Updated: Snus Leaks – Loose lips sink snus ships

UPDATED: Swedish snus manufacturers and Swedish Match in particular have a problem: unauthorized information on future product releases leaking all over social media and other sources prior to the official release…..

Swedish Match seems to be affected more by these snus leaks than other manufacturers; probably because they plan their new product launches well in advance. The longer the information is out there internally, the more likely some well meaning snus shop owner in Sweden or Denmark will be unable to contain their enthusiasm.

General Mackmyra Whisky Portion Snus Revealed

On 15 Jan 2016, a photo of the formerly top secret General Mackmyra Original Portion Snus appeared on Instagram.

General Mackmyra Whisky snus is described as being a step up from Probe Whiskey snus and is likely a Swedish Match response to the very popular Islay Whisky Portion Snus by GNT and Crafted Snus Whisky Portion Snus by AG Snus.

Both Islay Whisky Portion and Crafted Whisky Portion snus were designed by Snus Master Conny Andersson. Prior to these, Andersson was responsible for designing the annual Swedish Match Kardus Superior Edition snuses.

The flavor of General Mackmyra is described as being “definitely on the peaty side like the whisky” with a “faint sweetness on top of the General portion smokiness and taste. (General Mackmyra) is not at all as sweet as the Probe. The peat flavour is fairly dominant.”

From the description, this would put the General Mackmyra flavor profile closer to Islay Whisky snus than Crafted Snus; at least as far as the whisky flavor goes.

Having not tasted General Mackmyra myself or seen the official Swedish Match product information presentation yet, this is all supposition on my part and subject to change.

The person who posted the General Mackmyra Whisky Snus graphic is self-identified as an engineer; not someone in the snus industry.

If true, I suspect this is another case of a pre-release consumer focus group participant snapping the picture either during the presentation or pocketing a can on the way out.

In this case, Swedish Match gave out one can each in the actual cans to people on a whisky cruise.

Swedish Match has identified test samples of pending snuses sent to Swedish retailers and focus groups as one of their leak points. They are considering sending future samples in plain, unbranded cans to help eliminate these kinds of leaks.

On condition of confidentiality, I’ve known and been looking forward to General Mackmyra since 8 December 15. There will be a soft pre-release of General Mackmyra beginning in February with broad release in the beginning of April.

The premature exposure of General Mackmyra will no doubt cause Swedish Match to redouble their plain-can sampling and information security programs.

General G.3 Mint Extra Strong Slim White Portion Snus.

The latest G.3 leak to Snubie from an “anonymous” source shows a poor quality photo a future General G.3 Mint Extra Strong Slim White Portion Snus.

The G.3 brand is designed for the Norwegian market and is also sold through internet snus shops. In this case, no other information beyond the product graphic was posted.

Since two new (leaked) General XRANGE products will be released prior to February for the Swedish and e-com markets, it is conceivable the new G.3 will also appear around the same time. Since the cans have already been apparently produced, a release before the end of Q2 is pretty much assured.

General Mint Large White Portion Snus fans have long hungered for a high nicotine version. If the flavor profile of the General G.3 Mint Extra Strong Slim White is based on or comes close to the General Mint Large White taste, this has the potential to be a hugely popular snus.

Sadly; and the problem with unauthorized product leaks, is that we often have no idea what the flavor profile will be beyond what is showing on the can graphic. This can create expectations which the product itself, no matter how good, will not be able to meet.

Traditionally, Swedish Match has released new G.3 snus products at least in pairs. That may not be the case here or it could mean there is another unknown G.3 pending release.

This type of piecemeal release of information can take the winds out of the sails of carefully crafted marketing campaign. It can also disrupt product launch dates as new product leaks often change projected sales of existing products, causing either over-stock or mass-purchasing which can leave a hole between current/delisted inventories and new product replacements.

Back in November of 2015, this picture of two unreleased snuses; XRANGE Grov Slim Large Portion and XRANGE General Salmiak Slim Large Portion snuses appeared on Instagram courtesy of Snuslagret.se.

I was very excited about both of these, especially with N&J Small Batch Licorice gone and the just announced delisting of General Licorice Portion Snus.

The rumor is both new XRANGE snuses will likely be released before the end of January. Beyond that, everything else is supposition. For me, it is particularly telling that Salmiak has replaced Licorice in the General product name. Salmiak snuses are usually a little saltier than licorice snus products.

…..or maybe they just wanted a name more Swedish. We won’t know until the official release.

Other Snus Leaks and Rumors

Snus leaks have not been exclusive to Swedish Match but because the manufacturers are smaller, they don’t create quite the stir. F&L’s new snus products in 2015 and especially their revolutionary FlexLid catch lid were leaked prior to the manufacturer announcement.

Likewise, snusers learned of new-comer Epok’s new snus flavors from the internet; not the manufacturer. Granit suffered a few leaks as well.

Skruf AB and V2 Tobacco seem to be the best at keeping new products secret. In the past, several new products from Skruf arrived at the SnusCentral.com Snus Shop which Manager Moe Unz didn’t even know existed until they opened the boxes.

Beyond credible leaks with pictures, rumors are always swirling around. Our SnusCENTRAL Intelligence Agency (SnusCIA) receives them on a regular basis. Some are so unlikely (and sometimes disgusting) they aren’t worth mentioning. Others inspire further investigation.

Alcohol flavored snuses will be continuing their upward trend in 2016, now confirmed with the leaking of General Mackmyra Whisky Portion Snus. The long wait since Kardus 2009 for more rum-based snuses is finally expected to materialize this year; hopefully before summer.

The snus manufacturers of course despise all product and information leaks (unless they caused them as part of a stealth marketing campaign) as much as snus loving consumers love hearing about them.

Pretty much all manufacturers have taken assassination off the table as a response to leakers…at least that’s the rumor.

LARRY WATERS