• 1/10/2007
  • Salem, OR
  • staff
  • Statesman Journal (www.statesmanjournal.com)

With anti-smoking laws taking hold in many states, R.J. Reynolds has been test marketing a “spitless” tobacco called Camel Snus in two cities — Portland and Austin, Texas.

Snus tobacco, long popular in Sweden and Norway, is steam-pasteurized, not fermented like most U.S. chewing tobacco, so users do not have to spit out the juices. The small pouches, sold in tins of 20, come in three flavors: regular, spice and frost.

R.J. Reynolds spokesman David Howard said the company picked Portland and Austin to get feedback from adult tobacco consumers, and were not chosen because of their heavy concentration of young people.

Health officials in Oregon are skeptical.

“I see it as a young adult marketing strategy, and we have a lot of hip young adults in this city,” said Cathryn Cushing, a specialist with the state’s Tobacco Prevention and Education Program.

And “if it appeals to a 22-year-old, I think you can assume it will appeal to a 16-year-old. Because what do 16-year-olds want to be? Twenty-two.”

Howard declined to say how many adult tobacco consumers have tried Camel Snus, or how long the sales test, which started in summer, will run. “The test market will go on until we feel that we have gotten enough learning.”

One Portland snus user is Jesse Thompson, who says his goal is to quit all tobacco products. The bartender said he doesn’t like chewing tobacco because it’s messy and you have to spit all the time. Instead, Thompson smoked about a pack a day. But when he went to buy cigarettes one day, he saw snus — and has been using it since.

“I’m using four to five pouches a day and smoking a couple cigarettes,” Thompson said. “I’m definitely using it as a tool to quit smoking.”

Herb Severson, an expert with Oregon Research Institute in Eugene who studies how to quit smokeless tobacco, said chewing tobaccos, including snus, cause mouth and throat cancer and heart disease. But they are safer than cigarettes, which pose higher heart disease risk and can cause lung cancer.

Severson, however, worries that smokers faced with smoking bans will use snus, making them less likely to quit tobacco altogether.

“What we don’t know is whether widespread use of these products will help people quit,” he said. “We also don’t know whether these products might increase smoking.”