Snuff making 101

“I bought 50 gr of Celikhan raw tobacco. Celikhan tobacco was used for snuffmaking by turkish government company until 1980’s. Then the production stopped. This tobacco is very expensive $50 for 1 kg. It is moist and ready to smoke. I dried 50gr tobacco in microvawe for 20 minutes at the lowest heat. I ground it very fine like toque snuffs. For HDT i cook it untill some smoke appears. For scenting and maturing i use sodium carbonate and table salt 1/1 ratio (very small amounts) mix it with 2ml water. Add essential oils mixtures as you want. For plain snuff no oils. For scented 1-2 drops(it is like toque) For parfumed 6-7 drops (F&T like) and for exterem parfumed add 13-16 drops ( indian snuff like) if you want oil based use haff amount of paraffin instead of water. Mix them all with tea spoon. It doesn’t become like mud don’t afraid. It tastes salty but if you wait 24hrs at least salt disappears slowly.” copied from a @linguist post

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Ohhhh I wish we had a “like” button.  

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He’s so…masterfully snuffy

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Great thread.  I’m about to plant some different tobaccos bound for grinding.  Really appreciate this info. 

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Fantastic thread! I’ve bookmarked this one and it will be my bible going forward. Thanks @Juxtaposer!

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I might be done here. I suppose there will be a few edits and additions I will do but for the most part I think I’m finished. If anyone thinks I left anything out please let me know. 

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I’m really sketchy on the whole fermentation process. How do you track its progress? How do you know when to stop it? How do you stop it? If these questions are covered already I apologize, but I’ve missed it. Any addl info appreciated. I’ve made snuff by grinding prepared tobacco of course, but never from leaf, and that seems like the “real” way to do it. I want to. But I’m sure I’d hose the process right off by not understanding enough about the fermentation/curing process. Are these even the same thing? Sorry for being so dense.

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Fermentation (the breakdown of the tobacco leaf) is very complicated yes, but it is something that happens automatically and naturally starting from when the plants are harvested. Extensive fermentation is there for you to experiment with but it is not necessary. 
I edited the recipe so now you have nothing to think about.

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That is a great resource! Thank you.

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Fantastic thread, still getting around to digesting it all.

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How was that Guano snuff?

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This has to be the most interesting and useful thread on this site, thanks Jux!

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and I can no longer edit my posts on the mobile version.

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This is an excellent thread !

Bookmarked !!

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This is the most extensive piece of work about making snuff that I have ever come across. As the commercial producers don’t exactly give their secrets away, making your own snuff can be a daunting prospect. This shows it isn’t and it’s perfectly possible to make great snuff at home. 

Hopefully this can be trimmed of comments and put onto the FAQ as one body of text.

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@snuffster I think @Juxtaposer has already begun something like that.

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Just wanted to say thank you for the guide. I made some snuff from american spirit perique RYO tobacco using this basic recipe and it turned out great! Decent nic kick and a little burn.

The only difference is that I used baking soda instead of sodium carbonate, and I used 50% more of it (3/16 tsp total) because I read somewhere that’s what you need to achieve same PH as sodium carbonate.

I’ll try this next with some strong pipe tobacco. Oh and I was wondering… what are the “undesirable qualities” of using baking soda instead of sodium carbonate (washing soda)?

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@gavin Baking soda has a slight scent and is less interactive with the tobacco. That’s about it though. American Spirit Perique is a great choice for making snuff. I ran into some mold problems with my ASP batch that was also alkalized with baking soda. I did not add any salt and I was keeping it way too moist. 

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Seems that salt needs to be introduced pretty early in the process. I have been adding salt after 5 days of “making” the snuff. The salt seems to stop any unwanted growth. I give a free five day period for any thing beneficial to grow first.
 You know I went to  a lot of trouble to get the MSDS for the washing soda, lifetime supply of calcium carbonate for under $5. Pure stuff. I think baking soda is an evil and easy product, everybody has it, but not a good idea for snuff. I learned that the hard way BTW.

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@Whalen Baking soda is Sodium Bicarbonate, right ?

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