Medicated No99

I absolutely love Medicated 99 - first snuff of the day, every day. As for the “other” flavour, I’d say it’s lavender; it definitely reminds me of Toque’s Lavender, in the “whole plant effect” sense.

@theatroom Yep, JH Wilson’s tins, small and large vacuum-sealed ones, are manly in old-fashioned way.

“I like the little tins they seem like a proper working man’s snuff. The sort you think they would pick one up in the news agent on the way home after a hard day down the mine.” Miners would usually buy tins of snuff from the colliery canteen. Wholesale purchase by the National Coal Board accounted for a huge slice of the home market. Closure of coal mines in Britain saw a slump in snuff sales. Different mining areas favoured particular brands. Coal pits in Yorkshire sold a great deal of J&H Wilsons whereas the Midlands had a preference for Illingworth snuffs and Dr. Rumney in particular. JIP of Nuneaton was much favoured too. At the Birch Coppice mine it was found (by Sonia Roberts reporting for Tobacco in 1981) that an average of 792 tins were purchased from the canteen over an eight week period.

“On the one hand, it seems like a basic menthol, but there is also definitely something extra there, as suggested by the first post.” According to the blue booklet Medicated No. 99 is flavoured with both menthol and eucalyptus.

@philips that’s really interesting thank you.

I tried to like No99 for years but I just can’t take it. O&G is the one for me.

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"…that an average of 792 tins were purchased from the canteen over an eight week period. " That were the days. 99 tins per week -in 1 (ONE!) canteen.

Medicated No 99 was the 3rd bestselling snuff of J & H Wilson, it was bought all over the UK as opposed to Top Mill No 1 being North of Sheffield and SP No. 1 being all those to the south of Sheffield. Yes, the NCB did sell loads for us that’s true, it was a useful alternative for smokers who couldn’t smoke down t’pit. As for the airtight tins, they were made in order to preserve the life of the snuff for up to 4 years, in the pocket boxes after 3 months the flavour started to fade and any stock returned over 3 months would not go back onto the finished goods. I can remember tap tapping airtight tins which had been returned on our sale or return guarantee to see if the seal had gone, I could tell by the sound if it had. Happy days…

I must be an oddball then - I’m north of Sheffield (well, ENE) but I prefer the SP No 1 to the Top Mill. They’re both tasty though.

Thanks @gillybean129 once again for your insightful memories. These little nuggets are very interesting.

my pleasure!

Are the JH Wilsons 8g boxes sneezeboxes? Should I order a larger amount with a better tin?

They are sold in lots of newsagents & corner shops in the north of England, and OK if aquired from one with a good turnover. They’r not airtight, wrapped in cellophane, and often some of the snuff has escaped and shows up in the wrapping. That should answer your question!

I once did such a large amount of this, i completly paralized my right nostril. I could not make it attempt to draw breath.

If you could get hold of them the airtight tins are better, the pocket boxes (sneeze boxes?) held around 8g, depends on how soon you could use up 25g of snuff in an airtight tin as once it’s opened it will lose it’s flavour just like a pocket box will.

Love this snuff, I will admit that you really need to take it easy with it, this one can be a little ornery. But when taken with proper consideration is one of my favorite mentholated snuffs. I wish that this stuff was more readily available stateside. Love it.

@peter77 Agreed, a really great menthol/eucalyptus snuff. Shame Imperial decided recently to stop putting their products in vaccum tins. I buy less now due to this.

@peter77 Agreed, a really great menthol/eucalyptus snuff. Shame Imperial decided recently to stop putting their products in vaccum tins. I buy less now due to this.

Have to agree with you there. Maybe if enough snuff users write to them they might go back to the previous packaging style.

One of my top 3 favorite menthols. 30+ minutes later it’s slowly back dripping, and the drip is deliciously lemony. Up front it opens my nose wide up and feels like breathing on a 10*F day. 50 minutes later now and it’s still with me, which is uncommon. When all I had was the 5g J&H tapbox I preferred McChrystal’s Highland Ice but now a third of the way through my 20g tin I’m comfortable saying I prefer the Med 99 Their SP No1 I find spectacular as well. Much improved and hard to beat in the 20g tin.

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@ar47 how is highland ice? ive been wanting to try it for a while, is it like O&G or med 99? i switch between those 2 and occasionally some hedges when i want something different but ive always got a can of an english menthol within arms reach. however i think ive got all three of those snuffs floating around right now

darn! now that im reading this thread, ive got to go find my can of med 99 or i might literally go crazy! 
8-}

edited for grammar 

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