Swedish Match NA held a super secret conference last Thursday in Chicago. A very select group of American bloggers attended. We were there to meet the newest Generals on the front lines of the snus war.

These are not the old stodgy round Generals that have been languishing behind the lines hoping that old tactics would save the day through some miracle. These are young, sleek and quick responding Generals who have a good chance of breaking through the allied wall of Camel, Marlboro and Skoal dominance.  They are being turned loose in 3 test markets,  Dallas, Chicago and Philadelphia, on Monday June 20th.

The new General Classic Blend Snus and General Nordic Mint Snus, are new flavors in new cans. The tins are slightly oval with square edges with a used portion tray on the bottom. One of the guests caused a bit of a stir when he mentioned the similarities to the old Nick & Johnny East/West “coffin cans”.

An unfortunate term but a fairly accurate comparison, the new cans seal tighter and are smaller in every dimension. My biggest complaint about the new cans is the side label peels off when you open the tin, which leaves bare black plastic. It also peels off the ingredients list. With a few tweaks I feel it will be an excellent choice for the company’s direction for this product. The Trial packs hold 10 portions, the regular packs will hold 15. There is enough room to go to 20 portions in a can, which seems to not be in the plans.

Read more: General Classic Blend and Nordic Mint Snus

The SnusCIA has confirmed reports of a clandestine Snus Summit Meeting occurring later this week somewhere within the United States. Snus Ambassadors from around the US will be gathering at an undisclosed location somewhere between Los Angeles and New York. We have not been able to positively identify the host of this historic snus conclave. SnusCIA analysts suspect it to be Big International Tobacco although Halliburton has not been ruled out.

Three hours ago, an intercepted communication between two of the rumored attendees revealed a shocking fact: the agenda for this snus summit is being withheld from those participating until they arrive! The communications are incomplete but can only lead to this conclusion. The first asks "Have any idea what this <garbled....> meeting is about? I doubt they're flying us all out just to say hello." The response was "< garbled...... > Maybe they want to surprise us?"

Read more: Secret US Snus Summit Confirmed

As many of you know I was invited to spend some time in Sweden, courtesy of our friends at Swedish Match.  Two friends, Julls and Feck, were invited also.  Tim/Snusify was a virtual unknown to me but quickly fit into the group.  Our first evening together set the tone for the whole visit.

Before going I thought Julls would have to be the grown-up, but that hope was quickly dashed. We all were like kids on Christmas morning, or maybe a better analogy would be kids the night before going to Disneyland. For us this was the chance of a lifetime, and we were determined to make the most of it.

Our first meeting of our host, Markus Ersmark, was not what I expected. I had seen pictures of him, but they were mostly company promo shots, staged for image and professionalism. I kind of expected a stuffed shirt type, full of salesman’s bravado. What we found was a person.

He was real and much like us (in the good ways). Actually after a while he reminded me a bit of James Bond:  sophisticated and smooth, well spoken and rarely at a loss for words. We did succeed in making him speechless a couple of times in 3 days, but it wasn't easy.  It usually involved things we weren't allowed to discuss.

This brings us to the main topic of this column.  When we first arrived at the Gothenburg factory we were asked to sign a confidentiality agreement. Nothing personal mind you; just so we would not be tempted to blab about things we saw that we maybe shouldn’t have seen.

Read more: The Most Exclusive Snus in the World

Thanks to our friends at Swedish Match AB, Members and friends of SnusCENTRAL.org were again given the opportunity to visit the homeland of REAL snus; Sweden! This trip was Swedish snus heaven as our Master Snus Team explored everything snus in Stockholm and Gothenburg. Here is the snus video you have all been waiting for!

Read more: SnusCENTRAL Invades Sweden - The Video

Georg Gundersen of AG Snus Aktieselskab of Assens, Denmark today confirmed the restructuring of their Sales and Marketing Department.  Export Manager Thorkild Knudsen is no longer associated with AG Snus.

Alex Gundersen has taken over Sales and Marketing for all markets except the Faroe Islands and Greenland.  Anne Marie Nielsen will be responsible for those.

Read more: AG Snus: Thorkild Knudsen Out