Aluminum dust from F&T tins

One of my F&T tin was doing a little scratchy noise when I used to open and close the lid. I tried to clean it up with a tissue and discovered a significant amount of aluminum dust on the tissue. Same thing when you clean the inside of the lid. Kind of disgusting if this falls off into the snuff.

I checked other tins too and even for those that close rather smoothly they all have a certain amount of aluminum dust that accumulate from the friction generated by closing/opening the lid repeatedly.

What do you think, can that be harmful if this dust gets into your body? 

This has come up several times over the years so it is clearly a long term and ongoing issue with their cans. Aluminium is harmful if you were to ingest large amounts over long periods of time but this is far too little to have harmed you. What I do strongly suggest though is that you contact WoS and tell them about it - they really ought to refund you without further ado…

Thanks Snuffster.

I will just clean them once in a while to eliminate the excess.

Perhaps it’s best to store the F&T snuff in a different jar or container (and save the tins for room decorations XD)?

In some way I would be sad if Wilsons were to stop making the F&T tins. They are nice looking and classy, and they keep the snuff fresh.

I am willing to deal with the dust problem, as a little bit of clean up once in a while is no big deal.

@KebAMP I love their tins too, that would be a very sad day indeed. I keep a small paintbrush handy to deal with any dust, works like a charm.

I doubt the quantities of aluminium oxide involved would present any serious issues. If you are particularly worried, lubricating the threads with some vaseline or light oil would arrest the problem.

Good idea thanks. On the tin that was not closing well I got a pretty thick coating all over my fingers. My main concern was if some would fall off in the snuff and end up in my lungs.

bish777 beat me to it, but I would recommend beeswax (or canning wax) over vaseline or oil.

I’ll just sniff the aluminum powder along with the snuff lol, like Snuffster said, far too little to harm us.  We probably breathe in shit like this every day

probably? What about definatly.

I like the ‘zip’ it gives. That and the sparkling bogies.

Hmm, I’ve never really noticed this on my F&T tins…perhaps I’m not closing them aggresively enough!

You need to be more manly. :wink:

Story of my life Talljim! :))

@Talljim LOL

I didn’t knew that you can actually measure manlyness based on the amount of dust one can collect on their F&T tins!

Nah, you just need to use them. A newly opened tin would not have that.

Just wipe the thread of the tin with your finger. 

I’m just going to carry on ignoring it, it’s not going to be any worse for me than the multitude of other vices I have.

aluminium gets a bad rap there are lots of worse things that also do not cause dementia of any sort (unless it’s in the form of a baseball bat but that is a diffrent story.)

aluminum oxide is used in that cd scratch repair abrasive cream.  If you dont have a use for it, polish something with it.