U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Company

rdf:langString U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Company

rdf:langString U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Company

rdf:langString U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Company

rdf:langString Carcinogenicity: IARC group 1

rdf:langString U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Company (formerly United States Tobacco Company) manufactures smokeless tobacco products, notably dipping tobacco, but also chewing tobacco, snus, and dry snuff and is a subsidiary of Altria. Its corporate headquarters are located in Richmond, Virginia, and it maintains factories in Clarksville and Nashville, Tennessee, Franklin Park, Illinois, and Hopkinsville, Kentucky. Copenhagen and Skoal are the company's leading brands, and each represents more than $1 billion per year in retail sales. It also sells similar products, for a lower price, under the brand names Red Seal and Husky. It also produced Rooster until 2009, when Philip Morris decided to discontinue it. The company also produces several varieties of dry snuff. Skoal was one of the first moist tobacco manufacturers to offer dipping tobacco in pouches. Skoal Bandits, released in 1983, were marketed in the UK in the 1980s, but the carcinogenic tobacco pouches were banned amid public protest. This product has a small amount of tobacco in a pouch with a thin outer membrane and resembles a tiny tea bag. Skoal Bandits were invented by UST's marketing division, the manufacturing process was conceived by Gene Paules of UST, and the process was automated by David Westerman of the Automation Center, Inc., Nashville, Tennessee. Since then, Skoal has kept the Skoal Bandits products, but has also released regular-sized pouches, as well as snus, and offers pouches under the Copenhagen brand, as well. Parent company UST was purchased by Altria Group, which now includes Philip Morris USA, John Middleton Company and US Smokeless Tobacco.