Here is a priceless video regarding making an easy karrotten for those of you with whole tobacco leaves. An alkalizing agent as well as other casings could easily be spayed on the leaves instead of plain water. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Sqhu11WjC4
Cool video, I like the idea of making a few carrotes and grating them, just like they did when snuff first came to Europe. Are the American scotches so, er, composty because they are fermented longer than English types?
Are the American scotches so, er, composty because they are fermented longer than English types? That may be an accurate conclusion, I can’t say, but there IS an obvious difference in the alkalizers used which would definitely support this theory.
Judging by the way oral tobacco is made here, it follows that prolonged fermentation might well have a lot to do with it as well.
I’m fascinated by that video. It makes me want to order leaves and have a go at it.
@doctorbeat: exactly. The people in the video need some practice! Here we do it slightly different. Attached som pictures. Jaap Bes.
@snuffmiller I wonder what knot he uses on the end to keep it from being all funky like the one in the video. Enquiring minds want to know.
@Dogwalla: The end of the cloth is fitted between the end of the double folded rope and then you start to turn and pull. I hope this is clear. If not I’ll take a picture. Jaap Bes.
I use half hitches, one to start and one on each end. I start in the middle, half hitch on end, move back across to middle then tie off. I have only done it once though lol. I did use a tension line for added tightness. I have me a nice `coyote tobacco rum cased prik and I am forced to age it because I am obligated by safety to sprout the seeds from the plant to be sure it actually IS tobacco before I use it.
I have more questions :oD Is alkalyzing common amongst British snuff manufacturers? I always thought that ammonia stink when you open a can was from the alkalyzing process, but obviously this is not true, because Toque has no additives and still has the ammonia smell. So, which snuffs are likely to be alkalysed, and which are not? What causes the ammonia? Is it brought about by fermentation under special storage conditions after the snuff is milled and flavored? Does this natural ammonia alkalyse the snuff and freebase the nicotine? Were alkaline ingredients historically added to snuff?
The ammonia is a natural byproduct of tobacco aging/fermentation. It is not an additive. And yes it does have some effect on the PH level, although how much I can not be sure of. You have to remember that raw green tobacco is unusable for all practical purposes. It has to undergo curing, which is a natural process, that can and may be augmented. This is all to develop the natural flavor of the tobacco, and yes to make it slightly higher in PH. I believe you are confused about Toque, they use natural additives for flavor, but the underlying snuff base tobacco is processed in some manner. You do know that what twisted information I have here was hard earned. There are very knowledgeable people who know the answers, but the processes for many are trade secrets. Go look at the resources on this site:http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Snuff\_Grinders\_homemade\_nasal\_snuff/ Then you and I together can help each other piece it together. I have been blessed by being given some important information from knowledgeable people, and I can not give it out, and it is only a fraction of what you need to know. I have been at this for years now. It is a great deal trial and error. I for one am grateful as can be for snuffmillers input. The rappee snuff technique has me hoping for the best commercial results. Jap’s efforts to continue the art of snuff making are priceless, please buy his snuff, I do.
I’m definitely enjoying the learning process, and your help (and Jaap’s) is very much appreciated. I’m going to click the link and do some reading now, but before I do, I found a post from Roderick of Toque in which he says: “I’d be interested to hear how you get on with Toque. As you probably are aware our snuff is 100% natural with 100% natural flavours and no additives. How we raise and lower nicotine levels are by removing stalk and stem from the grind. The lower the stems the higher the nicotine level.” So apparently there are no alkalyzing agents added. I guess if the pH is raised it must be by fermentation only.
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It must be noted that raising the PH, and fermentation are two separate things. Just usually done together, and this is how the base snuff flour is prepared. Flavoring and aging are the final process. I have right now ten pounds of air cured Burley tobacco with two years of barn curing. Once ground it has a distinct and not so lovely raw tobacco flavor and scent. This raw snuff flour needs to be converted, into something snuffable. I start with Washing soda (E500), water, and a warm environment to sit. (I use my spa). I use two percent soda, 15 to 30 percent water, a blender, and make a nice just damp mixture. I set it aside in a warm place to ferment until I like the results. I then add some salt (2%), and I prefer high heat to stop the fermentation. I then rehydrate to a lower total humidity, and age the snuff, it will develop ammonia during this stage. Then I flavor and continue aging. I use sealed mason jars for all phases. As for Roderick, you have to ask Roderick. Although I am sure that his snuff is slightly elevated in PH, you know salt is a natural ingredient too, right? Whatever Roderick says, I believe him, and he makes some of my all time favorite snuffs. Roderick is a gifted snuff maker. I have no idea what he means as far as raising the Nicotine levels, as far as I am concerned he never has raised them! ( private Roderick joke).
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I have tried what you just described using some ground up RYO tobacco (no facilities to grow my own unfortunately) I ground it up, wetted it with sodium carbonate solution and left it somewhere warm. The tobacco as ground had that ‘raw’ taste you describe, sort of grassy or like vegetables. Well, after leaving my moist tobacco overnight, drying it, and regrinding it, I can no longer taste that raw taste, and it tastes like basic unscented snuff! This is what I was trying to get, just a basic snuff that I can add flavors to. If this marked improvement happened overnight, I can only guess at how much it will improve given weeks or months. I can’t thank you enough :o) Incidentally, I attribute the speed at which the raw flavor disappeared to the fact that I was using tobacco that has already been processed and cured.
It will be interesting what some aging will do. I like the toasting method too. It would be nice to develop a bit of bulk to have to play around with as far as flavoring, Tobacco sucks up scents and moisture unlike anything else. Don’t worry so much about TSNA’s for snuff. I must have twenty batches around here in some order of processing. Imagine what you could do with some fantastically cured and aged tobacco. Let me know where your from, if in the US, I have some interesting sources. There is a whole community of whole leaf guys. You were looking into Virginia. I grew my own Rustica last year and it is just a hardy weed. Comes around to curing and aging. My TAD problem got exponentially worse once I quit spending money on it! Seeds are free. I am absolutely swimming in tobacco sometimes around here. I love tobacco.
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We need more micro-snuff mills. The world of beer has been greatly enhanced by micro-breweries, it would be nice to see it for snuff. There must be any number of people here that could produce great snuffs. In fact anyone with a reasonable palate could as snuff is amazingly easy to make.
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Snuffster - I agree, it would be great to have a bunch of micro snuffs. I think the one thing that holds it back is the lack of information as how to do it properly. I for one just look and look for any information I can find. Then trial and error. I was rather interested to hear that Rustica is the base for Abraxas. I have always had a drip problem with it. I have like four hands of it behind me here in the den, I keep them for display. I just had a bump of Abraxas as we speak, Kudos. I did not grow any Rustica this year. I have about two million seeds.
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I think the main stumbling block for micro mills is the PACT act :o(
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Actually, now I think about it, could there be a way to do this? It’s illegal to ship snuff to end-users, but could it work like firearms? Customer buys online, and the snuff is shipped to their local tobacco dealer for face-to-face collection, dealer charges a small fee for the service. I know it sounds silly, but could it be an option? Tobacconists perhaps understandably don’t want to buy a load of snuff to have it sit on their shelves for eternity, but this way they’d just be acting as a middle man and getting paid.
I was wondering that the other day. Obviously retailers have to get their smokeless tobacco somehow, and I know there are no smokeless tobacco plants in my state. I’ll bet it only applies to consumers and not retailers/distributors. Evil thoughts fill my mind…