May 4, 2010 Larry Waters

SnusCIA Snus Update – New Snus Coming!

Under a semi-cloud of secrecy, four new Swedish / Scandinavian Snus Products are will be available soon; hopefully pre-PACT so that Americans have a chance to try them. The offerings are from V2 Tobacco, Gotlandssnus, GN Tobacco, and Swedish Match.

New General Snus, Gotlandssnus, Olde’ Viking Snus, and Thunder Snus

New General Snus product uses Lab Series Long Thin portion pouches

SnusCIA microphones, planted at Swedish Match AB locations throughout Sweden, have discovered a new General Snus will be released this year. It will use the Long, Thin Pouch originally designed and marketed under the Swedish Match Lab Series but will contain a current General snus recipe instead.

Speculation as to which General recipe will be used and what nicotine strength the new General Long Thin Portion will contain is rampant, but not enough is known at this point for SnusCIA to make a solid statement. The release date for the General Long Thin version is also unknown at this time but expected in 2010. We will update you as more becomes know.

The advantage to the Long Thin portion pouch is discretion. For snus users now forced to use mini-portions at work or in other similar situations, the new pouch design allows the user to enjoy twice the amount of snus and a minimum of twice the amount of nicotine than a mini portion while still being virtually undetectable to those around them. For those using two mini portions at a time to obtain sufficient nicotine, this new General Snus product will not only be more convenient, but offer a significant cost savings over mini portions.

The Long Thin portion pouch was introduced as Lab Series 01 Regular and 02 Strong by Snus by Swedish Match in 2009 with it’s own snus unique recipe. The concept was copied by V2 Tobacco with their Long + Series consisting to date of Thunder Frosted Long + Portion Snus. Frankly, we are surprised more snus manufacturers have not followed Swedish Match’s lead on this new class of portion pouches.

Jakobsson’s Wintergreen Portion Snus

The SnusCIA has known about Jakobsson’s Wintergreen Portion snus for a couple of months now but decided to hold off reporting on it until availability was forthcoming. The new Jakobsson’s was specifically designed for the American market and is covered in obnoxious FDA mandated warning labels.

The Jakobsson’s line became famous among new snusers in the United States for their Ice Fruit Portion snus. Jakobsson’s Ice Fruit was the first premium brand fruit/mint produced and is a big favorite to this day. Ice Fruit has a lot more competition today in this flavor demographic especially against General Mint Large White Portion snus and the V2 Thunder Frosted offerings, but still is a popular selling snus.

The less talked about, but in Larry Waters opinion, an outstanding traditional flavored snus is Jakobsson’s Classic Portion snus. This snus has been lost in the pack among other outstanding traditional offerings, but snuser’s old and new who have not tried Jakobsson’s Classic Portion should give it a shot.

Gotlandssnus and Jakobsson’s Snus will begin to be distributed from within the United States at brick and mortar stores as well as through their current Swedish Internet Snus Stores. Gotlandssnus has virtually no over-the-counter presence in Sweden and has primarily relied on Internet distribution to date.

Olde’ Viking Original Portion Snus by GN Tobacco

Availability of Olde’ Viking Original Portion should be any day. As the name implies, it is a traditionally flavored snus which uses GN Tobacco’s Heat Room sterilization method instead of the near universally adopted Steam Pasteurization method. Larry Waters and Lennart Melander, VP of Operations at GN Tobacco, have been in close contact of late; especially concerning the fermentation versus pasteurization arguments.

Melander did set the record straight, saying that Adrian of Gajane (owners of GNT) was incorrect in stating that GN Tobacco was in the process of having a pasteurization vessel designed and built. GNT plans to stay with their Heat Room sterilization method; believing it to produce a superior tasting snus.

Critics not only dispute the superior tasting justification, but also assert that while GNT could have, as Melander states, the lowest TSNA levels on the snus market today at .05ppm at post production, those levels while climb exponentially the longer the snus sits on the shelf. TSNA’s do not increase using Steam Pasteurization.

The very pleasant and enthusiastic Mr. Melander is supplying SnusCENTRAL with the lab tests on Olde Viking. At our request, he also agreed to run the same tests on a 3 month old can of Olde’ Viking so that TSNA levels can be compared. We are grateful for this extraordinary cooperation from GNT. Once we receive the reports and have received pending input from other snus manufacturing specialists, we hope to finally be able to make a definitive statement as to High Temperature Heat Room Fermentation versus Steam Pasteurization Vessels.

Thunder Original Test (OT Series)

Already available for Pre-Order with availability expected during Week 21, The Thunder OT Series is designed for real snus users to select the next recipe for Thunder ES Original Portion Snus. Prizes for participation include the Grand Prize of a one week trip for two to Billund, Denmark, airfare and hotel included, and greatest of all, a tour of the brand new V2 Tobacco Snus Factory in June 2011!

The evaluation/entry period will only be during a four month period starting in May, after which time, the highest ranked of the 5 OT Series recipes will become the new Thunder Original Portion Snus. The 4 also-rans will not be marketed after the selection is made. V2 Tobacco enlisted the help of the SnusCIA and SnusCENTRAL.org during the development of the Thunder OT Series and has published the Inside Story only we could bring you.

Like Gotlandssnus/Jakobsson’s Snus, V2 Tobacco Snus brands will soon be distributed in the US for brick and mortar stores as well as over the Internet.

Covertly yours,