Ginseng and Tobacco Snuff: An Unexpected Pleasure (Long)

A bit of an update on ginseng blending. Be aware that the Ginseng powder leaves a definite bitter drip when a lot of it is snuffed.

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Another update on Ginseng blending. So far my favorite ginseng blend has been: 2 parts Ginseng Powder 1 part Toque Rustica 1 part Toque Vanilla 2 parts Toque Spanish Gem For me, this is a very “tasty” and truly enjoyable blend that is easy to snuff. Your experience may differ, but I sure do recommend this one. But be warned, it is a strong snuff.

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Interesting enjoyable experiement. Of course got me now wondering if a Ginseng and Nicotine ejuice would also be viable. Don’t see any available on a brief search. Or why for instance have there never been Ginseng cigarettes or perhaps there have but at least not widely know and used as far as I am aware, which is not very far probably. Looking forward to more thoughts after a longer trial. Hope it all goes well and safely but if it’s not genuinely giving a benefit or improvement then don’t be concerned about disclosing that also. I’ve tried a lot of snuff blending but after usage for a while there really are only a tiny few that I again regularly recreate.

@I_snuff_therefore__ When I was wandering around in various parts of China 30 years ago I remember seeing and trying some Ginseng cigarettes. My understanding was that the cigarettes had Ginseng added to the tobacco. I seem to remember that there was a picture of a Taoist immortal on the front of the pack. I have never seen them outside of China although there may be some in Taiwan or Hong Kong for all I know although I do not remember seeing them in those places. The Ginseng cigarettes I tried were mostly bitter and pretty harsh. But this is not surprising as Ginseng is itself bitter to the tongue, so some bitterness on the tongue when it is smoked is to be expected, I would suppose. Remarkably, after snuffing Ginseng on a rather consistent basis since a couple of weeks before starting this thread, I still find that Ginseng is not at all harsh or bitter in the nose when snuffed. In fact, it is quite smooth. And I still find that the psychological effects of increased and enhanced feelings of well being and the other effects that I listed in the first post still hold true up to the time of this writing. I can also say that it seems to me that the effects of nicotine merge extremely well with the effects of Ginseng, at least they do when snuffed. Seems to me that they go together very nicely indeed. My experience is that it is an enjoyable combination, although I can only speak for myself on this and cannot speak for anyone else, of course. I should add that I have not actually smoked Ginseng since 1983 in China and do not plan to smoke it again any time in the foreseeable future. But I will be continuing to experiment with various tobacco/Ginseng snuff blends. Just a couple of days ago I was thinking that Ginseng powder might go well with the Toque USA new Whiskey & Honey, which has some Rustica in it and might mix well with the Ginseng powder. We shall see how that blend turns out as soon as I finish off what I have blended so far (see above posts).

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Not to highjack, but wormwood was mentioned. I have snuffed copious amounts of wormwood over one evening and had very trippy consequences.

@LeNezzz Care to elaborate?

@LeNezzz Care to elaborate?

I would like to hear more about this as well @LeNezzz. What do you mean by " very trippy consequences"?

Wonder if there would be some antidepressant effect if snuff was mixed with St’John’s Wort. I’ve never tried St’John’s or Ginseng but if a snuff was develpoed that could help elevate good wellbeing mood even moreso than snuff tobacco alone, even if for only occasional use when having down periods then I think that would be a very good thing and I’d certainly keep a stock. Actually surprised there isn’t something like this already. Would perhaps become my all day snuff provided I would still be able to cycle etc lol. Maybe some of the snuff makers on here could tie up with you @Fredhanna and use you as a guinea pig, sorry meant co-researcher. I’d volunteer myself.

@I_snuff_therefore___ I have a friend who tried St. John’s Wort for several weeks when he was not depressed. It only made him irritable. It was actually a rather amusing story. As for my being a guinea pig for Ginseng/tobacco snuff, I am already a believer, as you can see from what I have written in this thread. I don’t need to be convinced. However, I think you are right in implying that more experimenting with various herbs and plants needs to be done. Juxtaposer and Basement_Shaman have already done a lot of this sort of thing. But much more needs to be done. I would be happy to receive snuff to experiment with, that is kindly and compassionately donated by Nigel, Johnny, and Roderick for the advancement of humanity. Please, if you would @I_snuff_therefore___, contact these fine gentlemen snuff blenders and inform them that in the interest of science, world peace, and all that is holy, they should send me just a tiny bit of each of their various snuffs (say, 5 kilos of each) so that we can experiment with them developing various forms of avant garde snuff. I have no doubt that we could change the world! 8-} :)) >:) 8-X ;))

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I get the impression you may be stroking a fluffy white cat sitting on your lap HAHAHAHAAHAAHAHAAAHaaaaaaaaaaa!

LOL! @I_snuff_therefore__ you are close enough. It is an orange and white cat! You must be clairvoyant.

Lately, I have been calling the above mentioned ginseng tobacco snuff blend, “Ginseng Gem.” Ginseng Gem consists of: 2 parts Ginseng Powder 1 part Toque Rustica 1 part Toque Vanilla 2 parts Toque Spanish Gem I like it so much that have been taking it almost every day–as in at least 5 days a week. To me, the effects of this combination of ginseng and snuff are the most pleasant I have experienced in the snuff world. But that’s just my experience. Your experience may vary of course.

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Here’s another great, to my taste, ginseng toacco snuff blend. I call it “Ginseng Cream.” Ginseng Cream consists of: 2 parts Ginseng Powder 1 part Toque Rustica 1 part FUBAR Shot of Rum 2 parts Temptation Mango Cream I like this every bit as much as the Ginseng Gem and perhaps even a bit more. FWIW.

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Thanks for the updates, Fred. I take it you have seen no negative effects from snuffing ginseng? Have you built much tolerance to the ginseng extract? I bought the powdered ginseng that you purchased, but have yet to try it. Truth be told, I primarily use snuff as a “pick me up” to help wake me up while stuck in traffic in the morning commute, in addition to energy drinks and/or coffee in the morning. I was thinking of trying to mix the ginseng into a “wake up blend”, focused more on energy and ease of snuffing than overall taste; I lean towards med/coarse snuffs, so I was thinking NTSU black, Viking Dark, and perhaps a few other snuffs. I have a lot of snuff, more than I will ever use at this rate, so I have a lot of options. Would love to hear your thoughts. Oh, and I’m tempted to buy some liquid caffeine (500mg caffeine per 1 fluid oz, or roughly 1mg per drop) and use it to help clump up finer snuffs so that I can take them more easily, but for the small amount of caffeine it wouldn’t be worth the hassle or the bitterness.

Here’s another great, to my taste, ginseng toacco snuff blend. I call it “Ginseng Cream.” Ginseng Cream consists of: 2 parts Ginseng Powder 1 part Toque Rustica 1 part FUBAR Shot of Rum 2 parts Temptation Mango Cream I like this every bit as much as the Ginseng Gem and perhaps even a bit more. FWIW.

This looks especially nice but them I’m a blendomaniac so they all look good. Are you sure it’s not just the rustica giving the most pleasant effect. I think there is some in this Havana Toast and I underestimated it’s hidden strength. I wonder how it would be possible to tell how much effect the ginseng is actually having? Have you tried the blend without the ginseng? Perhaps that would be a good test to highlight any difference.

Good point, @I_snuff_therefore___. It is important to bring this up. Actually, I still do the ginseng all by itself now and then. I also snuff Toque Rustica straight now and then as well. I am quite familiar with the effects of both, and they are different, at least to me they are. As I said in the first few posts in this thread, the effects of ginseng and nicotine merge together quite well, and quite wonderfully, I might add. But this is just me, and my limited experience, and I am not trying to make any scientific claims whatsoever. And yes, I have tried these blends without the ginseng. Many times in the past I have tried ginseng in various drinks or in capsules, and I always wondered if there was any effect at all as I was never quite sure I wan’t manufacturing some benefits that were not there. But believe me, all doubt vanished when I snuffed this particular ginseng powder. The effect of this ginseng, on me, is clear to me now. Unfortunately, as I said and as most of us know, there are several varieties of ginseng and each has different effects. I am not on a quest to go snuffing all the different types–from American to Chinese, Korean and Siberian–as it is not that important to me. In other words, I don’t have all this figured out by any means, but I am reasonably certain that I can tell the difference between nicotine and the ginsenosides that are the active ingredients of this particular ginseng powder–on me. And as you know, rustica is an ingredient in several commercially avalaible snuff blends but I believe that rustica should be done straight, all by itself, in order to get a better understanding of it. Thank you Roderick for providing us with rustica.

Good to hear from you @BarkingLeopard. So far no negative effects from the ginseng of which I am aware. I am intrigued by some of your ideas for blending the ginseng powder with the various snuffs you mentioned. They seem like good candidates to me. I am eager to hear how your experiments turn out. And using the liquid caffeine to make the fine snuffs more coarse sounds like a great idea that I have not heard before. I do know that powdered caffeine is available on Amazon, so that might be an option as well in terms of a pick-me-up. Makes me wonder if one of the caffeine based energy snuffs might mix well with tobacco snuffs and ginseng. Please do let us know what you discover.

@fredhanna‌ I’ll let you know if I discover anything new. I’ve been AWOL from this forum for a while, and was on a bit of a cigar binge the past two months, but am starting to tire of it, so I suspect I’ll be consuming a little more snuff soon, though still not likely more than a handful of pinches a day. Who knows, maybe I’ll break out the pipes again (missed the Chicago show this year), it’s good to rotate between my tobacco vices. Personally, I would be very cautious sniffing straight caffeine, both in terms of dosage and in terms of nasal damage, though mixed with snuff I imagine it would be okay. Even though I doubt they would add much in the way of stimulating powers, I like the idea of using concentrated liquid or dry extracts of stimulating substances as mixers. I’m thinking instant coffee, maybe some super strong yerba mate (not sure if you can get that in a concentrate or freeze-dried version). Yerba mate in particular has some grassy notes that I could see pairing very well with ginseng or perhaps some SP snuffs. I’ll have to try more of the snuffs I have sitting around and see what ideas I come up with. Oh, and when you make your snuff recipes, I presume you do them by volume, not weight?

I just reread this thread.

Here’s an update 3.5 years later.

I enjoy powdered ginseng mixed with tobacco snuff every bit as much as I did when I started this thread in March of 2014 and I agree with everything I said in this thread as well.

FWIW. Just in case you were wondering…   :)>-

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@fredh Will any old powdered pure ginseng work or do you recommend a particular brand?