Snuff Morocco

hello … looking for people with a love for snuff like me who know where to get it in north of morocco., i am eager to try as many as i can

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Judging from some travellers accounts, local nasal snuff is ubiquitous in Morocco and is sold in small plastic baggies. It’s popular among taxi drivers - just hop into the cab and have a talk with a man behind the wheel.

Moroccan Nasal Snuff Nefha

Picture source: http://www.modernsnuff.com/albums/albums/Snuff-Brands-O-U/Nefha-Snuff.jpg

Trip report: https://offatthewrongstop.com/2012/02/05/ninas-travel-rule-15-unidentified-brown-nose-powder-in-morocco-is-probably-tobacco/

For comparison, some pictures of the nasal snuff, produced by state-owned tobacco factory in Tunisia. It comes packaged in small sachets, too:

Naffa (Paquet de 10 g)

Tunisian Nasal Snuff Neffa Souffi (Naffa)
https://web.archive.org/web/20190109001824/http://www.rnta-mtk.com.tn/en/nosproduit.php?rub=2&code=4

http://www.rnta.tn/produits

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Please get back to us here, if you manage to procure it. It would be interesting to hear your thoughts about this snuff and to see a pic of the powder.

Some reviews of Moroccan Nefha Superieure:

http://www.top25snuff.com/regie-des-tabacs/discussions/review.html?id=2256
http://top25snuff.com/regie-des-tabacs/discussions/review.html?id=2257

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Or… make your own :slight_smile:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0YQ4QORlUI

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@volunge wow, look at this arab druid. This guy looks like he know what he is doing. If only I understood it anything :smiley:

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As far as I understand, @Johano, this guy is grinding local rustica with a dash of ash or calcium hydroxide. He shows a bowl with alkalizing agent somewhere in the first half of this vid. Later he waves a small baggy with some aromatic substance and clearly pronounces the word “arrromaaat”. Dried mint? Not sure. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a chance to learn Arabic. I asked for a translation in the comments (in French, using machine translation), at least of ingredients and proportion. He mentions in the comments that snuff has helped him to quit smoking 20 years ago, but he got hooked on it. In other comment he notes that only local taba (?) (tobacco) can be used for snuff (someone asked if other tobacco can be used, an Argentinian one). I think this can be explained by the fact that rustica is grown exlucisively for smokeless (oral/nasal) stuff in Maghreb and in some parts of the region (namely, Tunisia) it’s even called a “snuff tobacco plant”. I’m leaning to think that homemade nefha/neffa is a common thing there. For what it’s worth, this video has 11K+ views.

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An Italian review of Nefha Superieure:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dDqf3Gv4sM

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Recipe of Moroccan homemade nefha (the above posted video): 1 part rustica ground with 4 parts Christ’s thorn jujube ashes (another non-identified local tree mentioned as an alternative ash source). A small amount of water is added during the grinding. It’s fine and dry snuff, no other ingredients mentioned in the video. I’m pretty sure that any wood ash, rich in potassium, would fit the bill.

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@Roderick, four legit formulas are posted on 101 thread, page 10; all natural ingredients. And you are not running low on rustica, are you? Come on, just make us some, what are you waiting for ;). It’s an easy and instant snuff. You make it, you pack it, it matures on its way to us in the tins. Cheers.

P. S. Call it a “PHOENIX” :wink:

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Sure thing! Leave ash for shamans and experimenters.

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I personally would really like to see more experimentation with some more organic alkalizers. With snus as well. I am not saying that I want super, super, potent snuffs, though.

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Correction: Moroccan nefha in the video is made with 4 parts rustica and 1 part ash.

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@Abdoulaye, is this Moroccan nafha (Nefha Superieure) still produced and sold in Morocco? And how wide is its availability - can you find it in every shop which sells cigarettes, or only just in some and it’s kind of hard to find? How much does it cost?

If it’s not produced anymore, could you tell us, please, what local nafha can you currently buy in Morocco, what is the price and where to find it? Also, would be lovely if you could upload a picture of a package and the nafha powder itself. Here you can find the instructions how to post a photo in this forum: https://snuffhouse.com/discussion/12646/how-to-insert-image-file-on-snuffhouse-board#latest

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Actually this neffa is not available anymore, but you can buy a snuff called chema or tenfiha or nefha, but its hard to take i removed 4 teeths because of it :sweat_smile: but yes if you could take it it’s available in small plastics in 1$ sometimes less, but the problem is that you can’t found it if you don’t know its selled always secretly, but if you sometimes see someone who do it he could tell you where or ask people who control cars who wear a jaket they always know where to found it

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I obtained five bags ~12 grams each during my stay in Morocco, Taroudant. Only by asking local guy for guidance one can find the dealer on souk market. There is no official distribuition since snuff is claimed to be black market of tobacco here (no tax).

The price proposed is 50 dirham for a bag, so around 5 euros. Bargain (as for everything you buy in Morocco) is the way to go, also the more you buy the better price you can get.

The snuff is nicely wrapped with plastic fabric, so it can stay fresh forever. As soon as I untied the bag, the ammonia blast reached my nostrils, followed by earthly-sweet tones. I believe the manufacturers recipes differ across the country, or even between batches. This is just an example what one might generally expect. The tobacco used is something between rustica and regular tobacco. The purity of product is high, there is no sand or stems that I noticed and the batch seems quite consistent. Grind is medium, it is fluffy and easy to take because of high moisture. Light brown in color.

The first thing in the nose is simply good burn and almost a barnyard note (but not too pronounced in my opinion). So basically, we have well alkalized snuff, plain and natural tobacco aroma, thats all…

Then suddenly, after a good one minute - the burning increases! There is a familiar feeling to that of a mexican cuisine. Oh, it is not just alkalizer - it is a red chilli kicking in. One might become discouraged, “I am not big fan of hot food”. No worries, the chilli spice is actually not too much, not too little here. Perfectly ballanced with tobacco, as every thing should be. With time, it becomes a bit more and more pronounced, but stays torelable, even for a novice snuff taker I would say. It provokes nasal irrigation effect, way better than menthol which have a clogging effects after some time.

My theory: spice is used here for practical reason. Just like drinking hot tea in the middle of the desert, it provides a way to induce sweating to some degree. So it actually may have a cooling effect in extreme temperature when sniffed vigorously.

I rate this snuff as a solid 7/10 since it is not something complex, but it is for sure a lovely handmade treasure with a good vitamin N content. I think the spice make this good plain snuff entertaining. It could even be too bland without it. Inspired me to add a touch to next homemade (eg. using Fubar BOHICA). I keep it in a moroccan snuffbox as a souvenir.

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@Johano hello, i don’t know where you get this im from Morocco never heard about, i know all sellers of snuff, its not that color its a dark green with a strong nicotine smell, as i know from all people they use it its been never that color matbe as you said taroudent that city i did never been over there maybe they could have this, but did you tryed that dark green one, its selled on a small bags of plastic, sometimes same as this one you have, but i did never found that one you selled , did you ever visit meknes city? Or another city beside taroudent?

@Abdoulaye well it is indeed a bit green when I looked at more fresh batch closely. Here a quick comparison to Red Bull snuff which is basic brown. The moroccan snuff seems like tan-brown. But then, color is quite subjective topic :slight_smile: thats all I got on my trip, it has a strong scent thats for sure

Can you post pic of snuff that you locally buy in your city? And is there also an extra spice, or maybe other scents mixed in?

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@Johano yes i have an old one as i didn’t use it for a long time its pretty dry as this snuff gets dry verry fast so it qill be quit not exacly as the new one who have a strong green color wish is dark , this is what it looks like when it drys

If i go back to it i will apload to you the picture of it when it s fresh

And usually we put it in this kind of bottle maybe you have had notice it while been there

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So, I have received a baggy of this Taroudantian nefha from @Johano and gave it a proper try. It does look khaki green to my eyes, but my camera fails capturing the true colour:

It’s probably a rustica snuff, judging by the looks, smell and taste. Or, putting it more accurately, I would say it’s not made from N. tabacum - it doesn’t taste or smell of tobacco. The grassy flavour is akin to that of wet flour of green rustica, but it’s neither sourish nor acrid (besides the backdrip, I have tongue-tested some pinches). Maybe it’s Nicotiana glauca, which according to @Johano is abundant there (I also got a sample of N. glauca, collected by J. in that area, but haven’t turned it to snuff yet). If it actually is N. glauca, I have to say that anabasine (the principal alkaloid of this species) does a great job curbing nicotine cravings - it feels like a strong snuff with decent delivery longevity.

On the other hand, it well may be that craving for the next pinch is mitigated by the prolonged burn caused by the black pepper which this snuff is spiced with (it also triggers a good drip). By the end of the first day I got used to pepperiness and it even started growing on me. The burn stays for a good while after blowing the nose and I find it enjoyable.

The grind is medium coarse, moisture is about 25-30%. It tastes slightly salty, probably due to small amount of sodium carbonate or soda. I’m curious about pH level and will save a gram for testing it. There is a whiff of ammonia, not too much of it.

All in all, it’s a pleasant snuff, more nose-friendly than Fubar Bohica and more potent than Abraxas peppery snuff.

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One thing to add: I actually thought for a while that there is something more ‘psychoactive’ to it than tobacco at first atempt of a pinch or two. As if it was laced with something … well, not quite legal. It felt really different to regular rustica snuffs I tried in the past. So yes, N. Glauca could actually be a good explanation here. That, or just really potent locally grown rustica with higher/different alkaloid content.

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