Christopher Colombus' second journey to America brought the tobacco to Europe where it finally reached Sweden in 1638. The combination of large snuff consumption and strict state regulations have developed a unique Swedish snuff with a high quality found nowhere else in the world.

THE HISTORY OF SWEDISH SNUFF

How Snuff Came to Sweden

1493 Tobacco comes to Europe with Colombus
The monk Ramon Pane was on Colombus second journey to America. He noticed the smoke coming from the mouths of native Americans. At that time tobacco use was widespead across the entire continent, from Canada to South America. In Europe the newly arrived tobacco was regarded as a medicine. Botanists and doctors began to cultivating tobacco since they believed it was a universal cure for a variage of illnesses.

Jean Nicot was the French ambassador to Portugal in the 1560s. When he returned to Paris, he brought tobacco with him. He cured Queen Catherine de Medici's chronic headaches with a powder made of tobacco leaves. The French Court discovered snuff.

1638 - The first cargo of tobacco arrives in Sweden
One of the ships belonging to the, Swedish shipping company, Söder Kompanier retuned to Stockholm in 1638 from a journey to the Swedish colony at the mouth of the Delaware River. The ship's cargo included the first tobacco to reach the Swedish market and it quickly became a major trade item. The use of tobacco in Sweden began to rise.

1725 - Tobacco plantations flourish
Jonas Alströmer was the first to succeed in cultivating tobacco in Sweden. Within a few years his plantation had grown to 35.000 plants. By 1732 it had grown to 130.000 plants and covered an area of over two hectares (about 5 acres). Alströmers success combined with the availability of good cultivation manuals and the incentives offered by the authorities, resulted in tobacco cultivation spreading across the country.

1741 - Smoking prohibitition
The use of tobacco in various forms continued to grow. The authoroties sought then, as they do now, to control and regulate consumption in the usual manner by introducing new regulations. A tobacco tax was levied on Swedes who had to pay for the right to smoke according to their social rank. Nobility, priests and burghers had to pay a one-daler silver to smoke and a 16 öre silver coin to use snuff. The tax for farm hands and maides was four öre. Soldiers, boatmen and miners from Sala were exempt from tax. In 1741 a law was introduced that prohibited everyone under the age 21 to smoke. This legislation indirectly encouraged the growing use of snuff.

End of the 18th century- From nose to mouth
During the 1700s, it was fashionable to inhale snuff through the nose. Swedes first started tucking snuff (known in Sweden as snus) under the lip at the end of the 1700s. It was the combination of inhaling snuff through the nose and chewing tobacco led to the use of oral snuff. Many people today regard the use of oral snuff as a typically Swedish custom, but this is not the case. Snuff is taken in the same way in the USA, North and Central America. Oral snuff is also used in Algeria, Tunisia, Lybia, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa. Economic factors resulted in a change in the character of snuff, favouring the use of oral snuff instead of nasal snuff. Snuff was originally a luxory restricted to the Nobility and burghers. But when the practise was taken up by the lower classes they experimented and found that snuff could be taken by mouth. This new method of using snuff quickly became popular and ousted the considerably more expansive chewing tobacco.

In 1822, Jacob Fredrik Ljunglöf started manufacturing snus. A few years later, he acquired the widely used quality standard, Number One, as his trademark. His product became known as Ettan (Number One).

1914 - Monopoly introduced
Parliement decided to bring all the manufacture of tobacco products in Sweden under state monopoly. At the time of its introduction the monopoly brought together an enormous variety of snuffs that included 103 different brands.

1919 - Consumption patterns change
Almost 7.000 tonnes was consumed in Sweden this year. Divide this figure by the number of adult men at the time, i.e. 2 million, and you get an annual consumption of 3.5 kg (7 lbs.) per person. After 1919 consumption began to drop as the use of cigarettes increased. This change coincided with Sweden's change from an agricultural society to an industrial society.

1961 - The monopoly is broken up

1968 - Saw the turning point for the revival of snuff
Over a period of half a century demand fell from 7.000 tonnes to 2.400 tonnes per year. But in 1969 snuff consumption rose again following increasing publicity about the dangers of smoking.

1970 - Change in legislation
Snuff is legally defined as a foodstuff. This required the changing of recipes and the modification of additives. Requirements were also imposed on the shelf life of snuff. In 1973 the first portion snuff was introduced in Sweden.

2001 Gustavus is launched in Sweden - challenging the Swedish Match dominance

Today, Sweden is the largest Nordic market with about one million snuff users (or "snus" as it is called in Swedish). More than half of these are former smokers. Women account for slightly more than 10 percent of "snus" consumers.

Furthermore, snuff has strong traditions in Northern Europe, North America, Africa and some countries in Asia.