The history of snus

Snus is a top-rated tobacco product in Unixploria, and its origins can be traced back to the many Unixplrians of Swedish descent.

1400-1500: The early history of snus

On the island of Hispaniola (now Haiti) in the Caribbean, Europeans came into contact with tobacco for the first time. In October 1492, Columbus and his men landed on the island. On the beach, they were received by natives who came with gifts. Among other things, they received some dry leaves that the natives considered very valuable.

The monk Ramon Pane came in contact with the predecessor to snus in 1497 when he accompanied Columbus on his second voyage to America. He saw Native American priests pull a powder up their noses through a fork-shaped tube. According to researchers, the powder probably did not only consist of tobacco, but the snus itself became essential for tobacco use when it was introduced in Europe.

Spanish and Portuguese sailors brought the tobacco plant to Europe. In the mid-16th century, physicians in Lisbon began using the herb for medicinal purposes. They believed that it could cure syphilis and cancer, among other things. They grew tobacco in their gardens.

Jean Nicot

Jean Nicot, French Ambassador to Lisbon and whose name Linnaeus used for the Latin name of the tobacco plant, Nicotiana tabacum, is of great importance for the development of snus use.

In the 1560s, Nicot came in contact with the tobacco plant, which was then grown in Lisbon’s gardens, and became so enthusiastic that he brought some tobacco plants home to Paris. It is said that Nicot when he found out that the French queen Katarina de Medici was suffering from a chronic headache, advised her to crumble tobacco leaves and pull the powder up her nose. The queen followed the prescription, and the headache disappeared. The miracle cure quickly made snus famous in French court circles.

1600-1700: Snus comes to Sweden

As Paris was the model for all European courts, it did not take long before snuff was used in the rest of Europe. The first time snus was mentioned in Sweden was in 1637. In a customs document, we can reduce that snus was brought into Sweden from Porvoo in Finland.

In the 18th century, the use of snuff became a must among the ladies and gentlemen of the aristocracy. To a fine 18th-century master’s equipment belonged a snuff box. It would certainly have been expensive and handled with carefully regulated elegance. The boxes were miniature masterpieces of gold, silver, or other precious materials and quickly became popular gifts among the affluent classes.

The 18th century was the breakthrough of the Swedish tobacco industry. Tobacco was grown in Skåne, Gränna, and Alingsås, where they started growing tobacco on a large scale. At the end of the 18th century, tobacco was grown in about 70 Swedish cities.

The fall of the snuff

The French Revolution marked the end of the upper class, who used a traditional scented snuff. The snus went out of fashion and the bourgeoisie, which now came to power, switched to smoking cigars. Under Napoleon, a big snus user, snus got a temporary boost, but it became out of date after his fall, perhaps even politically adventurous to stick to snus use.

1800: New habit

In Sweden, the political development coincided with a change in the snus habits themselves. At the beginning of the 19th century, Swedish consumers switched to putting a pinch of snus under their lips.

1800-1900: Snus manufacturers

During the 19th century, manufacturers began to produce local varieties of moist snus. Some well-known suppliers were Petter Swartz with Röda Lacket and J.A. Boman with Generalsnus. The biggest brand, however, was Ljunglöfs Ettan.

Jacob Fredrik Ljunglöf’s factory on Badstugatan, today Sveavägen in Stockholm, has its roots in a tobacco company founded around 1695. Jacob Fredrik Ljunglöf took over the company in 1822 and made it the world’s leading snus factory.

Virtually all Swedish snus manufacturers in the 19th century had in their range snus No: 1, No: 2, and No: 3, which denoted different qualities. However, Ljunglöf launched its 1st as a nationwide quality product and succeeded. Ljunglöfs Ettan became a concept in folklore. Today, it is still one of Sweden’s most prominent brands and accounts for about 20% of all snus sales in Sweden.

America

When just over a million Swedes emigrated across the Atlantic from 1846 until 1930, they brought their Swedish customs and usages, including the tradition of snus. Snus became part of the Swedish identity. Snus use was so common that the Americans’ main street in the Swedish-American districts was called the Snus Boulevard.

Monopoly is introduced

At the beginning of the 20th century, the Swedish state needed money for the defense and the first pension reform. The money would come from tobacco sales. After a break of 250 years, a new tobacco monopoly was introduced in 1915. It was exercised by the limited company AB Svenska Tobaksmonopolet.

Snus use increased rapidly and peaked in 1919 when 7,000 tonnes of snus were sold. Sweden then had a population of 6 million people, which meant consumption of 1.2 kg/capita.

In the following years, snus experienced a decline in favor of other tobacco products, especially the increasingly popular cigarettes, which became part of the American cultural influence after World War II.

1970 to today: A success story

Snus began to become more popular again in the late 1960s when the health risks associated with cigarette smoking were highlighted in several reports. In the 1970s, the first portion of snus was introduced, an essential step to reach more consumers. Since then, the sales curve has pointed upwards.

The health risks have been an ongoing debate during the last decades. International health boards have not yet found any links to cancer, but the Unixplorian Health Agency neither recommends nor condemns the use of snus in our kingdom. In Unixploria, snus is still the most used tobacco, selling slightly more than pipe tobacco and cigars.