Important Info - Please Read

[idbowman]

We're all familiar with the FDA regs and their impact on pipe tobacco.  For those of you who are only casual snuffers and don't follow snuff news or participate in online snuff groups, you should be aware that EU trade regs have passed similar efforts that will impact nasal snuff.

Many snuff manufacturers are DRASTICALLY reducing the blends they produce, and many are also reducing the volume options (imagine if McClelland not only had to get approval for all new products, but had to get separate approval for 50g and 100g tins).

A lot of this impact will be felt as soon as the end of this week (seriously...Wilsons has announced that its cutbacks go into effect this Friday).  At the moment, the biggest changes are affecting the British snuff houses.  There are some creative ideas bouncing around to work around the EU regs, and the Brexit may change some things down the road, but that is all unclear.

If you have the funds and any of your favorites are manufactured in the EU - specifically Britain, go to your preferred e-tailer and stock up on the following brands ASAP:

Wilsons of Sharrow
Samuel Gawith/Gawith Hoggarth
Viking
McCrystal's
Abraxas
Sir Walter Scott


The good news is that Roderick has announced that he does not foresee any immediate impact to the distribution, availability, or selection available from Toque.


I've looked into all of this as deeply as I could, and as far as I can tell, this isn't crying wolf.  This is real and it's happening in immediate future.

 

[idbowman]

Yeah, there are some typos in there, but I'm on my phone and have fat sausage fingers. If I think of it I'll sort them out tomorrow when I have a computer keyboard to work with.

 

[Ozark Wizard]

Aw man, I was just getting into that too. Better order that Gawith Peach(?) I think it was pronto.....


grrrrr

 

[huffelpuff]

Thanks for the heads up Ian. I'm guessing the Snuffhouse blends are going to be on that as well since they seen to be made by the same folks that make Viking. Any updates you can provide are appreciated.

Jim

 

[idbowman]

Some more info on this is shaking out - none of it's GOOD news, but it's better than it seemed last week. This will probably be a long-ish post, but if you're interested there's some good info here. I've distilled this from all of the various snuff communities, and much of it comes directly from the owners of the snuff mills themselves; so, while I'm not the expert on such things, most of this comes as straight from the horse's mouth as possible.

GREAT BRITAIN
1. Wilson's of Sharrow had reduced it's catalog significantly, but many very good snuffs remain available. The one's they've kept have been renamed IF the original name mentioned a flavor (the idea that "menthol" or "ice" is more appealing to underaged users that "cool."). For example, Honey Menthol has become "Bee Cool." Raspberry has become "Truffle." Tom Buck, for example, required no name change.

The big factor here is that since the new restrictions require each volume to be approved, they will only be available in the 10g tins.

Freybourg and Treyer is also manufactured by Wilsons, so those blends they are keeping (which are most of the F&Ts, including the much loved High Dry Toast) will, sadly, also be sold in the 10g Wilsons tins.


2. Sam Gawith/Gawith Hoggarth/Viking/Snuff Store have announced no changes in catalog. The down side is that, because of the volume issue, it seems likely that they will only sell those god-forsaken 10g tap boxes. They may yet, however, opt to use the Gawith Hoggarth style packaging which would be an improvement. There is no great risk to them dropping snuff in general as their are financially buoyed by their pipe tobacco revenue. At the moment, Viking is only sold it 25g and larger options, so it is very likely that the 25g vacuum sealed tins will still be around for that line.


3. Both Toque and McCrystals do have a shell front in the US, and both have said they do not expect that there will be an impact to their products with regard to the US.

Keep in mind that the restrictions apply only to sale of snuff across boarders within the EU. Any of these snuff mills can sell whatever they want, in whatever size options they want to non-EU nations. So the Wilsons/SG changes reflect financial decisions to keep the viable; Toque and McC appear to believe that they have enough non-EU business that they can continue to offer their catalog "as is" to non-Europeans. This may change depending on market conditions, though.

4. Artisan British snuffs (ie, Abraxax, Sir Walter Scott) are the big unknown. The registration cost may be enough to ultimately shut them down if they can't find a larger mill with which to merge.

5. "Brexit" is the big unknown. If Britain does leave the EU, they wouldn't be subject to these restrictions. The questions are (1) can the smaller scale operations survive long enough to see the Brexit come to pass? And (2) will additional import restrictions come along to make sale from Britain into the EU equally expensive?


GERMANY
In general, Germany has until Spring '17 to adjust operations as opposed to last week's deadline for the rest of the EU.

1. Poschl isn't going anywhere. They are the giant of European snuff houses and can afford to keep things almost exactly as they are without too much danger. There may be some adjustments in packaging, but life should go on mostly as before.

2. Bernards will likely be ok as well as most of their snuffs all come in single-sized tap boxes. They may merge with Poschl but keep their products unique, offering some additional security. The real sad news is that part of the regs require 65% of the front face of the packaging to be health/safety warnings, which will obscure what I believe to be the finest tin art in the business.


THE REST

1. Molens de Kralingse (Netherlands) closed up shop well in advance of the new regs. This had nothing to do with the regulations - they operated publicly-owned windmills to produce their snuff. They didn't pay for the mills, but kept them running. They got the use of the mills, the public was able to preserve a historic custom. Someone offered to purchase the mills and use them for something else, so the ability to have tax revenue AND preservation was a no-brainer. This wasn't a pulling of the rug though - the arrangement was always that the Molens could use the mills free-of-charge unless and until a buyer was found.

2. There are some others like Stok & Gotard (both Polish) that will likely see some scaling down or closing up of shop; most of the "big names" and most purchased brands, though, are in Britain or Germany.

3. India and South Africa - obviously - are not tied to any EU restrictions, so no changes whatsoever for the likes of NTSU, Taxi, 6-Photo, Dholakia, 41-Photo, etc. If anything, they stand to benefit from an increase in business.

 

[Thistleoak]

Ian you did some major research and leg work. Thank you for sharing it with the rest of the brothers and sisters on here!

 

[huffelpuff]

Unfortunately the writing has been on the wall for awhile now. All tobacco is under attack and they won't stop until they take it all. Thank you Ian for gathering all this information for us. Looks like I'll be ordering some 500 gram tubs for Christmas.

No cheers
Jim

 

[Ocelot55]

Man! De Kralingse was my favorite brand. I just can't seem to get into the other snuffs.

 

[huffelpuff]

Some of them are really hard to like.

 

[idbowman]

Man! De Kralingse was my favorite brand. I just can't seem to get into the other snuffs.

I always loved the scents, but they clogged my sinuses up something fierce! No matter the particular snuff or how perfectly I got it to land in the nose - one or two sniffs and it was congestion city!

 

[Ozark Wizard]

Good to know! Thanks!

 

[History Prof 1861]

Thanks for the update