Smokeless Tobacco Catches on As U.S. Cigarette Smoking Wanes

By John Reid Blackwell

With U.S. cigarette smoking waning, competition in smokeless tobacco is smokin.’

The latest example comes from Chesterfield County-based Swedish Match North America, which has introduced its Red Man moist snuff nationally.

The roll-out follows a seven-month test in 11 states, including Virginia. Consumer acceptance was “overwhelming,” said Elliot Eliades, the company’s chief of new product development.

Cigarette consumption is declining at 1 percent to 3 percent a year, but moist snuff sales have risen about 7 percent to 11 percent each of the past two years.

“The category is growing, and more companies are trying to get a piece of the pie,” Eliades said.

That includes the nation’s top cigarette maker, Henrico County- based Philip Morris USA, which has made smokeless part of its long- term growth strategy and is test-marketing its own moist snuff brand and another smokeless product called snus.

The companies are using well-established brand names to sell the new smokeless products.

Swedish Match’s Red Man has been associated with chewing tobacco since 1887, while Philip Morris is selling its smokeless products using the name of its most popular cigarette brand, Marlboro.

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Originally published by Times-Dispatch Staff Writer.

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