Ozona was my entry into snuffing. I quickly realised that there were other much better Snuffs out there, but I have to say that if I had tried something without the training wheels at first, I wouldn’t be taking Snuff now.
There´s not really a point in bashing Pöschl. It´s not like they monopolize the snuff market in any agressive way. The thing they do, compared to others, is to establish foreign departments and distribute their products themselves in many countries, or work with dedicated distributors. There´s hardly another snuff company, doing this. Only Swedish Match would come to my mind. So, it´s totally logical, that their products see quite a good availability across the globe. The wider distribution of non-Pöschl snuffs depends on the specific producers, but not on Pöschl. If there was a distribution for anything besides Swedish Match or Pöschl snuffs, here in Germany, I´d have added it allready to our range. The only way to take up SG, McC, Toque and all the others would be to import them and that´s way too much work. So far they either aren´t interested in finding distributors, rely on their local markets or the internet trade. Nothing wrong with that. But you can´t blame Pöschl then for not being able to buy these in your local store.
Its not so much blaming them, but blaming the situation. Its true that they may have generated some interest in snuff, but they may have turned off 10 people for every one they turn on. Tom mentions Camel Snus. That, I’m now convinced, is a clever ploy to turn people off snus, and prevent real snus from gaining a foothold in the US market. Many “upscale” tobacconists in the US stock Pöschl and nothing else. There are national importers for several brands in the US, but most stores only stock Pöschl. If asked, the tobacconist will say there is no demand. However, if there is no supply, how can there be a demand? If no one knows about anything else, why would they demand it? Catch 22 Its easy to be popular when you are the only game in town.
On the snus situation, I would never of know what snus was until camel came out. I tried it a few times and then discovered the better brands. I don’t think RJ reynolds made camel snus to attack the swedish snus market.
I think that is our own fail in some aspects. We are only 1346 members of snuffhouse from all over the world. And about 10 active members that are writing here. There may be thousands other snufers that just don’t participate in the game. That is lack of interest. Poschl are doing our work. And I like some of their snuffs. I started with Gletcherprise and proceeded with other their flavours. Snuffhouse was the site that turned me on the snuff. I first tasted snuff 3 years ago, but I was taking it from time to time. Here I discovered a new and amazing world and started using it every day. Last week I ordered snuff for about 100$, just because I can’t wait to taste more snuffs. So sites like this have their job in turning on new snuffers.
I think I have to credit Camel Snus with leading me to Swedish snus and nasal snuff. It was when after I bought Camel snus at the corner gas station, I did some net research and discovered Swedish, and it was on snuson forum that I had my 1st nasal snuff through an exchange, which opened that world to me. I do think Camel Snus is made to be an occasional product to be used when one can’t smoke, but it has been the gateway for many, at snuson we just opened a snuff section, as right now, new people are discovering snuff.
Yes, I understand the gateway thing. I know that works in our favor for some people. But the reverse must also be true. Not everyone is as curious to look further into something as we are. I can’t help but wonder how many people get the wrong idea of snus if their only knowlege of it is Camel, and likewise Pöschl for snuff. We need to proselytize more, I agree. When people are given enough choices the best products eventually rise to the top.
Some very good points from you guys. Of course, the whole situation is very complex. Basically it would be the companie´s duty to raise attention. But with all the regulations on tobacco advertising (and samples of tobacco products) this is just impossible. If there would be more advertising, there would be more demand from consumers, therefore more demand from retailers and wholesales -> more availability. It´s a bit of a vicious circle and tricky to find the point where to start action. Toque is doing a good job in trying to get past the advertising ban, via youtube, imo. This would be the logical job for a snuff takers association, but we see how far the whole ISTA thing came, so far.
The ISTA could do more, but it doesn’t seem to have a real organized plan, nor a highly motivated person to get it rolling, as it would take alot of effort and energy. I would think a fanzine, with reviews, articles, editorials, pictures, and ads, with a subscription, and a council and an agenda with stated goals. I know all this could easily be gleaned from the net, but then, there’d be no use for it. I think such a thing to take off, has to be off the net as well. Youtube and such are great also. But a cheap made, but nice little fanzine could be made, and it’d even maybe be a mini-catalog that could be distibuted. Could be placed in cigar/tobacco shops. I have ideas. Not sure if any would work.
The reason that many upscale shops in the US stock so much Poeschl is that Davidoff handles their American distribution. Davidoff is a firm well known to Tobacconists in the states for quality product. They get the job done quite well and are themselves a reasonably large company. Wilson’s, on the other hand, distributes in North America through Sheffield Exchange which is much less recognised by sellers here and they have significantly less capital to keep American outlets informed of their wares.
Another thing to think about regarding snuff being offered in local shops is the American Monopoly. Despite the fact that you can get cigars from many countries in a tobacco shop, how often do any of you guys see cigarettes from another country. There are certainly many brands of cigarettes from around the world, but aside from a few very limited specialty types, it’s not very common to see anything other than American brands being offered for sale. When you think about it, Tom has like 51 american snuffs listed on his webpage. I’m not for sure, but there could have easily been pressure in the past not to allow foreign snuff into the market, which might have persisted. And Xander, I understand that you personally don’t like Poschl, but as Tom stated, it probably does get people interested. My story is similar to Tom’s. When I first saw Marlboro and Camel snus, I decided to give it a try. Even though I never smoked, I thought it might be a way I could discreetly curb my copenhagen fix in public. I started looking around online and found the Northerner and tried a bunch of swedish snus, which I found way better than the Camel version. Then, before I made my next snus order, I decided to pick up some snuff. I got a few Poschl’s and McChrystal’s because I was vaguely familiar with the name. I loved them and wound up becoming a dedicated snuffer. Over the last year, I’ve managed to accumulate quite a collection ~130, which includes all types and brands. Even though I prefer Poschl’s schmalzlers from their line up, I always keep some GP on hand.
@Yipes: I take your point re the list of stores. It is quite a task as Ermtony points out. The accuracy is only as good as members make it. We try to update whenever people send us accurate information, but that is rare (plus we probably miss a few which doesn’t help). If you see any errors or if you send a new shop and don’t see it posted in a day or too, an email to my personal email address would be much appreciated. Then I can make sure your updates are properly followed up. Many thanks, Dave PS: don’t forget we wholesale as well so if you can twist the arm of your local store we will happily send them a catalog so they can stock your favorites.
@Mr.Snuff Can I post this on the front page of my site for snuff? If you want to send me your catalog and any detail that may be interesting for our local and online shops, as you prefer I can send them to anybody interested (by request) or publish it for all readers of my site. e-mail: snuff_bg@abv.bg luben_k1@mail.bg site: www.snuffbg.dir.bg (still growing) www.snuffreviews.dir.bg (I’m working on it. Will be something like snuffreviews.com in bulgarian) forum: www.bulforums.com/snuff_bg (I hope this will be bulgarian version of snuffhouse.org one day in the future)