I’ve enjoyed my second order of Abraxas (in the smaller but quite compacted bottle) but I must say that I don’t like it as much as the first run. Is this the chance I take when ordering a premium ‘batch’ snuff? 

I have to agree.

My first three orders were perfect.

A superb snuff

The last batch was a disaster.

The snuff was lighter, drier and about fifty percent appeared to be badly milled stem or stalk.

This gave an imbalanced snuff and I was forced to sieve it and discard about half.

I then had to rehydrate it with steam and replace the lost aroma with cointreau.

In defense of the blender, who is clearly a craftsman, these things happen and I look forward to the next batch.

Sorry to hear this.  I’ve only savoured the good stuff so far.

It was made with a different batch of tobacco .  As I said on here before I released it, it was drier and lighter in body. I thought it was good and make no excuses if you didn’t like it. Pm me your mailing addresses and I will send you complimentary replacements when the next is ready, which is being made with tobacco from my usual supplier. That, really, is all I can say. When you live with a product you can get slightly blinded and I am sorry to disappoint you - I guess I am still learning as I go and I just have to take the criticism without any evasions.

@johnny - that’s a very generous attitude, you won’t be disappointed with the next batch.

Actually this is good news, at least if you enjoy poetic justce. It means that the toad that greedily bought up 90% of this batch will now be kicking himself. How ironically delicious!

To all who denigrate this batch: Do you think F&T got it right with any of their offerings in the second year of the firm’s existence? Good things come to those who wait. Keep up the high quality work, and I can’t wait to see how Abraxas evolves.

I certainly am not disappointed and don’t want to hurt any feelings, just saying what I thought. I’m in on the whole Abraxas concept and will surely be looking forward to future batches. Merry Christmas to all.

Hey guys, there is no problem here and people have every right to critique the product  - it is why the site exists afterall and I am not exempt.

As I’ve said before, taking a small, home-use product to bulk production is harder than coming up with the recipe in the first place and sometimes mistakes get made. I used the snuff myself for two days before I released it and I though it was good, but as I said in the earlier post you can get blinded when you are so close to a project. But my personal guarentee to anyone who didn’t like this batch is this: send me a mailing address and your next Abraxas is on me, or if you prefer, your money back, and I am very sorry that the snuff disappointed you. Abraxas will be right back, around about February, in the exact form that people like. 

Constructive criticism can only make the snuff better IMO.   If he didn’t get any… well… it’s like people telling their friends that they sing like an angel and then they go on a show like the X factor or American Idol and make fools of themselves and then get pissed off when the judges tell them to GTFO.

For me the charm and attraction of a product like Abraxas is the variation. It never gets boring that way. The big snuff makers can adjust to slight changes in the base tobacco, and most of us would not notice a difference. As long as the grind is the same and the basic scent is there slight differences will be overlooked by our brain. We know that , say , Tom Buck produced 5 years ago will not be exactly identical to the Tom Buck that was tinned yesterday. Even if the exact same batch of tobacco was used simple aging of the blend will change the flavor a tad.
 I expect each Toque, Wilsons, F&T, SG, etc. product to remain as close as possible to the previous tin of the same recipe. OTOH I fully expect Abraxas to be a bit different from batch to batch. It wouldn’t be as enjoyable to me if it didn’t have subtle changes, or even relatively large ones.

@snuffster - yes, it is very common to be blinded when you are close to a product. After all, you ARE the expert on the product and no one knows it better than yourself. There are way too many business school cases that teach this all too common oversight (missing customer needs due to personal expertise).
I don’t know if that happened here but I think we can trust your own judgement on that.

What is NOT common is to recognize it on your own, acknowlegde it and take active steps to address the customer needs that were previously ‘out of awareness’ due to focusing on what you thought made sense. Hat’s off to you!

For people who don’t appreciate how easy it is to be blinded to the obvious, take 60 seconds and try to get the right answer to the following question:
“How many times do the players in WHITE tee-shirts pass the ball to another player? (in the clip below). Remember, only count passes from ‘whites’, NOT ‘black-shirts’.” Its easy to get it wrong … takes the kind of RELENTLESS FOCUS TO DETAIL that @Snuffster talks about!

clip:  http://viscog.beckman.illinois.edu/flashmovie/15.php

(hint: some people actually count SIXTEEN passes!!!)

Snuffster is NOT a supplier he’s a manufacturer, there’s a BIG difference.  This is a snuff enthusiast site so feel free to criticize any snuff manufacturer you please (like saying Viking snuff can’t hold a candle to any white as far as nicotine is concerned), but to bad mouth a supplier is a very different story (especially if they are a sponser of this site and one of the reasons it is able to exist) and if you are to ignorant to see the difference than your opinion is of very little consequence to me but then again it is Christmas and I am quite drunk…and this is just the ramblings of a drunk, frozen, snowless Canuckian.

We’re all here to share our opinions about different types of snuff. If you have a specific problem with a supplier, contact them directly. It’s been said over and over…

@Vathek that’s about the size of it

If you don’t like it here…

I don’t understand why some threads here have to devolve into this all the time??

Please criticise any snuffs you like, including mine, as strongly as you like - as long as it is done politely and without abuse.

For the final time - this site is not about dealing with complaints about industry members - that is something individuals must take up for themselves. 

As for this troll - my patience has just evaporated.

Thank you Snuffster! My Christmas came a day late, but what a wonderful gift it is!

Hope mine gets here today!

I think that the flavor may linger longer than the last batch. However the initial appearence due to it being compacted was odd to me. I enjoyed the moist darkness of the last batch more. This is still a very good snuff and the flavor that lingers is the same. For me it is the initial snuffing experience that has changed. With the last batch it seemed to still be moist with alcohol Bonus… :). This one is much drier.

I’m worried that my second batch of my home made snuff won’t come out like my first.  I wish I could have tried the latest batch of Abraxas, but missed it due to the unexpected disappearance of stock.

I’m looking forward to the next one though.

I’m really surprised at how batch 1 didn’t seem smokey at all when I first got it.  However, after a couple months, it seems to have really become much more smokey and even more delicious!  Even a single batch seems to morph over time into almost completely different snuffs!

possible if the batches were reversed people would be say the same thing that the second batch just wasn’t as good. Expectation is a funny thing.

As of yesterday still no sample…anyone in the US get their sample yet?

No one has, I think the entire batch was lost in the post - they were posted as a job lot just before Xmas and neither the UK or US guys got them, I can only assume Christmas and the UK postal service did for them. I just couldn’t run to posting them insured or tracked and they went out ordinary second class from a hyper busy Lomdon P.O.The next Abraxas original batch won’t be ready til about mid Feb, but in the interim I am going to send everyone on the original list a sample of what will become the second Abraxas snuff - Abraxas Club, these will go into the post at some point this week and all I can say is second time lucky, I hope. Anyhow, you will be the first people to try the new one so I hope you like it.

Thanks Snuffster look forward to finally trying it!

Anyone that likes Terry’s chocolate orange should like this version. It’s basically Abraxas 1 but with variant flavourings. 

same grind, Snuffster?  Sounds delicious.

It’s amazing how much snuff was packed into the small plastic container. How was this accomplished Snuffster? I finally finished the first order that came in the glass jar and decided to unload the plastic one’s content into it. It kept growing and growing, it filled the glass jar and still have half the contents! And the other thing I notice is that this batch is really growing on me.

haha, just very determined packing! Although the minimin weight given is 15g I always try to get more in there, and you end up just getting a knack for compacting it. The jars are rated at 15g but usually carry about 22 on average.

The thing about it growing on you is really why I let this batch go to market. I was a bit dubious at first because the tobacco I used gave the lighter, drier result that you can see, but after using it for a while I really thought I had a great batch. Obviously it was too different from A1 for some people. I just consider it one big learning curve really and I believe in the old adage that the customer is never wrong.

@snuffbrant - yep, same grind, same very dark luscious character.

Darn, I sure wish I could complain about Abraxas. But until a certain sample arrives…
(waits patiently)

A little off, but I couldn’t help myself asking: where do I buy abraxas?

At the moment I only supply to Mr Snuff. I don’t see that changing as I produce very small amounts - mine is just a cottage industry really. 

Ok, the Abraxas 2 samples will be mailed on Monday (in a tatty assembly of recycled envelopes) to everyone on the original list. These are in unlabeled jars, not the smash boxes from the lost Xmas samples, should any of those arrive and you don’t know which is which. This batch of samples is a possible, new Abraxas snuff not the orginal, so your thoughts - good or bad - will all help. The snuff is moist and compacted and I recommend that you decant the desired amount to a snuffbox or tin for daily use. Because the snuff is in a narrow necked jar, and compacted down, you won’t get the full aroma direct from the jar. If it is too moist when decanted just let it air for a few hours til it gets to the level you enjoy. As you will be the first to try this I have sent jars not smashboxes so you can sample it as it will be sold.

@ Snuffster My sample arrived and as you suggest, I have decanted some into a box. I will live with it for a few days before I offer an opinion. Many thanks.

No problem.

I plan to order some next month, a little jealous I didn’t get in on the first batch! I snoozed and loozed!

It is very good. One problem it arrives when I’am really sick. And I know the scent is true still good but let the antibiotics do their magic then talk about this desert and awesome snuff.