Swedish Snus
I received a coupon in the mail from Camel, probably from one of the smokersignup.com websites. Or maybe from a night out in Richmond. The RJ Reynolds & Phillip Morris sales reps troll bars and exchange free packs of promo smokes for a scan of your license and e-mail address. I'd been back-and-forth battling a cold and was resigning myself to the fact that I would NEED to quit smoking for at least a few days to recover from my sickness... Normally I'd just grin and bear it and go for the cold turkey three days of frustration and emerge cold free.
The Camel mailer said that snus was moist stuff that didn't require spitting. This might as well be written in greek, as I didn't know the diff between snus, snuff, pouches, tins, whatever. I had noticed that the Sheetz in Opal had been advertizing this Camel Snus stuff for months. I think I actually thought about it for a few days before I finally picked up the free tin. I initially tried the Frost flavor which tastes like spearmint, with maybe a little hint of vanilla, it was very tingly, like a breathstrip, is how my friend Surly described it. It certainly did take the edge of the craving. In short time I found I actually usually preferred snus'ing to smoking.
History:-taken from buysnus.com
1400-1500 – The early history of snus
It is not known how long people have used tobacco. Europeans first came in contact with tobacco when they reached the West Indies on the island Haiti. In October 1492 came Christopher Columbus and his men ashore on this island and were greeted by indigenous people that gave them gifts. The natives gave them among other things some dried tobacco leaves that they believed were enormously precious.
The monk Ramon Pane joined Columbus on his second journey to America 1497 and came at that time in contact with the precursor of the snus. Here he saw Indian priests inhale a powder through the nose by a tube. According to scientist did this powder not entirely consist of tobacco but the snuffing itself influenced the tobacco usage when it was introduced in Europe.
The tobacco plant was brought to Europe through Spanish and Portuguese sailors. In Lisbon in the middle of the 16th century was the plant used in medical purpose by doctors and they believed that the herb could cure both syphilis and cancer. They grew the tobacco in their own gardens. Jean Nicot Jean Nicot, a French ambassador in Lisbon had a great importance for the development of the snuff usage. Carl von Linné used Nicot’s name to give the tobacco plant the Latin name, Nicotiana tabacum.
In the 1560s came Nicot in contact with the tobacco plant that at this time was grown in the gardens of Lisbon. He became so enchanted with the tobacco plants that he brought some with him to Paris. According to hearsay it is said that Nicot helped the French Queen Catherine de Medici’s to get rid of her headache. When he received information about that the queen suffered from chronic headache he advised her to crumble tobacco leaves and inhale the powder through the nose. The queen’s headache diapered when she followed his advice and after that become the snus in demand in French court circles.
1600s-1700s – The snus reaches Sweden
Paris served as a model for all the European courts and it was not long until the snuff had spread to the remaining Europe. The first time snuff was mention in Sweden was 1637 where you in a custom document could reed that snus been brought to Sweden from Borgå in Finland (known in Sweden as snus).
In 18th century became the usage of snus a must among the ladies and men in the upper classes. To a fine 18th century outfit for a man belonged a snuff-box. The can should be valuable and handle with regulated elegance. The cans fast became one of the most popular gifts and were masterpieces consisting of gold, silver and other precious materials.
The breakthrough for the Swedish tobacco industry came in the 1700s and tobacco was grown in Skåne (Scania), Gränna and Alingsås where the father of potatoes Jonas Alströmer started a tobacco plantation in a considerable size. In the end of 1700s tobacco was grown in as many as seventy Swedish towns. The decrease of the snus The French revolution led to the end for the upper classes that had taken the traditional snus. Under Napoleon, who was a heavy snuffer, the snus temporary increased but after his downfall it becomes unfashionable and possible political risky to continue using snus. To take snus become old-fashioned and the burghers that now took the power started to smoke cigars.
1800s – The snus usages change
The political development in Sweden coincides with the change of the snus usages itself. Swedish consumers started in the beginning of 19th century, alternative slightly early to put a pinch of snus beneath the upper lip. The majority of the farmers with an own plantation of tobacco also did their own snus that they grind in their coffee-grinder or a homemade snus-grinder.
1800s-1900s – Snus manufacturers
Under 19th century producers began to manufacture local brands of the moist snus. WM Hellgren with Generalsnus and Petter Swarz with Röda Lacket were some famous manufacturers but the biggest brand however was Ettan (Number One), Ljunglöfs Ettan. Jacob Fredrik Ljunglöfs snus factory on the street of Badstugatan, today Sveavägen in Stockholm, has its roots in a tobacco company that were found 1695. Jacob Fredrik Ljunglöf started manufacturing snus 1822 and made it one of Europe’s leading snus factories.
More or less all the manufacturer in the 19th century had their own selection of a snus No: 1, No: 2 and No: 3 which represented different qualities. Ljunglöf launched his trademark No: 1 as a nation-wide quality product and succeeded with that and it became known as Ettan (Number One). Even today is it one of Sweden’s biggest brands and stands for a fifth of the snus sales in Sweden.
America
When slightly one million Swedes emigrated over the Atlantic between the years 1846 and 1930 they brought the Swedish traditions with them, among them the usage of snus. In the Swedish-American district was it so common to take snus that the main street got the name snus boulevard by the Americans. The snus becomes one of the Swedish people’s characteristics. The establishment of a monopoly
In the beginning of 20th century was the Swedish government in need of money to the national defence and to the first pension reform. The money intended to come from the tobacco. A new establishment of a tobacco monopoly was introduced 1915 after a break in 250 years, and this was run by the stock company Ltd Swedish Tobacco monopoly.
The consumption of snus increased rapidly and 1919 it reached a record level when 7.000 ton of snus was sold. Sweden’s population this year was 6 million people, a consumption of 1,2 kilo per person.
The following years the snus decreased when other tobacco products began to be used more frequently like the more popular cigarettes. After the Second World War became the cigarettes a part of the American trend.
1970s until to today - a success story
In the end of 1960s the snus become increasingly popular again when the health risk in relation to cigarette smoking was revealed in a number of reports.
The first portion-packed snus was launched under 1970s and it was an important step for the snus to reach a wider clientele.
Since then has the sale increased and during year 2003 were 193 million cans sold or 6.761 ton of snus to approximately one million snus users in Sweden. Never once has such great amount of Swedish people in all social classes used snus. The usage of snus has also taken a step over the customary gender barriers and women now accounts for slightly a fifth of the snus consumers.
Additionally, snus has strong traditions in Northern Europe, North America, Africa and some countries in Asia.