I saw a thread in the forums that had a link to an article where Swisher claimed that they do not make nasal snuff. I bought my first container of dry snuff a couple days ago and it is Superior Scotch Dry Snuff made by Swisher International. It is nasal snuff right? They also had Honey Bee, Navy and Tube Rose at the store and I assume they are nasal snuff as well. I have been using it for my nose and it seems fine. Just wondering what that article was about and if there are other American made nasal snuffs that I can buy in the USA.
Most people who use American snuffs put them in their mouths like Copenhagen, but they make great nasal snuffs as well. AFAIK there’s no evidence that the recipes for plain scotches have changed significantly since they were originated in the 18th century, they’re just tobacco and salt. For some reason in the 19th century people, especially southern women, started rubbing snuffs on their gums rather than sniffing them. Indian snuffs are mostly (though not exclusively) used as dips in India but they’re great in the nose too and in places like Tibet and Mongolia that import Indian snuff they’re just used nasally. Sweet snuffs like Honey Bee and Navy Sweet came later and were more explicitly designed for oral use but a lot of people like them nasally as well.
I think I’ll stick with the Superior Scotch Dry Snuff when it comes to American snuffs for now and order any sweet/mentholated snuffs from MrSnuff.com to ensure I get snuff that is made specifically for nasal use. However I do really like the Superior that I’m using now, it does work great for nasal use.
I’d highly recommend you try some of the more “natural” snuffs on your first order as well, especially considering you like American Scotches (props!) If you like scotch, you’ll LOVE toast (Fribourg & Treyer’s High Dry Toast and Wilsons of Sharrow’s Irish High Toast #22 are my personal favorites), and Samuel Gawith’s Kendal Brown Original is another one I’d try as an excellent example of a coarser, darker natural snuff.
I was thinking of trying the Wilsons of Sharrow Lemon Toast but I will also try the ones you suggested
+1 on WoS IHT #22 (my second favorite snuff) and F&T HDT which in my opinion is a bit more complex than the IHT 22. The IHT 22 has a better nic hit IMO.
I saw a thread in the forums that had a link to an article where Swisher claimed that they do not make nasal snuff. I bought my first container of dry snuff a couple days ago and it is Superior Scotch Dry Snuff made by Swisher International. It is nasal snuff right? They also had Honey Bee, Navy and Tube Rose at the store and I assume they are nasal snuff as well. I have been using it for my nose and it seems fine. Just wondering what that article was about and if there are other American made nasal snuffs that I can buy in the USA.
Its a bit of a slippery question. They are snuffs which in and of itself means its for nasal use. Snuff has a long tradition in the US dating from the pre-Columbian and colonial period. For some reason, not well explained historically, usage by the population of nasal snuff dropped off during the mid to late 19th century. The only reason snuff endured was due to the fact that many had begin to use it orally. The snuffs they favored for oral use were the Scotch snuffs, although a few Maccoboy ones survived this transition. Other items (such as Copenhagen snuff) began to be marketed about this time as snuff, though they bore more resemblance to the Swedish snuff (snus) tradition, which has a inter-related history with that of the US. These were named snuff, but since they were not made for snuffing, they are not truly snuff. Swisher is a cigar company. They acquired the Helme snuff company in the 1980s. Their interest and knowledge of snuff is marginal - questionable at best. As far as they (and the regulating authorities) are concerned nasal snuff does not exist in this country. Yet any snuff called a Scotch snuff is indeed a nasal snuff. These recipes for the most part go back to the 19th century and earlier. The sweet snuffs (such as Honey Bee and Tube Rose) were created in the early part of the 20th century after the population had made its own transition from nasal to oral use. Sweeteners were added to basic scotch snuffs to make them more orally palatable. However, they are still nasal snuffs. They are just nasal snuffs altered by their manufacturers for oral use. The only new snuff that was totally original to emerge in that time and survive to this day is Checkerberry, which is something of a hybrid of a nasal snuff and a moist (oral) snuff. Its resemblance to wintergreen is not coincidental since that is probably the most popular flavor for a moist snuff. There are approximately 30 brands of snuffs made by the big three companies (American Snuff Co. - formerly Conwood, Swisher - successor to Helme, and US Smokeless Tobacco Co. - formerly simply United States Tobacco Co.) in the US. All but two are scotch snuffs. The only two that are not and still made are Railroad Mills Maccoboy, and Railroad Mills Checkerberry. What you can buy locally will vary depending on your region. I don’t think anyone has access to the full range locally, but if you are determined, North Carolina is a pretty good area for finding a good variety. A newcomer to the game is Dark Horse, which is a small independent snuff maker. They offer three varieties, however their distribution is not that wide. Their snuffs are more like European snuffs as compared to the predominant scotch snuffs. Also of note is Silver Dollar, and Toque USA. They are both imports but made strictly for the US market. Both made by Toque which is a small UK company. I haven’t found them locally myself, but a lot of our members have been turning them up around the country.
Thanks for the info, that clears it up a lot.
Couldnt have said it better myself. Bottom line if you like plain scotches youll love toasts, definitely more of a buttery richer taste than scotches. Be sure not to overlook Toque Quit. Go for the 25 g tin though youll be kicking yourself when the small one is gone.
Couldnt have said it better myself. Bottom line if you like plain scotches youll love toasts, definitely more of a buttery richer taste than scotches. Be sure not to overlook Toque Quit. Go for the 25 g tin though youll be kicking yourself when the small one is gone.
I would go so far as to say buy it in bulk. I’m kicking myself for only buying a 25g lol. It’s seems like forever waiting for the next order to come in.