JH Wilson Top Mill?

Hi, a quick question - is JH Wilson Top Mill what we’d call an SP snuff? What exactly IS the definition of an SP snuff?

More importantly - can you buy larger tins of Top Mill? I can only seem to find small tins - and since this is becoming my go-to snuff, I’m trying to find a larger size.

Thanks!

Yes it’s an SP. What exactly that means is the subject of much conjecture, try oogle searching this site.

Certainly an SP, and a very good one imo.

Medicated 99 and SP No.1 are both available in larger tins, but not Top Mill. At least I’ve never seen the larger tins anywhere, and I have looked. SP is a lightly scented snuff, typically with a little bergamot or citrus, and many makers have an SP type snuff in their repertoire. Wilson’s of Sharrow still have several in their line up, and JHW’s SP No.1 is their version of a WoS snuff. Top Mill was their own scenting profile (as both mills were from the same family, and the JHW site was on a hill overlooking the WoS site, it became known locally as the Top Mill, with WoS known as the Bottom Mill)

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Ah! Very interesting - thank you!

I find Top Mill from the 5g bone dry sneezebox better than SP No1 in the same form. And No1 in the 20g tin is spectacular. So would jump all over the chance to get a real tin of Top Mill. If it ever comes available

There were times when JHW released Top Mill in 25 g vac tins. It was still available back in 2009 in some UK shops. Just imagine the joy of those folks who found the source! Old lovely thread with a picture of large Top Mill tin: https://snuffhouse.com/discussion/2789/does-anyone-like-top-mill-no-1/p1

Hah thanks for the link @volunge ! A guy there sums it up: “I would punch 3 people and their moms if I could find this in a 25g’er” :smiley:

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Bone dry sneezebox sums it up well @ar47. JH would sell loads of Top Mill if they ever brought it back in 25g vac cans.

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The last couple of ‘tins’ of JHW SP no1 I’ve had are made by McBarens. They are a round thin sneezebox and aren’t like SP No1 I remember. From the same tobacconist I got supposedly Medicated 99 - that was in a small Wilson’s type tin but actually had Hedges in it!!!

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Have a rectangular tin I got back in 1983 while summing in London in my teenager days. For certain bone dry and opened just a few years ago and is very well treasured as is. Excellent and irreplaceable. Top Mill is in my top drawer of dry snuffs!

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Top Mill is exquisite. I find it similar to Toque Ambrosia but better due to having more holding power to the smell.

I haven’t tried the latest version of Top Mill S.P, now made by the Mac Baren Tobacco Company, but the original Top Mill was for decades the flagship snuff of J&H Wilsons – even after the company passed into the hands of Imperial in 1953. Why it was so successful in the north of England is described below.

In the latter part of Victoria’s reign, Sharrow’s S.P was sold in a number of northern counties (including Yorkshire) as Top S.P. and had been for many years. Their astute rivals, J&H Wilsons, registered ‘Top Mill’ as a brand name in 1899 and then sent agents posing as customers to tobacconists asking for Top Mill S.P and were invariably served Top S.P. The tobacconists then received letters threatening legal action unless they published an apology (framed by J&H Wilson’s solicitors) in newspapers and Sharrow’s Top S.P was withdrawn. Sharrow had expected that their S.P would continue to sell without the prefix ‘Top’ but, in the words of Mark Chaytor, “they had underestimated the innate conservatism of the snufftaker. ‘Top’ he was accustomed to and ‘Top’ he must have, even if it did have a different flavour”. A large part of Sharrow’s valuable market was lost this way and the cloth cap, clogs n’ braces communities continued with J&H Wilsons Top Mill S.P. thereafter.

J&H Wilson’s trade brochure briefly describes Top Mill as: “Very similar to S.P No.1, but with added flavour in a higher concentration. This however does not encroach on the taste of the balanced blend of tobacco”.

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Thank you for shedding light on it, @PhilipS2! Fascinating details, indeed.

J.&H. Wilson triplet and Hedges nowadays are made by WoS for Mac Baren, who acquired these brands some years ago.

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Recently picked up this box. I do wish it was available in something other than those dreadful 5g tap tins, but alas, if I want it, it seems that is my only choice at this point (the old plastic rectangular boxes they used to use were only slightly better). In any case, when I break into this dusty dozen, you can be assured that I will be decanting the lot into more suitable storage.

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