« Lorsqu’un pod tombe par terre, il se décompose – au lieu de simplement y rester » – Nor dans l’interview avec Snuzone

Que se passe-t-il lorsqu’un Sachets de nicotine usagé tombe par terre ? Pour la plupart des marques : rien. Les Sachets de nicotine classiques ne se décomposent pas complètement dans la nature, ou seulement très lentement, et représentent donc une charge pour l’environnement. Pour éviter cela, la marque norvégienne Nor a entièrement repensé le Sachets de nicotine : le « NAKD Pod ». La promesse derrière ce produit : un pod de nicotine sans sachet qui se dissout de lui-même en quelques jours. Le pod a été développé par Den Norske Snusfabrikken AS – le premier fabricant en Norvège spécialisé dans les Sachets de nicotine et le Snus blanc. Le fait que l’usine soit encore aujourd’hui la seule de son genre en Norvège n’avait toutefois rien d’évident au départ.

L’Intertabac – le plus grand salon professionnel mondial des produits du tabac et des accessoires pour fumeurs, qui s’est tenu du 15 au 17 septembre 2026 à Dortmund – a offert à Nor l’occasion idéale de présenter le « NAKD Pod » à un public professionnel international et d’échanger directement avec le secteur et les distributeurs.

Les faits les plus importants sur Nor

Note de la rédaction: l'interview suivante a été réalisée en anglais et est donc retranscrite dans la langue d'origine.

Interview mit Nor

At Intertabac, we seized the opportunity to interview Lina Therese Monge (Office Manager) and Lars Volle (Sales Manager) from Den Norske Snusfabrikken. Topics covered in the interview included sustainability, regulation, and the brand’s future plans. How does Nor navigate Norway’s strict standardised packaging regulations? What can we expect from the brand in the future: new markets, formats or flavours? What does the production process behind Nor products look like? The interview provides answers to these questions and more.

You’re coming up on four years since the brand Nor launched – what’s the story of how the Norwegian Snus Factory got started as the first and only factory that produces all-white nicotine pouches?

Monge: Nor was founded by Tony Persson and Lotta Båtemyr, who each have over 20 years’ experience working with some of the industry’s biggest names — Swedish Match, Philip Morris and British American Tobacco. Tony was part of the team that developed Epok, one of the very first all-white nicotine pouches. They joined forces with Øyvind Simonsen, who brought Epok to Norway as its distributor. Having spent their entire careers in this field, they founded Nor: the only snus factory in Norway, made by people who understood the category inside out. There was no external funding or investors. The founders invested their own money to establish a presence in what is, by any measure, an expensive business to break into. Now that the factory is up and running, the early groundwork is paying off: there's real capital behind the brand and the focus has shifted to marketing and expanding Nor's market share.

From your perspective, how does the fact that the product is made in Norway compare with products from other providers on the market?

Monge & Volle: Nor is 100% Norwegian, developed at our own production facility in Norway. In terms of market position, Nor is the fourth-biggest snus brand in Norway, behind brands like Epok (now Velo) and Skruf.

What really sets us apart, though, is that we do everything ourselves. We buy the raw materials and do our own mixing in-house, which isn't common in this industry — a lot of brands don't manufacture where they sell, let alone control the whole process from start to finish. Because we do, we know exactly what goes into every single pouch, and it also means we can experiment: testing new ideas in small batches rather than committing to a full production run. Norway plays into this in a very specific way, too. Since 2018, we've had plain packaging rules here — no visible branding, no colour beyond a kind of military-style tone, and strict limits on text size. From next year, flavour names will be banned from the cans altogether, which is exactly why you see so many Norwegian snus cans labelled with numbers instead of names. It's a real regulatory constraint, but it's also just become part of how the category works here — and it's part of why a numbering system fits naturally into that landscape.

Essentially, Nor moved away from packaging and naming conventions that featured prominent Norwegian mountain and landscape imagery. What can you tell us about this rebranding?

Monge & Volle: In Norway, we have maintained a strong sense of identity, which is precisely why we originally named products after mountains such as Galdhøpiggen, Norway's highest mountain — the idea was to incorporate Norwegian values and culture into the branding.

The issue was that this didn't translate internationally. We received feedback from customers abroad saying that nobody knew what these mountains were or what they represented, meaning the names had no significance outside Norway. That's why we started naming products after the flavour itself — it's simply easier to understand wherever you are. However, we haven't dropped the Norwegian identity altogether — you'll still find the Norwegian flag on the product.

Could you briefly walk us through what happens between the raw ingredients arriving and a finished pouch rolling off the line?

Monge: We control the entire production process ourselves, step by step. It starts with the raw materials, flavours and ingredients — we work with natural aromas rather than artificial ones, which many producers rely on because they are cheaper, but which end up tasting fake. Aromas are our speciality.

The raw materials and aromas are mixed together, and, at this stage, we constantly test the pH value. Once that's correct, we move on to the actual mixing. From there, the mixture goes to the production machines.

Despite this speed, nothing goes out unchecked. Every ten to fifteen minutes, someone stationed right by the machine pulls out a pouch and checks it by hand — they weigh it and test whether it has the correct strength. Once the pouches are finished, someone else monitors the line for burn marks or dark spots, which usually occur when a machine runs too fast — a problem we've seen at other manufacturers. After that, the pouches are weighed again before going through the labelling machine.

How does sustainability factor into your product development and packaging — is that something NAKD Pods were specifically designed around?

Monge & Volle: Yes, NAKD Pods are really where this comes together for us. It’s a patented product made from sustainable, degradable ingredients. What makes it more environmentally friendly than a traditional nicotine pouch is simple:

there’s no outer pouch at all. Most nicotine pouches are made from cellulose-based fibres and sealed with a synthetic binder that simply doesn’t degrade.

With NAKD Pods, we’ve solved this problem by eliminating the synthetic binder entirely. Instead, we use a natural, vegan binder called agar, so there is no plastic holding it together. If a pod ends up on the ground, it breaks down rather than just sitting there. On top of that, NAKD Pods essentially just contain nicotine. We’re also working to reduce the amount of plastic used in our cans.

Les « NAKD Pods » ne possèdent pas d'enveloppe extérieure. Leur formule contient de l'agar-agar, un liant naturel et végétalien, ce qui rend toute enveloppe superflue. À l’instar des sachets de nicotine classiques, les pods se placent sous la lèvre supérieure, le côté plat vers le haut – ils ne fondent pas.

What can we expect from Nor in the future? Will there be new flavours, formats or markets?

Monge & Volle: Looking ahead, expanding into export markets is a key area of focus for us, and NAKD will play a significant role in this expansion. In addition, we have a brand-new product in development: a baked white snus that we hope to launch in Sweden soon. It's patented, and as far as we know, no other company has developed anything similar yet.

We're also constantly developing new flavours to meet market demand and can move quickly on that, often picking up on trends from other food categories rather than staying purely within snus. Mango is a good example of this approach; it mirrors the kind of mango flavour trends you see in ice cream. Right now, mango-chilli is really taking off in Norway – combining sweet tropical fruit with a spicy kick. However, we deliberately avoid candy-style flavours since we don't want to risk appealing to children or minors.

In terms of markets, we want to grow both the BAKD and NAKD brands significantly in Germany. Baked is the more complex of the two, and NAKD is already patented but not yet cleared for the German market. 

Le « BAKD » Snus de Nor – un snus blanc en vrac à mélanger soi-même. Ici, dans la variété « Salted Licorice » à 8 mg/g. Un produit breveté qui, selon le fabricant, est sans égal et qui devrait bientôt être disponible sur les marchés d’exportation.

Conclusion : Nor, entre innovation et réglementation

Nor est une marque née d’une véritable expertise sectorielle, fondée par des personnes qui connaissent l’industrie du snus de l’intérieur. Comme le montre clairement cet entretien, l’innovation, la durabilité et la gestion des contraintes réglementaires ne sont pas des questions secondaires pour Nor, mais définissent au contraire l’essence même de la marque. Cela est particulièrement évident dans le cadre de la réglementation norvégienne sur l’emballage standardisé en vigueur depuis 2018 : quiconque souhaite réussir sur le marché norvégien doit travailler avec moins d’éléments graphiques tout en restant reconnaissable.

Nor se concentre désormais sur l’Allemagne comme prochain marché de croissance, les évolutions réglementaires au niveau de l’UE donnant le ton. Une révision de la directive sur les produits du tabac, qui vise à réglementer de manière uniforme les sachets de nicotine pour la première fois, n’est pas attendue avant 2027-2028. Reste à voir à quoi ressemblera le marché d’ici là et quel rôle y joueront les formats compostables tels que les NAKD Pods.

Note de la rédaction : Lors du salon InterTabac 2026, nous avons suivi deux sessions consacrées à la réglementation, portant respectivement sur la TPD2 et la TPD3. Le 2 avril 2026, la Commission européenne a publié son évaluation de la TPD2. Elle estime que les principales lacunes du cadre juridique actuel concernent les arômes, les cigarettes électroniques à usage unique et les sachets de nicotine, pour lesquels il n’existe à ce jour aucune réglementation européenne uniforme. La TPD3 vise à combler la lacune existante concernant les sachets de nicotine sans tabac. La TED2 prévoit de redéfinir le tabac brut à l’échelle de l’UE et d’introduire un taux minimum de 0 euro par kilogramme. Vous trouverez ici un aperçu détaillé des conclusions.qui.