History of Snus

According to archaeological discoveries, the use of tobacco dates to around the first century
B.C. when the Mayas, a highly cultured people in Central America, smoked the tobacco leaf
in sacred and religious ceremonies. Between 470 and 630 A.D. some of the Mayas began to
move as far as the Mississippi Valley. The Toltecs, who created the mighty Aztec Empire,
borrowed the smoking custom from the Mayas who remained behind. Two castes of smokers
emerged among them. Those in the Court of Montezuma, who mingled tobacco with the resin
of other leaves and smoked pipes with great ceremony after their evening meal; and the lesser
Indians, who rolled tobacco leaves together to form a crude cigar.

The Mayas who settled in the Mississippi Valley spread their custom to the neighbouring
tribes. Theses tribes adapted tobacco smoking to their religion and begun to believe that their
god, almighty Manitou revealed himself in the rising smoke. The Arawak Indians of the
Amazon adapted tobacco to their religious rituals.

In 1492, while Christopher Columbus was exploring West Indies, he observed the Indians
rolling leaves to form a cylinder, then lighting one end and inhaling the smoke from the other.
As a friendly gesture, the Arawak Indians presented him with a gift of the aromatic leaves
they prized so highly.

In 1943 Ramon Pan, a monk who accompanied Columbus on his second voyage, gave lengthy
descriptions about the custom of taking snuff. He also described how the Indians inhaled
smoke through a Y-shaped tube. Inserting the two ends at the top of the tube into their nostrils,
they placed the other end in the smoke rising from the burning leaves. The word "tobacco"
was used to refer not to the herb, but to the tube through which the smoke was inhaled.

In 1499, the explorer Amerigo Vespucci noticed that the American Indians had a curious habit
of chewing green leaves mixed with a white powder. They carried two gourds around their
necks -- one filled with leaves, the other with powder. First, they put leaves in their mouths.
Then, after dampening a small stick with saliva, they dipped it in the powder and mixed the
powder with the leaves in their mouths, making a kind of chewing tobacco.

Jacques Cartier, on his second voyage to Canada in 1535, noted that he had seen the Indians
smoking pipes. "In Hochelaga, at the head of the river in Canada, grows a certain herb which
is stocked in large quantities by the natives during the summer season, and on which they set
great value. Men alone use it, and after drying it in the sun, they carry it around their neck
wrapped up in the skin of a small animal, like a sac, with a hollow piece of stone or wood.
When the spirit moves them, they pulverize this herb and place it at one end, lighting it with a
fire brand, and draw on the other end so long that they fill their bodies with smoke until it
comes out of their mouth and nostrils as from a chimney. They claim it keeps them warm and
in good health. They never travel without this herb."

The newly arrived tobacco in Europe was treated as medicine. Jean Nicot was the French
ambassador to Portugal in the 1560s. When he returned to Paris, he brought tobacco with him.
He cured Queen Catherine de Medici's chronic headaches with a powder made of tobacco
leaves. The French Court discovered snuff.
In 1638 one of the ships of Swedish Shipping Company, Söder Kompanier returned to
Stockholm with tobacco from a journey to the Swedish colony at the mouth of the Delaware
River. It was the initial import as well as first introduction of tobacco in the Swedish market.
Within a short period, tobacco became a major trade item and the farmers became curious to
cultivate tobacco in Sweden.

In 1725 Jonas Alströmer, who was the first farmer, succeeded in planting of tobacco in
Sweden. His plantation began to grows rapidly and reached to 35 000 plants within a few
years and by 1732 it had grown to 130.000 plants. Tobacco became one of the most important
products for Swedish economy and remained as a vital item all the way to the 19th century.
The use of tobacco in various forms continued to grow and the authorities imposed a tobacco
tax to control consumption of tobacco. Swedes had to pay tax for smoking according to social
rank. Nobility, priests and burghers had to pay a one-dealer silver to smoke and a 16 öre silver
coin to use snuff. The tax for farm hands and maids was four öre. Soldiers, boatmen and
miners from Sala were exempt from tax.

In 1741 a law was introduced that prohibited everyone under the age 21 to smoke. Actually
this legislation indirectly accelerated the use of snuff in Sweden.

During the 1700s, inhaling of snus through nose was a fashion for Swedes. At the end of the
1700s, Swedes invented tucking snuff that is known today as oral snus. This type of oral snuff
is used not only in Sweden, even in USA, North and Central America, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya,
Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa.

Financial status played a vital role in favouring the use of oral snuff instead of nasal snuff.
Snuff was considered as luxury products. So only the Aristocrats and Bourgeoisies could use
snuff. But when the ordinary people found new method of taking snuff by mouth, snuff
became quickly popular and ousted more expensive chewing tobacco.

In 1822, Jacob Fredrik Ljunglöf began manufacturing snus. Within a few years, he became a
well known snus producer. His trademark was known as Number One (Ettan).

Another brand known as General Snus was immerged as a general type of snus, i.e. a snus
without its own brand. A recipe for a general snus was made based on available ingredients at
the time.

Other old brands such as Röda Lacket from Norrköping, Friskens Norrlandssnus from
Hudiksvall, Prestsnus from Gothenburg and Stockholmssnus from Kockums in Malmö were
also widely distributed.

In 1860 Jacob Fredrik’s son Knut Ljunglöf (1833-1920) took over the business. Knut had
inherited his father's passion for snus and the quality of the snus. He tested himself day’s
production, before he allowed it to be sold. The invention of tinfoil was very favourable to
marketing snus. Wrapped in tinfoil (a metal foil made of zinc or lead) was used to distribute
snus even further from Stockholm. This boosted snus market significantly.

Pope Leo XII was One of Ljunglöf's most prominent customers. Swedish emigrants in
America were another vital customer for Ljunglöf's snus. During the famine years, one fourth
of the Swedish population immigrated to America. Many emigrants started to produce snus
using the commonly known method with the longer curing process. They copied names for
their snus from their old homeland, but the taste for their snus was not like the Swedish type,
and definitely not like Ljunglöf's snus. Of the emigrants distress bear the following words
from the newspaper "Göteborgs-Posten" in year 1869, some testimony: ”The real trouble for
the Swedes is that tolerable snus can't be bought for love or money."

The Ljunglöf's snus was a monopoly in the market. There was only one producer in the USA
in the beginning of the 20th century, which was little bite larger than Ljunglöf. Ettan’s rank
was two in the world, with constantly growing sales. The death of Knut Ljunglöf was a blow
to the expansion of Swedish snus. The threat of a state tobacco monopoly became, with the
outbreak of the First World War, reality. The profit from the tobacco industry was going to be
used to build the Swedish pension fund. When the Swedish tobacco monopoly became a fact,
Knut let his son, Robert, handle the redemption of the snus production.

In 1915 Ettan was thus nationalized, together with all other tobacco factories. The
government's representative who evaluated the company was astounded to see such vast
quantities of Virginia tobacco in a snus producers stock. But Robert Ljunglöf answered with
the obvious: Otherwise it wouldn't be Ettan!

In 1914 Parliament decided to bring all the manufacture of tobacco products in Sweden under
state monopoly. At the time of its introduction the monopoly brought together an enormous
variety of snuffs that included 103 different brands.

In 1919 almost 7.000 tonnes was consumed in Sweden this year. Divide this figure by the
number of adult men at the time, i.e. 2 million, and you get an annual consumption of 3.5 kg
(7 lbs.) per person. After 1919 consumption began to drop as the use of cigarettes increased.
This change coincided with Sweden's change from an agricultural society to an industrial
society.

The monopoly was broken up in 1961. The consumption of snus declined from 7.000 tonnes
to 2.400 tonnes over a period of half a century. But in 1969 demand for snuff rose again
following increasing publicity about the dangers of smoking.

In 1970 Swedish authority imposed certain criterion for snus production. Snuff is counted as
foodstuff, which improved drastically the quality of snus to reduce the risk of illness related to
snus used. The recopies for snus have modified according to food legislation. In 1973 the first
portion snuff was introduced in Sweden.

In 2001 Gustavus is launched in Sweden - challenging the Swedish Match dominance

Currently, Sweden is the dominant supplier of snus in the Nordic market with about one
million snuff users (or "snus" as it is called in Swedish). More than half of these are former
smokers. Women account for slightly more than 10 percent of "snus" consumers.

Furthermore, snuff has strong traditions in Northern Europe, North America, Africa and some
countries in Asia