Snus Industry News | STC for sale | New Thunder Snus

The loudest sound in the Swedish snus industry lately has been the silence.  There have only been a few new products worthy of note released so far in 2015, some with little fanfare.

V2 Tobacco, makers of Thunder snus, Offroad snus, and Phantom snus will be releasing a new product in early March.  They are also busy formulating five new flavors for the next Thunder Snus Limited Edition…..

Sources at V2 indicate slow going on the Thunder Limited Edition.  Finding and perfecting five new unique flavors becomes more difficult each year as more flavored snus continues to hit the market.  Bubblegum has been eliminated from consideration thankfully.

From Swedish Match, the very popular summer 2014 limited edition Goteborg’s Rape’ Hjortron White portion snus is back as a regular part of the GR’ lineup. 

A new concept snus of questionable appeal, The LAB 03 was also released for better or worse.  I reviewed it but it won’t be making into my regular rotation any time soon.  A tobacco flavored snus that tingles like a mint snus is a product I doubt anyone was really looking for.  If you are a mint snus fan with an occasional craving for a tobacco-centric snus, by all means give LAB 03 a try.

Skruf AB has released Knox Blue White portion to less than stellar reviews.  A new Elderberry snus marketed under the Skruf brand, Skruf Slim Fresh Hylleblomst White, is also starting to appear outside of Sweden.  My snus chiller is overloaded at present so it may be a bit before I have a chance to review this one.

Snus Industry Updates

Niels Frederiksen is now CEO of Scandinavian Tobacco Group (STG).  This week Swedish Match AB, a major stake-holder in STG, announced a strategy change of exploring a public stock offering of STG.  Other sources believe STG is quietly being put up for sale.

Rupini Bergstrom, Director International Media Relations & PR at the Swedish Match Group, has left Swedish Match effective 15 Feb 2015.  This doesn’t mean Rupini has left the THR cause however.  We welcome her return as the work she did at Swedish Match and ESTOC was of vital importance to the Swedish snus and THR efforts around the world.

Rupini is also a good friend to me and to SnusCENTRAL.org and in my opinion, should take a little time off to recover from her frantic travel schedule over the last 5 years.  It is well deserved and we proudly support her in her future endeavors. 

We also expect some big announcements from AG Snus of Denmark in March.  Keep an eye out for those; they will be momentous.

Swedish Snus in the United States

FDA announced today that the Swedish Match application to have their 10 US over-the-counter snuses re-classified as Modified Risk Tobacco Products (MRTP) is moving forward as the public comment period winds down. 

FDA’s Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee has scheduled a two-day meeting beginning April 9 to discuss the General Snus MRTP application.  By law, a decision will be announced by FDA in June 2015.

A strong US dollar has brought retail snus prices via the internet to lows not seen in years.  This savings also reflects in UPS shipping costs, especially for snus eStores like SnusCentral.com which has switched to UPS Real Time pricing.  Time to snus like it’s 2009!

Swiss snusers are also benefiting as the Swiss Franc has risen significantly over the Euro since Switzerland has let the franc float on the world currency market.

Covertly yours,

LARRY WATERS and
The SnusCENTRAL Intelligence Agency
Telling you stuff we know and others don’t