To box or not to box...?

Hello Can anyone tell me why they choose to decant their snuffs into wooden or metal snuff boxes? Personally I find when I put a snuff into my wooden box after only a few hours the snuff has dried out, I know you aren’t supposed to put more than a days worth of snuff into a box but it seems even the small amounts I put in go dry before long…has anyone else had this problem?

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I don’t yet own a box. I take mine straight from the tin, and when I’m out and about I just take my Gawith Apricot or Packard’s Club with me… the container it comes in lends well to travel.

How much does the box effect the scent of diffrent snuffs? I don’t really know if I really would like a box or not.

Lazarus, it depends a lot on what type of box as in what kind of lid. Also depends on the quality of box. And if its wood, what type of wood. Also the more snuff you keep in it, the fresher it stays. I have a good number of wood boxes, some sliding lid and some hinged top style. Some are built with very tight tolerances and some are not. I have 2 oak boxes and even though they have a pretty tight lid, they seem to suck the life out of snuff very quick. My 2 best wood boxes are both maple. Snuff stays fresh for days in these. And for a wood box, the more seasoned it is the better it gets. Now all my silver boxes keep the snuff fresh for at least a week or more. Using a snuff box also depends on what size tins your buying. I generally buy the 1oz. tall cans or the 25gram tin and these are too big to be carrying around. And with using a snuff box there is a great nostalgic feel to it along with keeping the tradition alive. Offering someone a pinch from a snuff box puts snuff in a classier more friendly setting than from a cheap tin with a government warning. @bob, it depends if its a metal box or wood box. Silver snuff boxes do a great job right out of the gate and won’t effect the scent. But for a new wood box, you will get a little of the wood scent in the snuff until the box gets seasoned then you won’t have any trouble. But if your getting a vintage wood box off ebay or somewhere else, it should be good to go.

I was actualy hopeing it would effect the scents somewhat. Add some slight diffrences.

The box is made out of rosewood from snuffstore.co.uk: http://www.snuffstore.co.uk/rose-wood-two-tone-wooden-snuff-box-p-445.html?cPath=48\_71 It’s a really nice box and has magnets at one end to hold the lid down tight. I’ve been deliberately putting small amounts of snuff into it as I had read you shouldn’t put more than a days supply into a box (and I am a fairly light user) Is this wrong?

bob, a new wood box will change it slightly. It will pick up the wood notes just like oak barrels used in aging whiskies etc. But as time goes on, the snuffs own scent will penetrate the wood. But what you could do is keep one snuff in the box for a while then switch snuffs. You will then pick up some of the tones from the last snuff. Lazarus, I find it works best to keep the snuff box full. The less air allowed to mix with the snuff the better, it also keeps the snuff from rolling around in the box and getting aerated. If your snuff is allowed to roll around and get exposed to air, it will dry out. I usually keep the boxes full which is usually a couple days supply and top them off as the quantity depletes. Except of course the smaller ones that only hold 1-2 days worth. The boxes I use hold anywhere from 3-4 grams to about 20 grams. And some of the boxes I keep some of the dry snuffs in for a week or two. Since I don’t use the same snuff continuously, it can take some time to use it all. And if I take the box anywhere, I top it off. And since they are already dry, they are not going to change much.

I’ve never tried the technique of filling the box right up. I would be a little dubious about doing that as if it doesn’t work I could potentially ruin an entire box full of snuff, I know snuff is cheap but it would be wasteful… Perhaps I should fill it with a snuff I’m not too fond of that way if it does go pear-shaped at least I won’t have lost a batch of my favourite snuff!

Well snuff that has dried out is not ruined, it can be rehydrated so don’t throw any away. Just look at it this way, if you had 1 bucket full of wet sand and another only 1/4 full of wet sand and placed a piece of wood over each, which bucket do you think will dry out faster. But if you really want to safe guard the snuff in it the box, you could keep something in it such as a tonquin, coffee or vanilla bean even a fresh peanut or a piece of carrot or damp piece of new sponge. Or just add a drop or two of water everyday.

Great suggestions Troutstroker. What is a tonquin bean BTW? I know I’ve seen them mentioned here before. I can’t imagine snuffing without a snuffbox. And not just because I make some. I had a friend accidently dump a full smashbox of gin and tonic across a very dirty table. To rescue it would mean snuff with dirt, cat hair, and mystery crumbs. If most of your snuff is safe at home then you only have what you transferred into a snuffbox to lose to such incidents. Of course, if the only snuff you ever intended on using were strictly the Poschl and few others that come in a plastic case then you might never be inclined to use one. I’d miss taking a good old fashion pinch though.

Thats interesting troustoker, I never thought of doing anything like that. I’ve ordered a snuffbox from Onefortheroad so i’ll remember your advice and hopefully my snuff will stay nice & moist

A fresh peanut? I don’t know how I’m going to stop myself from using that one. This place is the best! Cheers!

I’ve taken to storing my ‘dry’ snuffs in my wooden snuff box rather than my moist ones that way I can avoid having to put peanuts or anything like that in my snuff to keep it moist. Now that I have sucessfully tamed my Mild Lemon snuff I need to get my hands on more F&T High Dry Toast

The Toque snuffs, because they are so fresh, also do well in wood snuff boxes.

I’m glad to hear that as I’ve just ordered some Toque Chocolate from snuffstore.co.uk

@Onefortheroad :Tonquin beans were commonly carried in the snuff box in the hey day of snuffing to keep it fresh and add a little spicy flavour. It was commonly used in flavouring snuffs as well and it’s still in various brands, Smith’s did a tonquin snuff although I’m not sure if it’s still made by them. As memory serves Mcgahey’s still carry them as an individual purchase Lazarus: The traditional approach has always been to carry a days worth, but that possibly comes from the times when snuffers used much more snuff than we tend to and were often offering their snuff to others, so re-filling before it went stale. The only ideal way to keep snuff fresh is in an airtight non porous container, everything else is on a sliding scale - so the more airtight and non porous the box the better - but you are still going to open it several times a day. Troutstroker is spot on - the best way is to have a larger volume of snuff that is constantly topped up. I have several boxes ranging from silver, horn, wood, pewter and steel - none of them will keep a small volume of snuff fresh for more than a few hours It’s in how you use them I think

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Snuffstore.co.uk have just informed me that they’ve run out of Toque Chocolate…after I ordered it!! It would be a complete disaster but they’ve offered to send me the amount of snuff I ordered but in economy bags rather than the usual tin so thats ok as i’ll just put it in Onefortheroads snuffbox when it arrives which should be any day now…

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