Skruf cans the Black Line Snus Brand

In 2017, the Skruf AB division of Imperial Tobacco added a mysterious new brand of snus called Black Line.  As the story goes, a group of rogue Skruf employees met secretly and created something totally new for the Skruf snus lineup.

This month the rouge employees were rounded up, shot and Imperial delisted the entire Black Line brand.  While popular in some markets, sales of Black Line were a disappointment in Sweden.  (by the way, they didn’t really shoot the Black Line team.  It just plays better into the Black Line mythology.)

Goodbye Black Line Snus! It was great while it lasted.

The four Black Line Products were high nicotine slim portions in all black cans making it hard at times to distinguish which version you were looking at initially…part of the Black Line mystery.

Black Line Slim Extra Strong Original Portion was a classic style snus with, after suffering through the so-called ecological extra strong version of Skruf, brought back the welcome hint of rose oil.

A white portion snus version was also released to complete this pair.  Both contained 24 portions/can which is always a nice surprise these days.

The nicotine level for both was listed as 4 out of 5.  What this translates into as mg/g or % of nicotine is a mystery started when Skruf was founded.  All the Skruf and Black Line products seemed stronger than indicated but by how much is an internal secret.  I’m guessing 1.8% to 2.0% defining the 4 level.  Bottom line, there were nicotine rich products.

The other two Black Line snus products, Ultra Strong Slim Mint Licorice and Ultra Strong Mint Slim White Portion, were considered very good by those who like those flavor combinations; plus a hefty 2.7% nicotine content didn’t hurt either.

The Swedish public voted with its wallet and Black Line under-performed expectations and is now out of production.  What is left is stock in the snus stores and snus eCommerce websites.  Once that’s gone, that is it.

Skruf snus lovers should not despair to much though.  Skruf has some new products coming up sure to make you smile!  I’ll smile if they don’t have mint in them.  There are only so many ways you can do mint and they’ve been done too many times already.

Time to get creative with fruit, alcoholic beverage, and even food flavors.  Mint is great for hiding the bitterness in very high nicotine snus but is becoming boring.

Like you, I’m waiting with great anticipation for the new Skruf snus offerings…and finishing off the last of my Black Line snus.

LARRY WATERS

Swedish Snus Ambassador to the United States
Reporting for SnusCENTRAL.org