U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Company

{{short description|American company responsible for making smokeless tobacco}}

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{{Infobox company

| name = U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Company

| logo =

| logo_caption =

| image =

| image_caption =

| former_name = {{bulleted list|Mason Tour (1822-1870)|Weyman & Bros (1870-1905)|American Tobacco Company (1905-1911)|Weyman-Bruton Company (1911-1922)|United States Tobacco Company (1922-2001)|U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Company (2001-present)}}

| type = Subsidiary

| traded_as =

| ISIN = {{ISIN|sl=n|pl=n|US02209S1033}}

| industry = Tobacco

| founded = {{Start date and age|1822}} in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.

| founder = George Weyman

| defunct =

| fate =

| hq_location_city = Richmond, Virginia

| hq_location_country = U.S.

| areas_served = Worldwide

| key_people = {{Unbulleted list|Michael Brace (CEO)|Greg Shiflett (VP)}}

| products = Snuff, chewing tobacco, dipping tobacco, and snus

| brands = Copenhagen, Skoal, Red Seal and Husky

| num_employees =

| num_employees_year =

| parent = Altria Group

| website = {{URL|https://www.ussmokeless.com/en}}

| footnotes = Carcinogenicity: IARC group 1

}}

U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Company (formerly United States Tobacco Company) is an American company that manufactures smokeless tobacco products, notably dipping tobacco, as well as chewing tobacco, snus, and dry snuff. The company is a subsidiary of Altria.

Its corporate headquarters are located in Richmond, Virginia, and it maintains factories in Clarksville and Nashville, Tennessee,{{cite web |title=U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Company |url=https://www.nashvillechamber.com/investors/u-s-smokeless-tobacco |website=Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce |access-date=25 May 2023 |language=en |date=24 May 2023}} Franklin Park, Illinois, and Hopkinsville, Kentucky.

File:Theo Cope 121610.jpg

Copenhagen and Skoal are the company's best selling brands, and each represents more than $1 billion per year in retail sales. It also sells similar products 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.{{cite web |title=Our Products & Ingredients |url=https://www.ussmokeless.com/products/our-products-and-ingredients?src=topnav |website=www.ussmokeless.com |publisher=U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Company |access-date=25 May 2023 |language=en}}

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.{{cite news |last1=Doward |first1=Jamie |title=Smokeless tobacco test on the way |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2006/feb/19/smoking.jamiedoward |access-date=25 May 2023 |work=The Observer |date=19 February 2006 |language=en-UK}} The product has a small amount of tobacco in a pouch with a thin outer membrane that resembles a tiny tea bag.{{cite journal |last1=Hendlin |first1=Yogi H. |last2=Veffer |first2=Jessica R. |last3=Lewis |first3=M. Jane |last4=Ling |first4=Pamela M. |title=Beyond the brotherhood: Skoal Bandits' role in the evolution of marketing moist smokeless tobacco pouches |journal=Tobacco Induced Diseases |date=December 2017 |volume=15 |issue=1 |page=46 |doi=10.1186/s12971-017-0150-y|pmid=29270101 |pmc=5735793 |doi-access=free }} 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,{{cite news |title=Altria to buy UST for $10.4 billion |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ust/altria-to-buy-ust-for-10-4-billion-idUSBNG23930220080908 |access-date=25 May 2023 |work=Reuters |date=8 September 2008 |language=en}} which now includes Philip Morris USA,{{cite web |title=Philip Morris International Reaches Agreement With Altria Group, Inc. to End the Companies' Commercial Relationship Covering IQOS in the U.S. as of April 30, 2024 |url=https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221019006097/en/Philip-Morris-International-Reaches-Agreement-With-Altria-Group-Inc.-to-End-the-Companies%E2%80%99-Commercial-Relationship-Covering-IQOS-in-the-U.S.-as-of-April-30-2024 |website=www.businesswire.com |access-date=25 May 2023 |language=en |date=20 October 2022}} John Middleton Company,{{cite news |title=Altria to acquire cigar maker John Middleton |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-altria-middleton/altria-to-acquire-cigar-maker-john-middleton-idUSN0148085220071101 |access-date=25 May 2023 |work=Reuters |date=1 November 2007 |language=en}} and US Smokeless Tobacco.