Has there been a thread here solely intended do compare and contrast the various more traditional(?) American snuffs. Not the Blasts, Dean Swifts etc. Just the Honests, Brutons etc. Just had my first pinches of W.E. Garrett the other day and the shop also had Honest and a couple of others, I picked the WEG because I was broke and it was $2 cheaper and more familiar.

My favorite so far is Square. Has a rich smoky flavor and maybe it’s just me but it seems to be ever so slightly more course than say Superior. But despite my bashing not long ago, I’m actually really starting to like the sweets. Though I think that’s because I forced myself to finish a can of Tube Rose and it just grew on me.

Of them all I like Square. It smells like a nice Bbq. Only problem for me is the killer headache I get because it goes right into my sinuses.

Square has too much smoke for me. I prefer Bruton, Honest and Dental out of the ones I have tried. Top’s is good as well.

I’ve only every tried two, Navy Plain and Honey Bee sweet. It took some perspective shifting to understand them but I really enjoy Navy Plain.

Never been able to find Navy Plain. 

I’ve tried Bruton, W.E. Garrett, Square, Navy Sweet, Honey Bee, Carhart’s, Buttercup, and Dental.

If I could only have one it would be Bruton. 

@dakotas Navy Plain is here

Thanks a lot! Fortunately being here in Alabama, all I gotta do is just hit up a few hardware, or grocery stores. As much as I love mr.snuff, I can’t pay $7.86 for 1.15oz, when I can get it here locally for $4.

Thank’s for the input! Unless I find somewhere else to shop around here my options are pretty limited. But I look forward to trying Honest, and I’ll keep my eyes open for Square, Bruton, Navy Plain etc. Hoping to find more locally especially.

I like the plains but don’t really dig the sweets the sweet drip is annoying to me, I must have gotten an old can of Square cause I’m not getting the smoke, Garrett is way smokier and the square is more salty for me.

I think if you get fresh Square you will get the smoke. Garrett is mild on smoke compared to Square in my opinion. Dental is a little milder than Garrett. Tops has the least smoke of any I have tried. Rooster and Bruton have a more of a vinegar note to me.

Whenever I travel for business I map out the discount tobacco stores and stop by to see what I can find. I keep hoping to find Starr.

@Slide I haven’t seen Starr in any store. Lowe’s Grocery in North Carolina has it. But nothing down here so far.

@dakotas Thanks. I may have to resort to ordering it one day but for now I’ll keep looking!

Lowe’s carries Starr? Hmm…gonna have to make a quick stop on my next trip to my home town then.

Is Starr sweet?

No. My understanding is Starr is very close to an Irish Toast

Ahhh, that sounds good. I don’t need sweet.

The American Snuff’s I’ve tried are US Smokeless Standard Scotch Snuff, US Smokeless Carhart’s Choice (CC) Sweet Scotch Snuff, Swisher Honey Bee Sweet Dry Snuff, and Swisher Buttercup Sweet Scotch Dry Snuff.  I picked those because the reviews said each of them didn’t have an overly strong smokey or bbq flavor.  I wasn’t sure I’d like the sweet snuffs, but quickly found out that I really enjoyed them.  I’d heartily recommend any one of them.  I just wish they were more readily available.  I find it really strange that  I have to order online from overseas to be able to get them.

Yeah, it’s kind of wierd huh? I’m gonna try to search more shops in my area, just keeping the fingers crossed!

I’m in central Florida and our Lowe’s don’t carry tobacco products of any kind.

Lowe’s Food Stores not the home improvement store. Looks like they are just in North Carolina, South Carolina and Viginia.

I understand the Food Lion’s carry a great assortment of Scotch’s. Unfortunately the ones down here closed years ago after some problems with beef…

If anyone has a Winn-Dixie grocery store in their area, give them a look through. All of them in my area (East Central Alabama) carry snuff.

The best American snuff is Levi Garrett!!!  And I still have about 350 grams of it.

One more on the list then!

I have only checked one of the two local Winn-Dixie’s but all they have are Sweet Scotches, it looks like they might be fazing them out, I’m sure they are not very popular here, when I call most stores they don’t even know what it is.

Once you go Rooster you never go back.
^:)^

@Zanaspus I can never find Rooster. Where do you get it?

@dakotas I bought a lifetime supply from Tom right before PACT. I suspect if you live in the south and ask a grocery store manager nicely, he might order a case of 12 for you. You could always unload what you don’t want on here.

@Zanaspus thanks for the help! I have a friend at Winn-Dixie who often fills out tobacco purchase orders. I’ll ask him to give it a look for Rooster. 

Aaargh, livin in the Midwest…not so much selection…

I know a guy who owns a liquor store, I wonder if I can scope what he is able to order and get something in.

@dakotas check you messages

I have yet to try any Sweet scotchs myself… and the only one that is available in the city I live in, Is the W&G sweet… and its one of the large tins… Don’t know if I wanna pay into that much for something I may or may not like.

I’ve only tried Honey Bee myself as I live in the UK and it’s more difficult to get them, on MrSnuff they didn’t have the singles and only the x3 packs so now I have a bit too much but it was worth it. Very sweet, a lot of burn, the flavour just like honey. I’m definitely going to try some more scotches.

I’ve tried Rooster without much success, as I haven’t really taken to the smokiness and, especially, the vinegary aroma.  WE Garret I preferred, but wasn’t crazy about–again too smokey.  I’ll be down in NC this summer and plan to hit up a Food Lion to see what’s available.  In the past I’ve seen Navy, Society and Tube Rose and the like there.

Navy Plain is my favorite.

The avatar knows best

Only tried rooster but it has really grown on me, the vinegar scent was a little difficult to get use to but I sometimes crave it now

I am a huge fan and user of american scotch snuff. At this very moment, i have in rotation: W.E.Garrett&Sons Scotch Snuff and their Sweet Mild Snuff. Both i fairly enjoy. I really like to take RED SEAL (maybe one of the best of all scotch snuffs), TOPS Sweet, Railroads Mills Plain, Helme´s Wild Cherry and the all famous Railroad Mills Maccoboy. I am looking forward for a bunch of others like Honey-Bee, Checkerberrys, Dixie, Lorrilard, etc. 

I bought them all because, let’s face it, I’m crazy.  I even have two cans of Devoe Sweet that I’ll likely never use.  I am not a particularly discriminating user of scotches–they are all fairly uniformly terrible and wonderful.  Using them nasally, you tend to make the same expression you would make it you just downed a shot of Old Grandad.  It’s pain but it’s effective.  I have no doubt some users grow to like it, but I think *most people* have to make a real effort to like it.  I think it has survived for so long because it’s cheap. 

If I had to pick one scotch it’d be Bruton because of the sheer nicotine power, and really it’s not much worse than any of the others.  Three Thistles Strong is a runner-up though it’s harder to find, even online.  Dental and Tops are a bit milder.  Superior, Standard, Square and Rooster are all kind of indistiguishable for me (though I do believe some people can tell them apart).  I think Superior has to get some marks for having such an old-timey label.

For the sweets, I like Honey Bee and Three Thistle.  Devoe is actually pretty strong if you find an old can.  Society, Buttercup, Wild Cherry, Dixie and Strawberry are all kind of sickening.  Carhart’s and Red Seal have more of a cocoa flavour than others.  As for Tube Rose–I don’t smell anything but sugar and cocoa, but again my nose is not that great.

For the odds and ends, I like the plains (RR Mills and Navy), which are more cocoa-favoured than hickory-flavoured.  Starr is awesome in its sheer plainness and for the glorious archaicness of its packaging–I think it may be a truly unflavoured tobacco product, which maybe endears it to more presbyterian tastes in certain snake-handling areas of the states.  Checkerberry is great and easy to snuff.  And, may I say, thank god I got the big bottle of RR Mills Maccoboy before Tom F. went out of business–it’s a great nasal snuff with a nice, non-overpowering rose scent.

I wouldn’t be surprised if we lost 1 or 2 scotches/sweets/others per year. 

Thank’s that’s a lot of good info! There are only a few more at the local shop where I found the WE Garret- wish I could find more around here…

Just found some RR Mills Maccoboy over in Columbus, GA. Was so happy to finally find some. Bought two of the 1.15oz cans for about $7. 

I absolutely love scotches, mostly because they’re cheap and fairly available, like Mike B. said. Hated them at first, but certainly grew on me. The nic-hit is great too.

Is rooster different enough from WE garrett to order it?

@dakotas ,It’ saying that RR Mills Macoboy(witch I don’t know yet),have something of F&T Macouba…

However could you say me where(on web) it’s actually possible to buy it.Thanks.

@JohnnyFriday - yes Rooster and Bruton are a good bit different in scent than WE Garrett.

@Slide thanks. I may have to get some rooster then.

@gandalf I haven’t seen it anywhere on the internet. 

I just got a can of Dental, it is quite good also.

@dakotas ,I just read “over in Colombus”,apologize my english…

@gandalf, sorry about that. Columbus, Georgia.

I know I’m going to piss on somebody’s chips here, but hey ho. I’ve got a can each of, Rooster, Bruton’s, Square, Navy, Honey Bee, Tube Rose,Stokers sweet and scotch and Ralph’s, and obviously the sweets are sweet and the scotches are scotches, but IMO there is absolutely no difference between the different brands of the same style. Americans must have the best noses on the planet to tell the difference, I just can’t. Maybe it’s me, I’ve no idea but I couldn’t tell the difference between scotches blindfolded, same goes for the sweets. I had a go yesterday, I just couldn’t, I mean if employees of the manufacturers don’t even know they produce snuff, who is anybody to say they don’t all fill the different cans from one batch? I’d bet a lot that, that is what they do! Like I say it might be my nose that is wrong, no idea but just my 2p.

Stefan

I am with you Walrus1985 … better noses than mine can pick out the differences … i mean there is gun smoke, fire pit smoke and barbecue smoke … but it is all rather same same to me … best scotch to me … GH’s Irish D!  Vinegar, warm toasty scent.  I could certainly discern Honey Bee from other sweets … but the rest are the same sweet to me as well.

Not to offend the fine noses here on the forum … just showing how under developed my sense of smell is.  

I can see how they might all be the same. They are certainly all VERY similar. The only snuffs I own are scotches, save for some Maccoboy and a bit of old McChrystal’s Supermint, so I’ve become familiar with a good majority of the scotches made here in the States. There’s some definite grind and colour differences, as well as flavor.  Dental and W.E. Garrett have more of the wood smoke (IMO), whereas Bruton and Standard have more of the BBQ smoke. I know if someone handed me a scotch and asked me to figure out which one it was, I’d probably have a 75% chance of getting it right. But then again when scotches are your daily snuff, you have no choice but to get to know them real well… sometimes to the point where you get sick of them.

I got to give my vote to Garrett as scotches go. Milder in the smoke flavor than honest and not a bad flavor

I spent the day today sniffing the W.E. Garrett Sweet… Had a nice strong burn and a pleasant scent… But before I left for work today, I sniffed on the Railroad Mills Sweet and it definitely had some similarities but not so much that there wasn’t some pretty serious differences…
Btw, Thanks to Slider for hookin me up with these Scotch samples.

I agree with @dakotas Once you get to know them, they all have their personalities. I’m confident I can distinguish most of them in a blind test as well (the sweet ones notwithstanding). Only three or four of them are like carbon copies of each other. The difference between Starr and something like Square, is night and day. Tops Mild and Dental Mild are pretty close to each other, sadly I can’t find either of those around here. I can find most of my other favorites though. I don’t care for the sweets much, and sadly thats 2/3 or more of what is available. I know a few folks are waiting on me to make a snuff shopping trip too; don’t worry guys, I haven’t forgotten you.

My first SWEET scotch was Honey Bee.  I liked it alot.
I’d say if I had to pick a scotch to take onto an island somewhere, it would probably be that.  Or Bruton to make sure I had plenty of NIC.

My primary SNUFF selection comes from WILSONS I’m just an English Snuff kinda guy I guess.  Gimme a Wilson’s SP and I’m happy.  Specifically GOLD LABEL.
However HDT is VERY MUCH like a SCOTCH to me.

My favorites are tube rose and peach sweet.

edm

Big fan of Red Seal- no smokyness, also good in the lip.

I really enjoy Square if you can get it fresh with all it’s smokey goodness intact.  Unfortunately the last 2 purchases were a bit flat, which I attribute to sitting on the shelf too long.  Levi Garrett is another one I really enjoy, has a somewhat different almost complex scent for a scotch.  Hard to explain what it is about it but sits in my nose well.

Question for those that have tried a larger variety than me. I’ve noticed that while most scotches are babypowder fine, there are slight differences in the grind. Like, Superior seems to be finer than Square. So which american snuff has the most (relatively) coarse grind?

Railroad Mills Maccoboy is definitely coarse. Square and Dental are more coarse than say Bruton or Standard.

Just bought some Tops and Red Seal today. Tops is so close to Square, almost indistinguishable. Red Seal smells exactly like Carhart’s.

Either I got old Tops or you got old Square. Square smelt like I was standing down wind of a roaring bon fire. Top’s Mild has a mild smoke scent to me. Square has more of a slap you in the face smoke

See this is why I don’t try american snuffs. When I use smokey snuffs I spend too much time trying to see where the fire is. And man when I still smell it after the wind shifts I think oh fudge.

I hear that Food Lion carries a large variety of snuffs.

edm

I ended up picking up a fresh pocket tin of W.E. Garrett Sweet… cracked it open this morning and took a couple pinches… good stuff to be sure!

Just picked up a can of Society today for the first time and I really think it’s an underappreciated snuff. It’s a sweet snuff, but less so that even Tube Rose and very mellow. Very light tan in color, like khaki pants tan. There’s some other scent in there that I can’t quite place, something different, but it’s a really great snuff in my opinion. Anyone else tried it?

Yes, Its not less sweet than Tube Rose, which surely must be the least sweet of the sweets. Society is probably the sweetest or one of the sweetest. I don’t care for it. Its rather sickly sweet. Tube Rose is about the only one I tolerate at all anymore.

The sweetest? I must have an off can because mine is certainly not as sweet as that.

Hmm, looking at my own reviews I think I did call it “complex”, and it looks like I may have rated Buttercup as sweeter.

To me,actually,the favorite américan Scotch Strong will be W.E.Garrett.Anyway for the moment this subject has got virgin virginians tobaccos waiting to be discovereds.

Just got a can of Navy plain yesterday, it still has a sweet component to it of some kind. I wasn’t prepared for that but was surprised at how pleasant it was. Had to see what the fuss Snuffster has been making about it. The three cans of Starr got shipped separately so looking forward to that soon.

@hooked Yeah the Navy Plain sweetness may take a bit to get used to. It’s not overly sweet but it is still there. At first I was not really liking it, but after a while I’ve come to “understand” it.

I like Bruton. But I do think the differences are minimal between the brands.

Just picked up a can of Society today for the first time and I really think it’s an underappreciated snuff. It’s a sweet snuff, but less so that even Tube Rose and very mellow. Very light tan in color, like khaki pants tan. There’s some other scent in there that I can’t quite place, something different, but it’s a really great snuff in my opinion. Anyone else tried it?

I think SOCIETY is awesome!!! It ha a black pepper thing to it!!!

block quotes hurt my eyes. light grey on bright white, ow

I love the smokey goodness of Square. It is very common here in NC

I remember thinking Superior was very good.

I traded it off a while back.

I like the Swisher snuffs, but they arn’t found locally.

The ones I see locally is Bruton, Red Seal, Honest, WE Garret, regular and sweet.

I don’t much care for the sweet snuffs for nose sniffin, they just add sweetener for oral use.

I have tried only rr mills sweet and us smokeless carhart sweet. I like rr mills more for the sweet cocoa scent and more of a nic hit. IMO.

@SnuffSniffer Worked in Florida for a year and went to a grocery store in Indiantown that stocked 20+ types of American dry snuff. Totally amazed. Attribute this to the large number of S. Americans working the orange groves. Stayed at the Seminole Inn which appeared in “Smokey and the Bandit” Not that I am a fan it was just close to work.

I just found a cigar shop in Lemoyne, PA while online looking for Society brand snuff. They say they have all manner of American brands in stock. I’ll have to arrange to stop in when I’m going to be in the area. Just sharing in case anyone lives near there or has experience with the shop. UPDATE: Just got off the line with a rep at the American Snuff Company who told me that Sam’s Club should have most of their brands in stock after I asked where I could find the Dental brand. I’m guessing she was referring to Southern stores, as I know of none in the Philadelphia, PA area that do. She also told me to try Food Lion, which we already know. Here’s hoping.

Hello can someone help me get some Society,WE Garrett reg.&sweet,Red Seal,Dixie Sweet,Strawberry sweet & Navy plain.I hope someone [-O< can help me out.I’m willing to pay$$ or trade.

I have about 15 American snuffs, some fresh and new, others vintage and quite old. While I like them all, they are however, in my opinion, all very similar in grind and flavor. The sweets are are in varying degrees of sweetness, the scotches vary in degrees of smokiness. In fact, when I run low on one, I mix it in with another and the result is pretty much the same. I don’t dip it, only sniff it. As I have mentioned before, if one looks on eBay, there are usually a few to be found, in varying degrees of age, condition, and price. I’ve seen some nice ones for $5-10, others, based on I don’t what what, are selling for $35, up to $100 for an old, rusty tin of Skinner’s, a long discontinued scotch snuff. If you want to do some looking around, go there. I can’t get any American snuffs in my area, Colorado. Only Toque and Silver Dollar at the local smokeshop.

WE Garrett regular and sweet are the only snuffs available for me locally. Of the two, I like the regular. Looks like it’s just me, but I don’t get the smoke bbq smell; it’s more like a bookstore that’s buried in a crypt…not actually unpleasant though. BUT the drip I get is the worst from any snuff I have tried. Can anyone recommend something to mix it with because I’m a little burned out on the taste and not sure what would even go with such a unique flavour. Waiting on an order from Roderick. So for the moment WEG is all I have…got the we garrett blues! ;

@mrmanos I’ve seen various discontinued or otherwise difficult/impossible to find snuffs on eBay, but the idea of buying a thirty year old, previously opened tin makes me hesitant to say the least. If that’s the only way I’ll ever get to try Society or Dental snuffs, then I guess I never will. Who knows what the effects of sniffing that stuff might be? It strikes me as rather risky.

I would NOT recommend trading with Hawaiian Ryan. Go on my profile and click discussions to see my warning post about him.

I live in Melbourne FL area. The only American plain snuffs I can find are RR Mills Sweet (not for me) and Navy plain , both sold at Winn Dixie, which I may have to resort to when my dwindling stash of RR Mill plain, Square, and 3 Thistle expires. 

Z2k, Navy and rr mills plain have identical chemical compositions, do they have a scent difference? How much does win Dixie charge for them? I might use my next vacation as a chance to buy a lifetime supply:)

@Tobe I think with my inexperienced nose the scotches are all quite similar. I do smell the difference between honey bee and buttercup I find buttercup a bit less sweet and honey and I do smell some butter. The society sweet is in my opinion a bit less sweet than peach sweet but very much a like. But good thing is I like them all !

@Marielle32 That’s why I said that I think you can just get one scotch and be fine, since they are mostly very similar. I’ve got a lifetime supply of various scotches, so it’s a good thing I like them so much!

If anyone is in the area or knows someone who is, the Food Depot #27 in Marietta, GA has 4.65oz and 1.15oz cans of various American scotches in stock and restock their supply regularly. 4.65oz cans range from $16 to $18 each, and 1.15oz cans are $4 to $5. Please make a note of it, as this is the type of information that people tend to keep to themselves and this thread will be buried in no time flat.

@Tobe copy and paste it here : http://snuffhouse.com/discussion/7365/snuff-in-the-states/p1&nbsp;

@basement_shaman I can’t figure out how to do that on my phone…

@Tobe Then just re write it and post  http://snuffhouse.com/discussion/7365/snuff-in-the-states/p1 ;

@Tobe @basement_shamen I’ve copied and pasted it over for you

@50ft_trad Thanks. I was going to do it later, but you beat me to it.

It took me a long time to decide if I like scotch snuffs but W.E. Garrett is quickly moving up my list of favorites

Just got some Starr scotch. My first scotch. Ive only had one pinch. Got it too far up. Only other traditional American dry snuff I’ve tried was Garrett sweet. Old mill makes some good snuff.

I’m not a huge fan of the sweets. The initial aroma is great, but I can’t stand that sickly sweet aftertaste. I am, however, a huge fan of plain. Bruton is one of my favorite snuffs of all time.

I like Dental and Railroad, though I only have Dental at the moment.

. I’ve decided I’ve never had one I didn’t like, and I didn’t really care for the sweets at first but now I really dig them, usually mixed with something plain, semi sweets like this might just be my favorite category of snuff.

I tried a combo of Starr scotch and Garrett sweet. Pretty good combo. Question for you all. Where Does Starr scotch fall on the strength, flavor, and nicotine line compared to the other American scotchs? Starr is my first American Scotch that I have tried. Garrett sweet was my first American snuff.

@snuffsahoy I actually mixed a little Bruton with some Tube Rose last night and it wasn’t bad at all. Kind of had a coffee like aroma to it. And it toned the sweet aftertaste way down. Kudos to you!

I’ve been working through samples of Superior, Bruton, Ralph’s and Dental with Garrett as my baseline.  I enjoy them all and appreciate the small differences.  As snuffsahoy says, I’ve never had one I didn’t like yet. 

@fischtix thanks for that, I’m going to try that blend out

@snuffsahoy No problem at all. Thank you for the semi sweet idea.

I could never afford American postage. If America ever wanted to improve its trade imbalance postage prices would be the first thing to look at.

I’m definitely going to dive into the American scotches now that we in Canada no longer have to pay duty on purchases of $150 through mail (up from $20).

@AlphaWarrior where is that magical shop?

Do us Americans when in the South East really snuff the stuff? Dip it? Stock it for nostalgia’s sake? I’m picturing only the elderly sniffing snuff but have no clue

@shavasna South Carolina at local Bi Lo grocery store.

I’ve currently got Swisher Superior, Starr, and 3 Thistles in rotation.  All seem to have roughly the same nicotine level (high) and grind (fine).  All three are fantastic.  3 Thistles is by far the smokiest, followed by Superior and Starr.  Starr tends to be my mainstay, as it’s about the closest I’ve found to just plain old tobacco, in terms of scent.

This stuff is made with the mind of dipping them… that’s why there is the sweet, sure they can be sniffed, but they have the blend for optimum mouth experience. Put a teaspoon of Bruton in the bottom lip… it’s been a while, but I liked that… 

Here in the Mpls/St Paul metro in Minnesota it has been about impossible to find any

menthol snuffs. And besides a couple of USA varieties choices are pretty limited.

I must not be visiting the right tobacco shops …

Thank goodness for Mr Snuff, a great resource but of course need to have patience

for delivery…

@northstarr I remember finding out one store used to sell snuff but they kept it hidden behind the counter and you had to ask for it. The manager acted bitchy too when I asked him if they sold snuff. He explained they used to but no one bought it. 

@ar47 , there’s a cashier where I work who saw me with my snuffbox, said his grandma used to get snuff(don’t know which) and place it in her lip. Hes from the south but had never seen snuff outside his childhood home.

Grandma poured Peach snuff in her mouth. Always reminded me of Popeye with his spinach. My local grocery stores have snuff. I favor Superior and Bruton.