Snus History

First There Was Loose Snus

Swedish snus, in its current form, was first manufactured as a loose, or lös in Swedish, version in Sweden by Jakob Frederik Ljunglöf in 1822. He called his unique brand of snus Ettan which is a derivative of the Number One quality standard he manufactured his snus to and is still sold today with very little change to the original recipe. Up until 1915, snus was manufactured by local producers in small factories located throughout Sweden.

Along with Jakob Frederik Ljunglöf and his Number One (Ettan) brand, some other famous manufacturers were WM Hellgren and his Generalsnus brand and Petter Swarz with his Röda Lacket snus, both of which are still manufactured today under the Swedish Match family along with Ettan! 1915 was a turning point for Swedish snus with the establishment of the Swedish Tobacco Monopoly. This Monopoly was created to aid the Swedish government to raise funds for its National Defense and its first Pension Reform.

Then Along Came Portion Snus

This Monopoly brought all the small individual snus manufacturers under the control of a central company known as Swedish Tobacco Monopoly LTD. This allowed for two things to happen, the quality standards to be consistent throughout all Swedish snus and made it available to all Swedes. In fact, Swedish snus consumption between 1915 and 1919 increased to record levels once the Swedish Tobacco Monopoly was created! Up until the 1970’s, Swedish snus only came in the loose variety but, another revolution was about to hit the Swedish snus business and that revolution was the introduction of the portion type snus!

Portion type snus was first introduced as Tre Ankare in 1977 by the Swedish Tobacco Company, now known at Swedish Match, and has grown to be the most popular form for a couple of reasons. First, it made Swedish snus easier to use. Until the introduction of Tre Ankare portion, you would have to get your fingers dirty in order to use snus. With the portion, all you had to do was place a pre measured, packaged portion under your upper lip and enjoy. It is also easier to remove once you’re done with it.

Second, portion snus allowed snus to cross the gender barrier by making it easier to use. Out of the over 1 million snus users in Sweden alone, women make up about 10% of them and that percentage is continually growing. With markets not only in Sweden but in North America, Europe and Asia, Swedish snus as a whole is becoming more and more popular.

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