Tobacco.org

Swedish Match Q2 tops consensus, outlook stands 

Tobacco products maker Swedish Match posted a bigger-than-expected rise in second-quarter earnings on Friday, helped by snuff sales, and stood by its full-year forecast, sending its shares higher.

Pretax profit came in at 614 million Swedish crowns ($103 million), versus a year-earlier 563 million and a mean forecast of 586 million in a Reuters poll.

"The report looks pretty good overall (with) good snuff sales and a good cigar margin," said an analyst who declined to be identified.

The operating margin for wet snuff or snus -- a tobacco sold mainly in the United States and Scandinavia but banned elsewhere in the European Union -- rose to 43.0 percent from 39.1 percent, and compared with a consensus forecast of 42.9 percent.

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Swedish Match Profit Rises 16% on U.S., Swedish Snuff (Update2)  

Swedish Match AB, Europe's largest maker of smokeless tobacco products, reported second-quarter profit growth that beat analysts' estimates on stronger sales of snuff in the U.S. and Sweden.

Net income climbed 16 percent to 512 million kronor ($86 million) from 441 million kronor a year earlier, the Stockholm- based company said today. The average of eight analysts' estimates compiled by Bloomberg was 471 million kronor.

Snuff is Swedish Match's main earnings generator and most profitable product. Margins strengthened in Scandinavia . . .

The Swedish company and Lorillard Inc., the maker of the top-selling menthol cigarette in the U.S., have a joint venture that began selling snus under the Triumph brand in Ohio earlier this year to test demand.

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• Big Tobacco’s ‘Other’ Products Catch Fire 

Just because cigarette sales have been steadily falling in recent years doesn't mean the tobacco industry is going up in smoke.

On the contrary, sales of other tobacco products, such as snuff, snus, roll-your-owns and especially cigars are on the rise, according to a new Harvard University study.

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Allen parked firmly in the smoking section  

For a guy who trains intensely and has become exceedingly careful about what he puts in his body, it's interesting how prominent a role tobacco plays in Jared Allen's hunting.

On the drive to the hunting lodge, Allen stops at no fewer than three gas stations before finding one that sells the chewing tobacco he wants, Red Man.

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• Some firms benefit as cigarette smoking drops  

"There's smoking restrictions and pressure from those around you who don't want you to smoke," said Mark Rozelle, a spokesman for Stamford-based UST. "I think what's happening is as more people switch to smokeless tobacco, it becomes a socially acceptable alternative to smoking."

In a recent letter published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, Gregory Connolly, director of Harvard University's Tobacco Control Research program, cited a reduction in cigarette sales, but an increase in the use of alternative tobacco products such as snuff, small cigars and roll-your-own cigarettes.

Americans bought 17.4 billion packs of cigarettes in 2007, down from 21.1 billion in 2000, according to the letter. During the same period, sales of snuff, small cigars, and roll-your-own cigarettes increased by an equivalent of 1.1 billion packs. . . .

UST officials and representatives from the cigar lobby, dismiss the idea that smokers are turning to other tobacco products just because the price of cigarettes are rising.

"Price has the least to do with it," Rozelle said.

UST and other smokeless tobacco have used millions of dollars to promote their products to the smoking community, letting them know that there are other alternatives out there to cigarettes, Rozelle said.

UST has invested $100 million annually to these advertising efforts since 2001, Rozelle added. . . .

Owners of small cigar and tobacco shops in lower Fairfield County are unsure if Connolly's numbers are translating to higher sales for them.

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Snuff Ban Feeds Resentment of EU in Finland's Aaland Islands 

The 27,000 people of Finland's Aaland Islands are tired of being bossed around by the European Union. ... The islanders, who often say they feel more like Swedes than Finns, have clashed with the EU over fishing and hunting rights, as well as snus, a form of snuff that is popular in Sweden but illegal to sell in Finland. ... Aalanders consider snus, pronounced ``snoos,'' to be an important part of their Swedish culture. Brussels banned sales of snus, packets of tobacco that are inserted under the top lip, in 1992 on concern it would spread outside Scandinavia and attract new users. Sweden won an exemption before it joined the bloc in 1995. Aaland ferries continue to sell snus in Swedish waters.

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• Smokeless Tobacco Products Do Raise Cancer Risk  

Smokeless tobacco products (STPs), which include products such as snuff and chew tobacco, do increase the user's risk of cancer -- just not as much as smoking does.

So say researchers who examined worldwide patterns of STP use and the associated risk of cancer.

Reporting in the July issue of The Lancet Oncology, a team led by Dr. Paolo Boffeta, of the International Agency for Research on Cancer, in France, noted that STPs contain more than 30 carcinogens, including nitrosamines and metals.

Their analysis of studies from around the world found that STP users had an overall 80 percent increased risk of oral cancer and a 60 percent increased risk of esophageal cancer. They also had a similar increase in the risk of pancreatic cancer. European studies suggest no increased risk of lung cancer among STP users, but American studies suggest an 80 percent increased risk of lung cancer, the team said.

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Smokeless tobacco linked to cancer risk, but safer than smokin 

Oral and nasal snuff and chewing tobacco increase the risk of certain types of cancer but are probably safer than smoking, according to a review published on Wednesday in the journal Lancet Oncology.

The risk of throat and pancreatic cancer is roughly 60 percent higher among users of smokeless tobacco products compared with non-users, it found.

Investigators in the United States and Asia also found a 260 percent increase in the risk of mouth cancer among smokeless tobacco users, compared with non-users, but a similar European investigation found no added risk, it said.

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• Smokeless tobacco ups oral cancer risk 80 percent: WHO 

Chewing tobacco and snuff are less dangerous than cigarettes but the smokeless products still raise the risk of oral cancer by 80 percent, the World Health Organisation's cancer agency said on Tuesday.

The review of 11 studies worldwide showed people who chewed tobacco and used snuff also had a 60 percent higher risk of esophagus and pancreatic cancer.

The researchers sought to quantify the risk of smokeless tobacco after a number of studies differed on just how dangerous the products were, said Paolo Boffetta, an epidemiologist at the WHO's International Agency for Research on Cancer.

"What we did was try to quantify the burden of smokeless cancer," he said in a telephone interview. "This has never been attempted in such a systematic way before."

The researchers, who published their findings in Lancet Oncology, did this by looking at population-wide studies and trials of both humans and animals.

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• 'Quitting Isn't That Easy' 

The following open letter to Senator Barack Obama was published in Sunday's Chicago Tribune. . . .

Dear Sen. Obama,

I viewed with great interest your recent comments about your struggle to quit smoking. As a professor of medicine with a long-term research program focused on tobacco use and its consequences, I strongly believe that your discomfort is entirely unnecessary; your dependency on cigarettes can readily be resolved. . . .

Statistically, smokeless users have about the same risk of dying from mouth cancer as automobile users have of dying in a car wreck.

In fact, switching from cigarettes to smokeless provides almost all of the health benefits of complete tobacco abstinence.

Substituting satisfying and vastly safer sources of nicotine for cigarettes is called "tobacco harm reduction." . . .

Senator, your genuine desire to quit tobacco altogether is commendable.

But if you find this goal unachievable, like millions of inveterate smokers, I urge you to switch to smokeless tobacco for your physical and emotional well-being. In doing so, you can provide inspiration for American smokers, and you can effect a profound positive change in the nation's public health. Yes, you can.

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Packaged milk shop owner is a messiah for tobacco, alcohol addicts  

Unal Joshi, a 24-year-old finance professional in Rajkot, has never missed his half an hour appointment with Pankaj Trivedi on Sundays for three months now.

For many, Trivedi, 31, a resident of Shiv Shakti colony, is just a shop owner of packaged milk. But for Kunal and others like him, he is messiah who has rescued them from the evils of tobacco and alcohol addictions.

"Through vigorous counselling, help and support, Pankajbhai helped me quit my addiction to gutkha. He has given me a new life," said Kunal, who developed his tobacco chewing habit from peers as a 20-year-old. "I saw him spending his personal time, money and efforts to make me and others free of addiction. That inspired me to work on myself," he said.

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Teachers can lose job if they use tobacco in schools 

Teachers in government primary schools found chewing pan masala or tobacco during school hours might lose their job.

Kanpur's Basic Education Officer Rakesh Kumar said that the use of pan masala or tobacco in school would be banned from the coming academic session.

"Disciplinary action will be taken against those violating the order," he said.

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• Hey, Buddy, Can I Bum a Snus Off You?  

Faced with rising taxes for cigarettes -- in New York the price of a pack hit $9 -- and ever-tightening smoking bans in places such as Los Angeles, where a bill threatens to force smokers out of all outdoor eating areas, Big Tobacco is trying a new approach to keep America's dwindling 45 million smokers in the fold.

The solution: snus (they are always curiously plural), a pinch of steam-cured tobacco nestled in a tiny tea-bag-like pouch. Snus don't need to be spit out like traditional fermented dipping tobacco; they simply remain under your upper lip until you've gotten your nicotine fix.

U.S. Smokeless Tobacco is testing Skoal Dry, a snus version of its moist, fermented Skoal dipping tobacco. Spokesman Andrew Lee said the company was encouraged to find out that some 6 million of America's smokers have tried smokeless tobacco, and fully half of all smokers -- more than 22 million -- have expressed an interest in finding a smokeless-tobacco alternative.

But given that pending legislation takes aim at flavored cigarettes, tobacco companies might need to be worried about snus, too. Both the House and Senate versions of a bill to give the Food and Drug Administration jurisdiction over tobacco contain a rule to eliminate flavored cigarettes.

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These gutka sellers try to dissuade their clients! 

Passers-by stop to listen to speakers on dangers of tobacco at a street corner meeting organised by Vasavi Club to mark the No Tobacco Day in Berhampur on Saturday.

Kailash Chandra Sahu coaxes his customers to do away with the habit of chewing gutka although he sells it at his small tea stall in the city.

Some small shop owners of the city have started their personal tirade against gutka. They have understood the danger of chewing tobacco especially that comes in small pouches. But selling gutka is part of their livelihood. So, many have not stopped selling it. Kailash has come up with a unique lure to coax his customers to leave the gutka-chewing habit. He has announced that if any one of his regular gutka customer leaves this bad habit completely then he will be granted a free cup of medicated lemon tea every morning for a month.

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Snus Snoozing? 

Throughout the nation, "No Smoking" signs are becoming increasingly prevalent, as laws prohibiting smoking in bars, restaurants, casinos and elsewhere continue to pass. Seeing an opportunity, tobacco companies developed and began testing smokeless, spitless snus, targeting adult cigarette smokers looking to satisfy nicotine cravings in smoke-free places.

Major cigarette companies developed products with flagship brand names -- R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. (RJRT) manufactured Camel Snus in Sweden while its U.S. operations were setting up, while Philip Morris USA (PM USA) gained learnings from a snus called Taboka before putting its iconic Marlboro brand name on a product in June 2007. In recent months, other players have brought spitless products to the table, including Lorillard and Liggett.

Tobacco industry experts have claimed such products could be a significant player in the future tobacco category.

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