Go back in time and give yourself advice on snuff

I’m new to snuff and I was hoping I could benefit from the experience here. If you could go back in time and give yourself advice on snuff what would it be? What do you know now that you wish you knew then?

I wish I knew the principles of snuff making 25 years ago. Due to local snuff ban I started making my own from cigarettes and pipe tobacco on the very same day I had my first pinch, but my homemade lacked essential ingredient - alkalizer. I would have made kilos of snuff from my homegrown tobaccos and rustica. Ground without addition of alkalis, it was a pure disappointment. I even discarded most part of my last (and the largest!) crop of fine low nicotine strains… Ironically, sodium bicarbonate (which is so easily convertible to sodium carbonate) was always at hand.

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I take nasal tobacco almost since about 20 years.

When I could go back in time, saying 15 to 18 years I would recommend my former Myself not to fear and avoid the fine, dry Ones. Here in Germany it seems that many of the snuffers use to fear and avoid the fine and dry Ones due to their more specific tt requieres more technique than the german standards.

I would recommend my former Myelf to leave the path of all these Poschls and Bernards earlier. Going into the english way and the indian as well. There was a whole bunch of snuffs available all around here. But what have I done? Staying away from them due to the lack of grind and the difficult moisture. LOL.

I would recommend any new snuffer trying out whatever is possible on the market. At least as long as possible. The TPD2 ban almost sorted out the cabinet. But now the Brexit might finish the last offer for us guys in the EU on the more exotic stuff and english ones as well.

Do not fear the find grind… do not fear the lack of moisture…

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I wish I knew about boxcar method. This technique serves me pretty well in case of mentholated Poschl products. I wish my roommate and neighbours in dorm knew that method from the beggining.

Instead, we were snorting credit card-long lines of Red Bull… why, oh why?!  :))

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@Johano thank you for the tip about the boxcar method, that was a breakthrough for me! @Humppa I have orders out for a variety of snuffs…I’m pretty ignorant about the hobby generally so I guess I just didn’t know that I ought to fear certain grinds and moisture content. I have a 6 photo sampler on the way along with a great variety of different blends from many regions. We’ll see how I get on with them. I’m sure I’ll learn to fear the ones I should! @volunge I don’t think I’ll be growing my own soon, but if I do I will heed your advice.

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@volunge what is snuff like without an alkalising agent? Does it burn?

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I would go back 14yrs and tell 18yo me to start using snuff!!! The thousands of dollars I spent on cigs could have bought me a real nice hotrod by now…

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I would tell myself to buy up every last tub of Molens and Abraxas you can get your hands on while you can.

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Don’t buy snuff in tap boxes; get the tin or bag instead even if it’s 25g and you only want to sample. The larger the tin generally the better the stuff’s freshness: aroma and moisture. Try sticking with a bad (at first) snuff (within reason). I remember being repulsed when I first tried a South African snuff (heavy ammonia, like horse). Fast forward a couple years and I’ve enjoyed 20+ tins. Sometimes the nose needs a few experiences to learn the pleasure. The Friborg & Treyers are largely pretty far off the wall and you can probably focus your energy elsewhere. Keep the Indian snuffs separate. Ideally all the snuffs go in glass. Heavy scents like in the 6Photo sample pack easily make their way out of their plastic rolls and into screw top tins while in storage. Toque economy bags too. MrSnuff, Toquesnuff and snuff.me.uk are all reliable, quick to ship. Best Toque, F&T & Silver Dollar come from Toquesnuff (but I believe MrSnuff now too is in the same space). MrSnuff has the market on Sir Walter Scott and Rosinski snuffs, both of which deserve our time. Bullets and spoons aren’t as elegant as guessed to use or to be seen

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I would say let new tins breathe a little so the ammonia scent dissipates. This mark of freshness puts off some people at first.

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@Gunnar, some commercially made non-alkalized snuffs usually contain salt, so burn is there, but less intense. Toque Rustica comes slightly salted, but all rustica leaves contain natural citric acid (some strains up to 20%), which adds to the burn. If you are curious about non-alkalized snuffs, try Bernard Civette and Alt Offenbacher Kostlich, they contain only small amount of salt and paraffin oil (the rest is tobacco and water). Poschl schmalzlers - A Brasil, Perlesreuter, SF, D - are alkalis and salt-free.

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@ar47 there was a lot to take in there, thanks for your response. I don’t have any F&T on order but have some High Dry Toast in my basket for next order, we’ll see if I like it. Thanks for the tip on Indian snuff possibly ghosting other nearby bins that’s really good to know.

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If you could go a little back in time I would have bought many bulks of my favorite snuffs so I wont have to wait that much for orders i did while in quarantine.

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@ALLex I’ve heeded that advice prior to recieving it! I have 4 snuff orders out at the moment, although still waiting for delivery. I’ll be in snuff for a very very long time once my orders arrive. Truthfully I overbought, but it won’t stop me from placing another order…probably before they all arrive. There are already things I want to try that I haven’t yet ordered. It’s another hobby like pipe smoking. If you’ve tried one blend then you want to try them all!

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@brandaves over buying is wise! I will hopefully see my orders come in and then I will have a handsome collection indeed! Thanks @volunge for the insight, that was a good read :slight_smile:

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@Gunnar I actually placed another order last night and none of my previous orders have been delivered yet. A comment you made actually prompted me to place an order for Toque Lime Toast. I also purchased some HDT and Spanish Gem out of curiosity.

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Oh…and some Rustica for blending. :slight_smile:

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@brandaves Toque lime toast is lovely. When it arrives let the tin air for a short while to clear the ammonia. It is fine ground but excellent quality. I have a lonely almost empty tin of McChrystals lemon and it’s nowhere near as good. Where in the world are you based?

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@Gunnar I’m in Kentucky USA…Tobacco central really. Although I only partake in snuff and pipe tobacco. You?

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@brandaves just north of Denver CO here :slight_smile:

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