Star Scientific said it will stop making Ariva and Stonewall Hard Snuff dissolvable smokeless tobacco at the end of 2012 due to losses and regulations that prevent the company from marketing those products as safer.
Annual savings of about USD 1.1 million (EUR 836,000) are expected from discontinuing the dissolvable smokeless tobacco business, the Virginia-based company said in a statement to the Securities Exchange Commission. An end to manufacturing dissolvable smokeless products means Star no longer will make or sell any tobacco products, the company said,
In addition to losses and low sales for the past several years, Star Scientific said restrictions of the Family Smoking Prevention and Control Act that bar any statements about the comparative safety of various tobacco products made it “extremely difficult to effectively market our dissolvable tobacco products.”
Licensing arrangements are being sought for Ariva, Stonewall and the StarCured tobacco curing process used to make dissolvable tobacco products low in tobacco-specific nitrosamines. (ci)