Copenhagen Spitfree Coming Soon - 26 March 2024.

Recently, there's been a bit of a "buzz" in the smokeless community about a new product coming soon called Copenhagen Spitfree.  What is this "spit free" product?  This is a photo of an ad that was found in a convenience store (credit y u/Psychological-Bit676 on Reddit).  It's not surprising to see a US dip brand getting into the "spit-free" category.  But the question many are asking is "What exactly is this stuff"?  Could this be a new form of moist snuff / dip?  Could this be an American snus product?  There's a lot of info around and a lot we can read into it based on what we see and what we know, so today I'm going to hazard my best guesses at what exactly we could possibly see here.  And, when it launched in May of 2024 we'll see how far off or how close I came to guessing what it's going to be. 

Here we have the actual registration from Oregon's DOJ website for two of these products.  We don't know how many they are launching, but my guess is two.  The flavors listed are Blue Mint and and Green Mint.  Both are listed as "Spitfree" being the name, with a can weight of 0.58oz per can (16.44 grams).  We'll circle back to this later, as this will be important.

There have been other dip companies in the US that have launched similar products.  Skoal and Grizzly, for example, are both sold as "snus".  Grizzly has three variants - Wintergreen, Arctic Blue (Mint), and Natural.  Those are in the American Snuff Co / RJ Reynolds family, and are clones of existing Camel "Snus" products.  Next, we have products in the Skoal family, also branded as snus:  Mint and Smooth Mint. These products have been around for quite a while, going all the way back to 2011.  These products are different from traditional dip and are spit-free, coming in regular white pouches much like you would see with white portion Swedish Snus.  

There has also been a Copenhagen Snus in the past.  You can check out my full hands on article and review, here.  It wasn't around long, and didn't even get out of the test marketing phase.  These were around back in 2014 and came in three flavors:  Mint, Wintergreen, and Natural.  These had moist, plump, brown pouches, and were honestly some of the best American-made snus products I've encountered to date.  You can definitely see the impact snus has had on the US market, with many companies wanting to get in on the action.  From USST's Skoal Snus in 2011, to American Snuff Co's Grizzly Snus in 2020, to the upcoming Copenhagen Spitfree products coming in 2024, also from USST.  So, what do I think it's going to be?

My best guess?  These products will be identical, or similar, to the currently sold Skoal Snus.  I put the new Spitfree ad next to the current Skoal Snus cans.  There are several things I think inform us on what this product is going to be.  First, the DOJ listing has these products at 0.58oz cans.  This is the exact same weight as a can of Skoal Snus.  An important note is that a can of Copenhagen pouches weighs 0.82oz (because of the extra moisture).  Second, the colors here on the "coming soon" ad are similar to the colors of Skoal Smooth Mint and Skoal Mint.  Third, if you look at the top of a can of Skoal Snus, it has the same branding, "Spitfree Pouches".  Weather this product is called "Copenhagen Snus" or "Copenhagen Spitfree" remains to be seen.  So, what does that mean?

My best guess, right now, is that what Copenhagen Spitfree is going to be is a similar product to Skoal Snus.  You can see what the Skoal Snus pouches look like here if you've never had them before.  They weigh 1.09g each, and have moderately dry contents. Based on the ad colors, the branding, and the DOJ filing from Oregon, I'm pretty sure that's what we're going to see in May 2024.  It is unfortunate if that is the case, though.  Copenhagen Snus, as it existed in 2024, was quite good, and could have been quite popular if launched nationwide.  I'm sure this new Copenhagen Spitfree will do well due to the brand identify of Copenhagen.  And I'm sure once it's out I'll be doing a review of it.  But, as of now, this is my best guess as to what we'll be seeing when it launched!

UPDATE: 17 April 2024

We have a little more news about it, thanks to a Reddit post by u/drfeagin with a shot from an email he received.  He did note that the "Take A Look" link doesn't work.  We have a little look at the cans here, which is pretty neat from the thumbnail from this email he received.  I like the black tins, really cool look.  He says, from the email, it is about two products called  "Copenhagen Spit-Free Green and Copenhagen Spit-Free Blue, which are available in select retailers as of May 2024".  Customer service informs that they will start in Washington and Oregon, and be available in Circle K Stores, as well as online at Northerner.com.  This is the interesting part, customer service informed him that it is a "blend dark-fire and air cured tobaccos".  They call it a snus product, but have dropped the word snus "to reach a wider audience".  The fire cured tobacco part is interesting.  Fire curing, or fermenting, tobacco is something that prohibits you from swallowing your saliva, as your saliva is not safe to swallow.  However, some products, such as Islay Whisky Snus, use a small amount of fermented tobacco for flavor, so my suspicion is that there may be a small amount of fire cured tobacco for taste, but mostly air cured tobacco to keep it spit free.  So, it remains to be seen what is coming!