition 2009 comes in a metal tube containing 10 cans, TWO of each flavor!

V2 also released Thunder Original Extra Strong Mini Portion: a half gram mini portion version of Thunder Original with 8mg/pouch nicotine. Mini sized but with Regular portion sized nicotine. Perfect for work.

Two days ago, Skruf released the long awaited Knox White Portion and V2 released Thunder Frosted Extra Strong as a loose snus.

The early releases gaining the most attention so far are the revolutionary new01 Original and 02 Strong Lab Series Snuses by Swedish Match. The Lab Series was available for sale on September 29th and utilizes a completely new type of pouch..I call it the LS Pouch (pretty creative, huh?). While classified as a White Portion, 0102 pouches are truly a revolution in portion pouch technology. I wrote the first Pre-Release review of 0102 and was frankly amazed. 0102 is very quickly rising on the “If you were stuck on a desert island with only one brand of snus, which would it be” list.

Week 45 is the Scheduled Release Date of Nick and Johnny Black Portion. the SnusCENTRAL Intelligence Agency (SnusCIA) somehow received a can a couple of months ago and wrote the First View of Nick and Johnny Black. Oddly, N&J Black was supposed to have been released before 0102 but reasons only known to Swedish Match, has been held back. I liked it and if you like Nick and Johnny, you are in for a treat with the Black version.

The REALLY BIG NEWS from Swedish Match proves they REALLY DO listen when you make suggestions in SnusCENTRAL.org’s Ask the Manufacturer Section! Cozy Catch Cardamom / Cinnamon will be released the end of November 2009 through the end of January 2009!! CINNAMON! When Joakim and Markus say they will “pass your suggestion over to the SMAB Marketing Department, they really do! And because enough of you asked for it, Cozy Catch Cardamom / Cinnamon has been created.

When was the last time Big American Tobacco gave a damn about what YOU wanted; they just say “here it is; now Buy It!”

Swedish Match hasn’t forgotten General ONYX lovers either (and who isn’t one?). Here’s a look at the ONYX Limited Edition 2009 can. Same great ONYX Black Portion Snus; but starting in the beginning of November 2009 through February of 2010, ONYX will packaged in this special can. Beginning in March 2010, Swedish Match will switch back to the traditional ONYX can.

The Fiedler and Lundgrun subsidiary of BAT released Lucky Strike Bold Strong Portion Snus, another BANNED IN THE USA brand. I did receive some a week or so before the release. Lucky Stike fans outside the US will like it. No pictures were on the internet yet of Lucky Strike Bold so I could have written the first pre-release review with graphics but then I thought, “why bother”. American snus lovers won’t be able to buy it, my international audience wouldn’t have had availability yet, and it will never be sold at the Snus Central Snus Store.

I’m also more than a little upset with the rash of BANNED IN THE USA brands of snus so why should I give Fiedler and Lundgrun/BAT any press beyond the recently released and favorably received Mocca Macchiato Mini White Portion Snus ? First JTI CAMEL Snus, then Lucky Strike and now I’ve learned of another brand which won’t be available in the USA any longer. All these snuses are not banned because of American law or the outdated Cuban snus embargo which denies us Montecristo Snus and Romeo y Julieta Snus.

It is being played off as a brand licensing issue but that’s not the whole story. Lucky Strike and Pall Mall snus were available via the Internet since their inception with no one complaining. It wasn’t until JTI released CAMEL Snus in Sweden that territories became an issue. As usual, RJR is the cause of all this: I’m guessing because the reviews of CAMEL Snus were very positive while RJR’s Camel SNUS isn’t even the same league. I’ll be writing about all of this in another article but the bottom line is thank R.J Reynolds for Americans being banned from buying CAMEL Snus, Lucky Strike, and more. Typical RJR: if you can’t compete in quality and taste, send in the lawyers.

The most anticipated new release of any year is the VERY Limited Edition Kardus by Swedish Match. Conny Andersson, the genius responsible for Swedish Match snus flavoring and cigar tobacco blends, has something very special planned for Kardus 2009. If you were lucky or wealthy enough to have gotten hold of Kardus 2008, like a Grand Cru Classé vintage Bordeaux wine, this years version will have a different and exciting personality all it’s own.. I don’t want to say more at this point but if you are willing to sell a kidney or buy Conny a new (and expensive) car, try and get Kardus 2009 for the very brief amount of time it will be available.

Other new snus flavors and brand editions will be coming out as well. For Snus Lovers everywhere, Black Friday has arrived and it’s going to be a wonderful Swedish Snus Christmas!

Salivating along with the rest of you,