JTI Sweden: Interview with a Snus Lord

In this time of anger, despair and confusion for American snusers over the Tobacco Control Act and the PACT Act,  I’ve decided it’s time to switch focus.  Like you, I’m tired of talking legislative nuances, overstepping of legal bounds, and parsing of interpretations by FDA.  My first love in all this is Real Swedish snus.  For just a little bit, cast off your frustrations and fears over FDA hypocrisy, tobacco taxes, the perverting of the Jenkins Act, and even yesterday’s court ruling on the unconstitutionality of the PACT Act.

Lets all take a mental trip to beautiful Sweden; Stockholm in particular. This is where I found Per Andersson; Brand Equity Manager – Snus & OTP, for JTI Sweden.  Translation:  Per Andersson is The Snus Lord of Sweden for JTI.

Japan Tobacco, JTI, and how did they end up in Sweden making Real Snus?

JTI, the international arm of Japan Tobacco, is the third largest tobacco company in the world.  As with everything else tobacco outside of the United States, everything seems to start with Government/Government sponsored Tobacco Monopolies.  These monopolies come and go; Sweden’s last one only ended in 1968.    How the spoils are divided afterwards is something which is headache inducing.  Here is the history timeline of JTI for the more scholarly among you.  I warn you it starts in 1784.  Special mention and sincere thanks to tobacco industry veteran and expert Andrew Romeo for helping in making the time-line specific to Per’s career coherent.

These are some of the highlights which I find interesting and of importance:

• In 1971 at age 13, in an effort to assert my teen-age identity, I began smoking cigarettes.
• In 1972, at age 2, a toddler by the name of Per Andersson was taken to the Tobacco Factory where his father worked for the first time.
• In 1999, some idiot at  (Andrew does see business reasons for this but I still find it incredible.)
• In 2007, JTI purchased Gallaher and their plethora of cigarette and snus brands.  Most importantly,

Per Andersson:  The Making of a Swedish Snus Lord

In 1972 at age 2, a toddler by the name of Per Andersson was taken for the first time to the tobacco factory where his father worked.   In our conversations, the word “passionate” was often used to describe Per’s love of tobacco and the tobacco industry.  That passion was shared and nurtured by his father.  He taught his son all about tobacco;  the feel of it, how to judge it’s quality, the absolute the importance of quality, and flavoring.

Back then, cigarettes were more in vogue than snus.  I was shocked to learn as recently as 30 to 40 years ago, the perception in Sweden at that time was snus was more a product for the lower class.  That perception began changing as more about the downsides of cigarette smoking became known.

Today, snus use in Sweden is truly classless and the social acceptance of snus throughout society is total.  One in 9 Swedes use snus and Sweden has the lowest number of cigarette smokers at 11%.  Little wonder Sweden today has the lowest rates of lung cancer, throat cancer and mouth cancer in the entire EU.

Sweden is also the only country in the  EU not subject to the infamous EU Snus Ban.  But back to Mr. Andersson’s journey, the corporate intermarraiges resulting in JTI Sweden entering the snus business and Per Andersson becoming their Snus Lord of Sweden .

In 1999, Per entered the tobacco industry officially in Swedish Tobacco’s cigarette and RYO division.  Also in 1999, some idiot at RJ Reynolds sold the their international tobacco operations and brands to JTI for a paltry $8BB USD.  Andrew Romeo does make a business case for that decision, but I still find it stunning.  Leaving all that aside, the key here as that JTI now owned the international rights to the CAMEL brand name and BAT was and is a major shareholder of RJ Reynolds.

Per went work for the Austrian Tobacco monopoly (“AustriaTabak”) as Marketing Manager.  In 2002, Gallaher Group purchased AustriaTabak, which included three Austrian factories, plus a collection of local cigarette brands (Memphis, Ronson, Nil, etc.) as well as a lucrative private label contract for German discount chains Lidl and Aldi, which are located throughout Central and Eastern Europe. 

Within AT’s holdings was their recent purchase from ‘Swedish Tobacco’ (now Swedish Match) of their cigarette business.  Production of Swedish brands “Blend,” “John Silver,” “Commerce” and others were transferred to Austria, included the unique machines for “Blend” which bridged the gap between slim and King Size (80mm) to minimize the impact of the then weight-based tax, and became the number one female brand in Sweden in the 1970s.

Per Andersson became Brand Equity Manager – Cigarettes, for Gallaher Group.  Now the plot thickens.

In 2003, Gallaher Group purchased the Gustavus snus factory in Vargarda and invested in improvements in quality to make what were essentially “me-too” Swedish Match copies into real high-quality products.  They succeeded perhaps too well resulting in a lawsuit by Swedish Match in 2004/2005.

In 2007, three critical events occured:

1. Andersson left Gallaher for Scandinavian Tobacco and then to BAT as Snus Portfolio Marketing Manager.  This is the same BAT who allowed Reynolds to sell the Camel brand and the rest of their international holdings to Japan Tobacco back in 1999, thus creating JTI.
2. JTI purchased Gallaher Group, their brands, and factories….including Swedish snus.
3. I discovered Swedish snus and was finally able to quit smoking after 35 years.  I also wrote my first article on snus:  Marlboro and Camel: When it comes to Snus; you Lose.

Finally in 2010, we arrive full circle and back on topic.  As the public and the world stock exchanges exploded in joy, Per Andersson was annointed Snus Lord of JTI Sweden.