ABSTRACT Smokeless tobacco products are perceived to have a lower health and addiction risk than conventional cigarettes. Black Buffalo Inc. has designed a novel alternative smokeless product that is based on a common non-tobacco food crop. The non-tobacco food crop leaf is cured and processed like tobacco but does not contain TSNAs or PAHs. Tobacco derived nicotine is added to the processed leaf. The products are available in two forms: loose (Long Cut) and fleece-portioned (Pouches). The filler material inside the Pouches products is the same as that used for the Long Cut products. Black Buffalo’s products are designed to emulate the organoleptic, ritualistic, and pharmacokinetic aspects of traditional smokeless products. A cross sectional online survey was conducted in approximately 4500 adults. Smokers, former smokers, never smokers and smokeless tobacco users were surveyed. 2250 respondents were shown Black Buffalo packaging and asked questions about perceptions of the health and addiction risks of the products compared to conventional cigarettes, smokeless tobacco products, e-cigarettes, and NRT (Nicotine Replacement Therapy). Marlboro Gold cigarettes were used as a control product concept. The Marlboro Gold results were the same as conventional cigarettes (CCs) validating the approach and methods used. The risk of addiction to Black Buffalo products was consistently perceived to be lower than Marlboro Gold but consistent with other smokeless tobacco products by across respondents Smokeless tobacco users perceived the addiction risk of Black Buffalo products to be less than the smokeless category in general. The health risks of Black Buffalo products were perceived to be less than Marlboro Gold, the smokeless, and e-cigarette categories. Smokeless tobacco users perceived the health risks of Black Buffalo products to be much less than the smokeless category and in general almost equivalent to NRT.