Marlboro Snus

From Tobacco Products

August 2007
Marlboro Snus

Manufacturer

Description

Marlboro Snus pouches use "flavor strip technology" ™.^[1] and dried tobacco. The Flavor Strip lines the inside of each pouch and is similar to Listerine Breath Strips which melt away as they are used. Only Indianapolis and Dallas, the two test market cities, are selling Marlboro snus. Marlboro Snus comes in four varieties - Rich, Mild, Peppermint and Spearmint (Mint and Spice discontinued) and is marketed as a "spit free" product. Marlboro Snus used to feature Slidepak™ packaging (similar to Taboka packaging) with 12 snus pouches in each Slidepak™, but recently switched to aluminum packaging with 6 snus pouches.^[1]

Claims

Marlboro Snus is a smokeless tobacco pouch product designed especially for adult smokers in the U.S. Snus pouches are not cigarettes or spitting tobacco like dip or chew. Our snus pouches utilize a flavor strip and spit-free, dried tobacco. Marlboro Snus comes in four varieties – Rich, Mild, Spearmint, and Peppermint (Mint and Spice discontinued). We are introducing this product into test market in the Dallas/Fort Worth area to understand adult smoker acceptance.^[1]

Smoke-free, that makes it a Hassle-Free new way to enjoy tobacco. Tuck a pouch almost anywhere, anytime. Each snus pouch contains pasturized tobacco fiber, water, flavors, and other ingredients.^[1]

Marlboro Snus is part of our [Philip Morris] continuing efforts to make progress against our growth strategy by offering a new product in the smokeless tobacco category. Our growth strategy aims to add to the mix of products we offer starting with those tobacco or tobacco-related products that are adjacent and similar to our existing business, cigarettes. We believe that Marlboro’s brand equity may help to encourage trial of this product by adult smokers. Our research shows that some adult smokers are interested in smokeless tobacco alternatives to cigarettes. Today’s alternatives – chew or dip – satisfy some adult smokers. However, many adult smokers dislike spitting, the appearance of the product, its texture and taste, and its packaging. ^[1]

Last year, Philip Morris USA introduced Taboka, a smoke-free, spit-free tobacco pouch product, into test market in the Indianapolis area. We have learned a lot from the Taboka test market and are applying those learnings to the Marlboro Snus test market. Taboka remains in test market. ^[1]

Nicotine Content:

Rich- 7.61mg/nicotine per pouch
Mild- 6.33mg/nicotine per pouch
Peppermint- 6.45mg/nicotine per pouch
Spearmint- 6.82mg/nicotine per pouch^[1]

Product Design Features

Contains pasteurized tobacco, fiber, flavor film materials, water, pouch materials, flavors (including menthol for Marlboro Snus Mint), sodium carbonate, and sodium chloride
Nicotine (Rich): 15.7 mg/g (compared to the 12.3 mg/g average of five moist snuff brands produced by Conwood/RAI)
Free Nicotine (mg/g): Rich 0.6; Spice 1.1; Mild 0.5; Mint 0.8
Total TSNA (mg/g): Rich 1.0; Spice 1.2; Mild 1.1; Mint 1.3

Marlboro Snus is a new, spitless, dry Swedish-style snus product. It appears to have been designed to appeal to smokers, and may have a high potential for dual use with cigarettes. Marlboro Snus is clearly an outgrowth of the recently developed Taboka dry snus product test marketed by Philip Morris. It is packed in attractive “Slidepaks” which have a high-tech appearance that may be attractive to consumers who would not traditionally use smokeless products. Each Slidepak contains 12 pouches. The pouches are contained within an airtight seal, which is broken when the package is first opened. This may obviate the need for refrigeration.^[1]

Images

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Marlboro Snus
Marlboro Snus packs, pouches, tobacco, and flavor strips	Marlboro Snus	Warning Label	Warning Labels on flavors collected
Marlboro Snus Spice	Snus Pouch with dissected pouch revealing the flavor strip	Marlboro Snus package onsert	Marlboro Snus package back with onsert
Marlboro Snus package back with onsert	Snus dissected pouch with revealed flavor strip	Snus dissected pouch with revealed flavor strip

Media

Publications

Industry Documents

Links

Market Testing

August 2006: Dallas and Fort Worth, TX; Indianapolis, IN
February 2009: Arizona^[1]

Advertising and Selling Messages

Retail communications, brochures, direct mail. Offered retailers new signage. Sold on a cigarette rack with a slide door, resembling Slide-Pak packaging
Like Taboka, this product was developed as part of a Philip Morris “adjacency growth strategy”
Messages associated with the product include: No smoke, No Spit, No Hassle” and “It’s not cigs, It’s not dip, It’s new snus.” A package onsert promises, “…these tiny pouches are flavorful, spit-free & neat. So they can go almost anywhere, anytime.”

Promotion

Promotions for Marlboro Snus appear to be restricted to point of sale. Website and direct mail promotions appear not to have been utilized in the test markets. Informal assessment by HSPH found that most retailers in the test markets position the product in gravity feed dispensers attached to their racks of cigarettes behind the cash register. Most retailers described orange and yellow posters (ranging from 6 x12 inch cards to 1 x 3 foot signs), usually attached to the cigarette rack behind the cash register. The price of the product was usually visible on this display. Marlboro Snus appears to be priced $1 - $2 lower than Camel Snus, and was found to range from $3.79 to $5.14 in the Dallas test market. Reports suggest that retail sales are extremely slow. Cross-promotions with cigarettes have been employed with free coupons being offered for Marlboro cigarette products.

Packaging

Sleek Slidepak feature, packs slide open
Each carton contains five packages
Each package contains 12 pouches (Slidepak)
Pouches are hermetically sealed to maintain freshness
Comes in 4 versions: Rich, Mild, Spice, Mint
Package features information insert

The product is packaged in an innovative “Slidepak” which is about the size of a cell phone and has a distinctive high-tech appearance. The product is clearly marketed toward a non-traditional smokeless tobacco user market. The product comes in four flavors: Rich, Spice, Mild and Mint. These have differing nicotine levels (see below) and there appears to be a manipulation of nicotine level and flavor characteristics to explore consumer response preferences in test market. The onsert attached to each Marlboro Snus package features catchy product advertising and also includes Surgeon General’s warnings, as well as product usage instructions, “Tuck one in your cheek, don’t chew. Please dispose in a proper receptacle.”^[1]

Product Chemistry

Marlboro Snus contains pasteurized tobacco, water, pouch materials, a dissolvable flavor film (much like those used in Listerine dissolvable tabs), potassium carbonate, and salt. It is lower in sodium than moist snuff varieties. Unpublished research commissioned by Harvard School of Public Health has found that free nicotine levels were: Rich 0.6 mg/g; Mild: 0.5 mg/g; Spice: 1.2 mg/g and Mint: 0.8 mg/g. These level are noticeably lower than Camel Snus and moist snuff products. Indeed, it is likely that the relatively low amounts of nicotine are not sufficient to maintain a regular cigarette smoker without experiencing withdrawal symptoms. This suggests that Marlboro Snus is designed to be used dually with cigarettes, and therefore may not prove to lower exposure among its users as might be expected with sole use of snus. The nicotine content may vary by product flavor type, as a specific intention of the manufacturer to create a consumer acceptable nicotine effect-flavor balance. Further information is needed. Marlboro Snus is relatively lower in TSNAs than moist snuff products. Analysis of the Original flavor commissioned by HSPH found 0.96 – 1.31 ug/g total TSNA, compared with a range of 4 – 10 ug/g total TSNA for popular US moist snuff products. Marlboro Snus is considerably dryer than Camel Snus (11% compared with 33% for Camel Snus).^[1]

Use and the Consumer

Users instructed to tuck pouch into cheek
Does not need to be refrigerated
Lasts twice as long as a cigarette

Human Use and Exposure

Human exposure: not yet conducted or not available

Toxicity Analyses

Ames method in vitro: not yet conducted or not available
In vivo MSP: not yet conducted or not available
Animal exposure: not yet conducted or not available

Legal Compliance

Surgeon General warnings
No sales to minors
Subject to State and Federal cigarette taxes

Community Response

No known organized community response

Patents

Notes

[1]