Snuff smells like Ammonia?!

I’ve been snuffing Viking Brown for a couple of days now and I just noticed that it developed a quite strong smell of ammonia. I didn’t notice it at all when I first opened the tin. But I’m wondering, is this normal? Or should I get rid of it?

Absolutely normal. It’s fresh! I would be very upset getting ammonia-free tin of that kinf of snuff.

If you don’t like the smell of ammonia, leave the tin open for some time to air it out, but the snuff will lose part of its potency. Ammonia facilitates the uptake of nicotine and some snuffs are really heavy on it.

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It’s normal for unopened snuff to have a slight ammonia smell, it’s a byproduct of fermentation. If you air it out it should dissipate. Many veteran snuffers, like myself, find the ammonia smell to be associated with well made, coarse ground snuffs like Viking Brown, Black Rappee, and NTSU. Sorry for the long winded reply, but there are lots of posts here, over the years, about ammonia smell. Some hate it, others don’t mind it at all. So, don’t throw it out, Viking Brown is a great plain snuff of the old school. I have a 500 gram tub of it in my fridge.

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Thanks for the fast reply guys :slight_smile: I’m relieved to hear that it’s normal. I never heard that that’s a thing with snuff. When I smell ammonia I instantly think of household cleaners and stuff. Things that aren’t exactly beneficial for ones health so it rang my alarm bells.

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Ammonia salt is even eaten in candy by crazy people. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salty\_liquorice

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Salty liqourice is gross :-& Northerner used to send those candies with every order.

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My first order of SGs and GHs I aired them out. Then I realized I love the ammonia and had to reorder most of them! Same with my first order of South African snuffs

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Licorice is my thing, I dig both salty and sweet, pure hard Italian and soft (English-type). Some salty sorts contain up to 8% of salmiak. It does not emit ammonia when chewed, just intense saltiness.

Funnily, twenty years ago a box of dried Calabrian root sticks was presented to me as a sub for smoking. I asked Italy visiting friend of mine to bring me back some snuff and this was what she got at tobacconist there. I did not intend to quit smoking back then, but tried chewing a piece of root and discovered it really enhanced the taste of my roll-ups. That’s how my obsession started.

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