All-White Snus in the US

Traditional Snus was developed in Sweden in the 18th century as an oral tobacco product which doesn’t involve spitting.  It has evolved into mostly pouched tobacco products placed under the upper lip,  They provided nicotine and flavor but are otherwise considered up to 99% less harmful to a smoker than cigarettes.

In 2012, a handful of low production “white tobacco” and tobacco free snus products appeared in limited availability.  Also known as nicotine pouch products, these generated more disdain then interest from tobacco-based snus users.

In 2015, Winnington AB released a line of all-white products called Epok.  While most existing snus users scratched their heads wondering why, Epok became increasingly popular.

A few other manufacturers released all-white snus products but it was the completely unexpected purchase of Winnington AB by tobacco giant BAT that had the industry and consumers giving a hard look at all-white snus.

We at the SnusCENTRAL Intelligence Agency began a deep dive into these mysterious all-white snus products.  What we uncovered is so large in scope, so surprising in companies and individuals involved,  and dating back to at least 1999, that we still haven’t sorted it all out yet.  When we do, we will publish everything.  You will be as shocked as we were.

Until then, let us talk about a narrower slice of the all-white puzzle:

All-White Nicotine Pouch Products in the USA

While many all-white snuses are still only available via internet snus stores, some are also selling over-the-counter (OTC) in the US are:

• ZYN by Swedish Match is currently available in US stores in the western half of the country. Swedish Match is increasing its ZYN manufacturing capacity to 140 million cans per year.  ZYN will be rolled out to the rest of the US later in 2019.
• ON! by Burger & Söhne/ICC/ the Swedish Company Råå S AB (that’s a mouthful!) has moved to a new facility and are increasing manufacturing to 24 to 42 cans per minute (estimate). This would work out to about 4 to 8 million cans per year depending on shifts.
• DRYFT, launched in the US in 2018, is continuing to expand production.  They have long-term distribution commitments in both the US and international markets.

Meanwhile Swisher, National Tobacco, and other US tobacco companies are scrambling to obtain all-white nicotine products.

We haven’t heard anything from Reynolds American as of now; most of our internal sources were killed after our last article on Reynolds was published.

If our sources are accurate, Altria, who purchased a 35% stake last year of e-cigarette leader JUUL in 2018, is rumored to be seeking a white product of their own under the JUUL flag.

This story is still developing and will be updated you can be sure.

Mysteriously yours,

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

As always, the SnusCENTRAL Intelligence Agency welcomes information from industry insiders or their significant others.