XRANGE General Salmiak Slim Portion and XRANGE Grov Slim Portion Snus is here!
Licorice snus lovers were devastated in 2015 when Swedish Match delisted first Nick & Johnny Small Batch Licorice snus followed by General Licorice Portion snus.
In November 2015, rumors began surfacing that Swedish Match was planning on releasing a new licorice snus in the form of XRANGE General Salmiak Slim Large Portion snus.
Word of another new XRANGE snus; Grov Slim Large Portion, also leaked out.
I, Moe Unz, was pretty confident that these rumors were correct. I had filled Peter Hagberg, then our Swedish Match e-commerce Manager, with a great deal of whisky before bringing up the rumors.
Peter can hold his liquor but I am no ordinary opponent. He had no chance and no memory of our conversation after waking up in the back seat of his car.
XRANGE General Salmiak Slim Large Portion snus and XRANGE Grov Slim Large Portion snus will be officially released on 1 Feb 2016 but I, Moe Unz, decided to start selling them earlier. Both are now available.
What is XRANGE Snus and Why should I care
Swedish Match created the XRANGE snus brand to target a particular target market: snus users who used both value brand snus and premium brand snus. They estimated this to be around 34% of the Swedish Market.
By taking premium snus brands starting with General, Catch, and Göteborgs Rapé and making more affordable versions, they hoped to capture this 34% overlap.
For example, at today's exchange rates we are selling Grov Original Portion for 3.39 USD/can. XRANGE Grov Slim Large Portion is being introduced at 2.52 USD per can.
Now Grov Snus is a member of the XRANGE family. XRANGE Grov is the same recipe as Grov Original Portion snus but in a slim, low drip pouch. It is styled as an original portion but is not as wet as Grov Original; the pouch is only moist to the touch.
Both are regular strength snuses; 0.85% for Grov Original and 0.95% for XRANGE Grov. You should not notice a difference as there is a little less snus in XRANGE Grov. The flavor is still pure Grov though!
Lowering the weight of the snus also lowers the price in countries like Sweden where the tobacco tax is weight based. That is why many manufacturers are doing it and why White Dry portions were invented.
What is Salmiak? Why didn't they just call it Licorce snus?
Salmiak is the flavor of Scandinavian licorice. It is best described as salty licorice. Sadly, I left work early for an important business meeting at the pub and the XRANGE General Salmiak had not been unloaded from the truck yet.
The salty flavor of Salmiak is usually achieved by adding ammonium chloride instead of sodium chloride (table salt). I did not see ammonium chloride listed as a specific ingredient of XRANGE General Salmiak but I would not be surprised if they replaced at least some of sodium chloride with it.
How much is another question. How different the flavor will be from the old General Classic Licorice portion snus is yet to be determined; at least by me, Moe Unz. Most salmiak flavored snuses from different manufacturers taste unique as I'm sure the XRANGE General Salmiak will.
The only way you will know is to try a can or two yourself. If you like it, [spoiler] there will be specials on rolls in the near future.
I will report back what I think when I get back to the office later this week. As always, I travel far and wide on your behalf and that of your always-fresh snus.
Share your thoughts on both XRANGE Grov Slim Large Portion Snus and XRANGE General Salmiak Slim Large Portion Snus in the customer review section of the product pages.
Bra måndag morgon/Good Monday morning!
MOE UNZ
Snus Legend and Manager of the SnusCentral.com Snus Shop
