It's all in the name: Kronan snus
It's all in the name: Kronan, which translates to The Crown in Swedish. Does it sound familiar? The Swedish Krona, is what you use in Sweden to pay for the necessities and luxuries. The Kronan snus is about value for money - or affordable luxury, for those who prefer such a description.
A modern-day snus with a classic flavor
Kronan is a Swedish snus which isn't a century old. When it was created things like fast computers and wireless broadband were available to the public at a modest price. It happened in 2005. Swedish Match brought one of their traditional Swedish tobacco recipes to life. It was a necessary move, as their government decided to raise what was already the world's highest taxes. One of the Tobacco Masters at Swedish Match is often quoted with saying "We can't really do anything about the taxes but we can cut costs as much as possible while still providing a good product." That sums up the idea behind Kronan quite well. The name Kronan was derived from a coin in Sweden; Enkronan, which is worth somewhere between 10 and 15 cents, depending on where the economy is more healthy. But regardless of the economic situation, everybody have the right to a good snus.
Everything of what's important. Nothing of what's not.
Life shouldn't be complicated. Career isn't that important. Buying stuff that gives you status isn't really worth it, right? If you agree on the above, you will probably appreciate the Kronan even more. Rest assure that the good people at Swedish Match will never compromise on quality. In the case of Kronan, tobacco that is widely available in large quantities will be chosen and there will be no funky package design. These measures are taken in order to cut costs. And when costs have been cut, more people will afford to reward themselves with a good product. In short, the Kronan is a solid delivery of Swedish snus. Enough to make quite a few competitors jealous.
Rigorous control - from plant to pouch
It starts in the soil. Before someone even puts a seed in it, soil samples are taken to a laboratory in Sweden for analysis. Swedish Match experiments with cultivation in different countries to achieve the best possible raw tobacco. If declared a good soil for tobacco, seeds are planted and every step in the development and the cultivation of the plant is carefully monitored. The tobacco is selected on the basis of seed type, location, climate, leaf position on the plant and curing conditions. When cultivation have started, representatives from Swedish Match will visit the plantations regularly to ensure that the crops will meet the requirements. There's a simple purpose for all this care: To ensure that the tobacco that ends up being selected for the various snus blends from Swedish Match contains the lowest levels of undesirable components possible. This quality control continues through the entire chain of production; when the leaves are harvested and air-cured; when transported and later sorted in a gianormous, perfectly climatized storehouse. Then, finally, the tobacco will find its way to the factory.
When hi-tech meets a 200 year-old tradition.
In step one, the tobacco leaves are crushed and ground to fine grains; the size of the particles varies with the brand. The tobacco is then carefully mixed into a blend. A blend could contain anything between 10 and 30 different grades of tobacco depending on the recipe. In step two, the tobacco is mixed with the other main snus ingredients; water and salt. It's then time for it to undergo heat treatment, (pasteurization). After being chilled the tobacco meets the different ingredients - spices, natural oils or even bourbon whiskey - that will give the snus that extra flavor and special character. And then, finally, it's time for packaging. Loose snus goes straight into the can. For portions the correct amount of snus is first wrapped in a little pouch. In the Swedish Match factories, there is a zero tolerance for errors. Everything - which means everything - is completely focused on delivering top quality. Sophisticated instruments measure and control the process along with watchful and well trained eyes. The tradition of manufacturing snus is 200 years old in Sweden, but there's nothing traditional or old about the Swedish Match production plant. If your nose wouldn't detect the pleasant scent of tobacco here and there in the manufacturing facility, you could easily picture that parts for a fighter jet were being produced instead of snus. They even invented their own quality standard, GothiaTek. And that certainly did not happen because they wanted to make life easy for themselves. It's very much the other way around. Yes, those Swedes are a tough bunch.
Value for money does not mean compromising quality.