Tonka Bean Scented Snuff

Interested in trying a snuff scented with tonka beans. Elmos Reserve is sold out on mr. snuff and has been for a few weeks.

Anyone know other varieties that use the tonka scent? Or am I better off scenting my own?

Wilsons of Sharrow have Tonka beans for sale on their site.

I have possibly tried a snuff with Tonka bean smell, but have no idea really what it smells like.

Can anyone name any other makers snuffs that smell of Tonka bean?

Cheers.

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A piece of good news, Elmo’s alive - snuff.me.uk has recently restocked it. You can find it in the SG drop-down list here: https://www.snuff.me.uk/proddetail.asp?prod=SG25G

I’m a big fan of tonka-scented snuff and had a nice time reading online available publications and studies about coumarine safety and risks. Unless you have a rare sensitivity to coumarine, tiny amount of tonka bean in snuff is safe (steer clear of it, if you are in bad terms with Cinnamomum species!). By tiny amount I really mean it - tonka is super strong flavourant, one whole bean (non crushed/non-powdered) placed in 25 g of plain moist snuff and left in the tin overnight does the scenting job. Surely, if you dig the scent and want it even stronger, you can leave it in the tin for longer - till the last pinch. There’s absolutely no need to add crushed/ground/powdered bean or use tincture/extract/essential oil or absolute. And yes, you can use the same bean several times.

I had great results with Taxi Red, NTSU Black, Neftobak and fresh WoS Plain (Natural) - moist/medium moist snuffs, coarse and medium fine. Moist and coarse snuffs absorb flavour faster.

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Good to hear.  I’ll have WoS Plain soon alongside Samuel Gawith Elmo’s Reserve and undiluted tonka bean oil

Rest assured I’ll be cautious.  I’m more concerned about upsetting my stomach than a toxic overdose.  That surely would ruin one’s experience

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@ArtChoo, SG Red Crest Scented. The discontinued coarser one. The tin I had was mislabeled as Red Crest. Later on I got my hands on some tins of Red Crest Scented, which all were mislabeled and actually contained plain, finer version.

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Thanks all. I think I’ll buy a few beans and give it a go.

@Roderick: Regarding health concerns: for occasional use it is considerably more dangerous than cinnamon… Its not something i would snuff multiple times daily for any extended period of time for sure.

If you are looking to simulate it then mix vanilla, cherry, almond, and cinnamon, you’ll have to play with the ratios a little till you nail it down.

@Gormur: Careful with the oil, that could get dangerous fast.

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https://www.academia.edu/1445257/Plant\_coumarins\_myths\_and\_realities

https://www.mdpi.com/2304-8158/9/5/645/htm

https://www.bfr.bund.de/en/faq\_on\_coumarin\_in\_cinnamon\_and\_other\_foods-8487.html

https://www.bfr.bund.de/en/press\_information/2012/26/cassia\_cinnamon\_with\_high\_coumarin\_contents\_to\_be\_consumed\_in\_moderation-131836.html

Since 2011, new European maximum levels have applied to coumarin in certain ready-to-eat foods. The Tolerable Daily Intake (TDI) of 0.1 mg of coumarin per kg of body weight which can be consumed every day throughout one’s life without any adverse health effects continues to apply.

Tonka beans contain 1-3% of coumarin, and in rare cases even up to 10%. @Gormur, don’t use the undiluted oil, extract or any other concentrated form of tonka beans, including powdered tonka bean, for scenting snuff. Besides health issues, it cannot be stressed enough how strong coumarin scent is. Just one example. As mentioned in this study https://www.mdpi.com/2304-8158/9/5/645/htm, it was reported that coumarin contributes to the sweet odour of Japanese and Chinese green tea. There’s a refference to other study, which analysed Japanese green tea sample and detected 0.26 to 0.88 micrograms of coumarin per 1 gram of dried tea (260 to 880 mg / 0.26 g to 0.88 g per 1 kg; that is a mere 0.026-0.088% by weight). Being very penetrating and intense, coumarine has a strong staying power as well. It’s easy to scent a pinch, taking some snuff with fingers after merely touching a bean. A snuffbox which hosted a bean will “ghost” it for long.

I bought a bag of tonka from Wilsons of Sharrow and followed their basic hint in the item description: "Tonquin Beans can be used to flavour snuff or tobacco. Simply adding a bean to a tin of snuff or tobacco can change its character considerably."

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I personally love the tonka bean scent and use tonka beans to flavour plain snuffs all the time, just soak a bean in water overnight and throw it in your snuffbox, it keeps the snuff moist and scents it at the same time and 1 bean lasts a long time before it loses its scent. When it dries out just rehydrate it. Rustica mixes SOO GOOD with tonka beans. PS There will be major ghosting if you put a tonka bean in a wood snuffbox, I have a dedicated tonka bean snuffbox.

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I’m impressed by this stuff, mixed with Samuel Gawith Kendal Brown Plain over a few hours.  Good thing because it tasted like hay before that; not that that’s a bad thing

I won’t recommend this to anybody though since it could be unhealthy if you add too much.  I probably just lucked out

Cheers

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Oh I’ve enjoyed many grams in a day, many o days <:-P Of SG Elmo

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@ar47 Exactly, I haven’t gotten that yet.  It will be nice to compare the two

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Just reporting back.  I find tonka bean scent distinct from the artificial tonquin scent of Samuel Gawith Elmos Reserve

The first few hits of Elmos Reserve were difficult for me, but I persisted and it got easier.  In comparison, the Samuel Gawith Kendal Brown Plain I flavored with tonka beans has a richer note and is easy to take all day.  Not that I’d advise doing so but maybe somebody’s interested to read this

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Apologies for the double post… i forgot that the coding on this forum is such that minor punctuation will cause a post to not display properly. I will learn.
Anyway, what I had tried to convey was that one of my top snuffs cased with Tonka bean is Sir Walter Scotts Friar Ramon Pane. It manages to walk the fine line between being aromatically light and aromatically dusky or exotic. Here is its product description, courtesy of SnuffStore and Mr. Snuff

A gros or coarse milled Indian cheroot tobacco, fermented with a concentrate of leaves boiled with Maldon sea salt and lightly cased with a tincture made from Tonka beans and Vanilla pods

Tonka bean hadnt even entered my snuffing lexicon until my life was graced by SWS FRP

Id be curious to know if others share my favorable impressions of this artisanal snuff gem

Best,

vaya

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@vaya is it heavily scorched & smokey like an American scotch? That description sounds right up my alley and I have and enjoy most of the rest of SWS’ line but thought I had a try of FRP once and it was smokeytown

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Yeah, I purchased a pack of beans from WOS and I have scented plain snuff with one, however, I am not really that taken with the scent. By the way, talking of WOS, I have emailed them a couple of times recently and they never reply.Anyone ad luck communicating with them? Whilst were at it ,I guess most here have read the health news on the Poschl site, now go over to the WOS site and look at what they are saying. This is a new stance for WOS…

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@ar47 no I wouldnt compare it to something like Bruton or another American Scotch at all. This type of scent arises more from the curing process and yields a snuff whose aroma resembles that of a cigar leaf. It is dark, dusky, enchanting… trust me, You will enjoy it. It is also not ashtray like, like I find with Latakia Blend. Yet it has those faint whispers of sweet and savory resulting from being cased with Tonka and vanilla. A lovely combination

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@Vaya thank you! I will have to order ASAP. Both horrified and excited that I skipped this one and may find a favorite gem here

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@ar47 no problem! Let m let you in on a little struggle Ive had recently, though (and this applies to all varieties of SWS snuffs). Either the tin arrives with adequatel moisture content (which is where FRP really shines) or it arrives a bit dried and crumbly. In the latter case, I may attempt to rehydrate but more often than not Ill end up reordering a tin that will arrive fresh. FRP allure lies partially in its soft, moist and velvety nasal texture which allows the aromas to explode across my nasal palette. If your first tin is sub par, do not give up is what Im saying! I will say I have had three consecutive 50g containers of FRP arrive in perfect shape each, whereas with any other SWS variety at least one of the three would have arrived having lost its moisture content. I enjoy the plastic cold cream tubs it is packaged in as well. Let me know how you make out!

Can anyone let me know if there is a way to post a picture within my posts on this forum? I can show you what it ought to look like!

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@Vaya to post pictures you can use the little image attach button, but it only works if the image size is under 2MB

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I will try to post a picture