US Market News: Saying Goodbye To PMI/Swedish Match Products (Online Sales) - 26 August 2024.

Update 27 August 2024:

After publishing this, I had a busy morning!  I heard from quite a few folks with differing information, but I did want to synthesize what I've gathered this morning.  Apparently, yes, this is a PMI policy.  But what I gathered was that it sounds like a 'preference', but not something being 'harshly enforced'.  I'm not sure where that will go, and it still makes me wonder about the future of buying their products online.  But, it sounds like something that isn't being strictly enforced, or 'won't' be strictly enforced.  Again, I'm not sure what all this will lead to, but I wanted to pass off information as I receive it.  To me, this sounds like good news, but I always try to be cautiously optimistic.  

26 August 204 Original Post:

As a US consumer, this is an article I was dreading writing.  Especially as someone who buys online, and uses Swedish Match products virtually exclusively.  I recently wrote an article (June, 2024) about PMI/Swedish Match no longer allowing their US General products to be sold online (link).  I heard shortly after that that this would eventually include all of their products.  I didn't want to believe it, but I've been gradually getting ready for it because it sounded possible.  I've heard rumblings of it here and there but today I got confirmation from a very reliable source that yes, this is going to happen.  So, what is going to happen?  I was told, basically, that only products with a PMTA would be allowed to be sold in the US, and to the US.  What this means is that PMI/Swedish Match will soon effectively be stopping online sales of all of their products to the US.  This is really hard news to report, because I'm a die-hard Swedish Match fan-boy.  And I don't blame them for this.  I'm pretty sure this is a PMI thing.  

Now, what does this entail?  Well, let's continue onward.

What is the US losing?

Here is a list of all the brands you will no longer be able to buy online if you're in the US.  PMI owns AG Snus and Swedish Match.  Prior to acquiring Swedish Match, SM also owned Gotlandssnus and V2 Tobacco.  So by PMI stopping online sales to the US of all their sub-brands, you can see on this list that a wide array of products you will no longer be able to buy online.  If you're in the US, you can get the few General products locally you could already get, but that is going to be all the PMI products that people in the US will have access to.  Also, for nicotine pouch consumers, you will no longer be able to buy the Swedish Zyn products (SM), Volt Nicotine Pouches (SM), or Swave Nicotine Pouches (Gotlandssnus) online.  That is a lot of products, and a lot of brands.  So, you may be asking yourself now, what's left?

US consumers - what's left?

Well, our options are going to be quite limited for what we can get here in the US.  You'll notice Skruf, Knox, and Brukssnus aren't listed here.  I didn't include them because they've been kept out of the US market by Skruf for a bit now, and I'm assuming that will continue to be the case.   So here you'll find what products / brands we have remaining.  Here pretty soon I'll be writing a separate article that covers all the PMI products and replacement products you can find that you could try for switching your rotation.  But, it is doable.  A lot of the flavors PMI / SM has you can find alternatives.  Some, you can't, but it won't be 100% perfect making the switch.  I did an order a week ago for some of these products so I could start trying out and seeing what my rotation would be, post-SM of course.  But there you go, all the brands you'll be able to acquire once PMI fully blocks all their products from being sold to the US.  It ain't perfect, but it's something at least.

So, what's next?  Is there anything we can do?

I am not sure when this is going to happen.  I just know that it's coming.  The source I got the info from today is about as reliable as it gets.  I'd place it at a 95% chance of happening.  I'm giving it 5% for my misplaced hope.  I'm not sure what, if anything, we can do to change this.  You could try emailing PMI, I know I did.  I doubt they're going to listen, because in the end they want more people buying Zyn.  We snus consumers are way down the ladder.  My suggestions are as follows:

1.  If you have some PMI / SM products you can't live without, stock up and freeze them.  If you vacuum seal, you can keep snus frozen for years and years.  

2.  Begin preparing for "next steps" if you're a SM consumer.  Eventually, you're going to run out.  It's going to be good to go ahead and start trying products by other manufacturers and figuring out what you're going to use next.

3.  You can still buy General Mint, Wintergreen, Original, and White locally in the US.  For me, that's not an option because I don't want to pay the $10 a can it costs here.  It's not cost effective.  But if you're in an area that has it, and has it at a cheap price, lucky you, I'm jealous!

4.  Hope for the best, but expect the worst.  

I hate being the bearer of bad news, but once I got this virtually 'official' confirmation this morning, I wanted to get this out to you all.  I wish other people wrote about snus so I didn't have to be the bad guy, but it is what it is.  I am bummed, because Swedish Match snus is virtually 100% of what I use.  So, this is a big change for me.  But, stay tuned, because I will be doing more guides in the coming days about products to try, products to switch to, and new rotations to test.