Reynolds picks Raleigh to test Snus
Smokeless-tobacco pouches to be sold as far as Greensboro

R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. has chosen Raleigh as one of five new test markets for its Camel Snus smokeless products, beginning July 1. 

Camel Snus - pronounced “snooze” - comes in a small pouch that is placed between the lip and gum. The tobacco is pasteurized - not fermented - and it contains less moisture and salt than moist snuff and does not require the consumer to spit, the company said. 

The Raleigh test market includes convenience stores and tobacco-retail outlets as far west as the eastern part of Greensboro, spokesman David Howard said yesterday. 

Reynolds also has selected Columbus, Ohio; Indianapolis; Kansas City, Mo.; and Orlando, Fla., as test markets, according to Rob Dunham, a vice president of new-growth innovation. The company has been testing the snus products in Austin, Texas, and Portland, Ore., for more than a year. 

“We’ve determined that Camel Snus is a viable product concept that we will now make available in several thousand retail outlets in the seven test markets,” Dunham said. He said that Reynolds has not set a timetable for distributing and marketing Camel Snus nationally. 

Reynolds is not the only U.S. tobacco manufacturer testing snus products. 

Philip Morris USA Inc. said Friday that it plans to introduce a Marlboro Snus product in August in the Dallas/Fort Worth market. Philip Morris is testing Taboka Tobaccopaks, which has drawn mixed reviews from consumers, according to analysts. 

“Philip Morris is trying to capitalize on the growing popularity of smokeless products and the brand importance of Marlboro in its snus products,” said Charles Norton, a co-manager of the Vice Fund. The fund invests in the alcohol, gaming, tobacco and aerospace-defense industries. 

Both companies are focusing on smokeless products as cigarette-smoking rates decline nationally and the number of local and state smoking restrictions increase. The most popular smokeless tobacco used is moist snuff, such as Kodiak and Grizzly, two brands of Reynolds’ Conwood division. 

Smokeless products are drawing support from some anti-smoking groups as a less hazardous way to consume tobacco. Those groups, as well as Reynolds, want any proposed Federal Drug Administration regulation of tobacco products to allow for the marketing of smokeless products as reduced risk compared with cigarettes. 

“Although smokeless tobacco is just as addictive as cigarettes, and should not be used by those who are not addicted to nicotine, cigarettes are about 100 times deadlier than smokeless-tobacco products,” said Bill Godshall, the executive director of SmokeFree Pennsylvania. 

“This is a key reason why Congress should amend the proposed FDA tobacco regulatory legislation. The legislation would require even larger misleading warnings on all smokeless-tobacco products that state: ‘This product is not a safe alternative to cigarettes,’ and would prohibit smokeless-tobacco companies from truthfully claiming smokeless tobacco is a less hazardous alternative to cigarettes.” 

Other anti-smoking activists oppose marketing smokeless tobacco under cigarettes’ brand names. 

“It is no coincidence that these new smokeless products are being introduced at the same time that states are stepping up efforts to reduce tobacco use by implementing smoke-free workplace laws, higher tobacco taxes, and tobacco prevention and cessation programs,” said Vince Willmore, a vice president of communications for the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. 

Tommy Payne, the executive vice president of public affairs for Reynolds, said that “the growing body of scientific evidence on the continuum risks of the use of cigarettes, smokeless-tobacco products and other nicotine products requires serious consideration, not unilateral dismissal, by Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids and others.”