Snus: New Smokeless Tobacco on the Market

Tobacco Warning........."It rhymes with “goose,” (cynics might say “noose”), and is a Swedish type of smokeless tobacco that's not your grandfather's dip or chew. “Snus” comes in teabag-like pouches that a user sticks between the upper lip and gum, leaves it there for up to 30 minutes and discards without spitting.(If the residue is not spit out that means that the body will absorb even more of the carcinogens found in tobacco products.) As no-smoking laws sweep the nation and cigarette sales continue to fall, Big Tobacco is alarming the public health community by devising other ways to try to make tobacco appealing, even to kids. With smokeless products representing the only booming part of the U.S. tobacco market, “Snus” is an effort to boost sales with a product that – unlike most smokeless ones – doesn't require users to spit out the residue. “Snus” also represents something more: an attempt to move smokeless tobacco beyond stereotypical users such as baseball players and rodeo cowboys and into offices or restaurants where people want a nicotine fix, but can't light up. “This is a growth strategy for us,” says Bill Phelps, spokesman for Philip Morris USA, the nation's biggest tobacco company and maker of Marlboro, the top-selling cigarette. In Dallas , TX Phillip Morris is launching its first smokeless product with a cigarette brand name: Marlboro Snus. R.J. Reynolds, second in U.S. tobacco sales, is expanding tests of its Camel Snus from two cities to eight, which will include Dallas . Its ads have a “pleasure for wherever” tagline and a playful tone. Its “abridged guide to Snusing” says, “Picture yourself stuck in the center seat 44B of an airplane: You can mope, or you can Snus.”............Consider the health risks to both kids and adults – Don't let their future go up in smoke!