So are artisan snuffs worth the money as opposed to mass produced ones; I believe they are if they appeal to your palate/taste, I don’t believe that prima facie they are ‘better’, it all depends on your perspective - I recall Nigel @Abraxas saying previously that one of his constant companion snuffs was WoS rose; this seem to illustrate my point well.
Good points, @MisterPaul. Similar to Nigel, artisan snuff maker @chefdaniel is a big fan of the mass produced High Dry Toast, as so many of us are. I can tell you that he does not care one way or the other if it is artisan or mass produced. He just likes it and uses it in great quantities.
Gentlemen, I suppose that the issue here is whether artisanal snuffs are generally better - as in (a) fresher, (b) more innovative, (c) harder to devise, etc. Of course their sheer novelty may be a temporary attraction, contrasted against old favourites. Whether they are worth the price is, as everyone says, a matter of taste. But beyond that, we may still arrive at an analytical consensus of sorts. Similarly, without descending into the problem of people who prefer Warhol prints to Giotto frescos, we may contrast the breadth of inspiration, technical competence, balanced composition, etc., without simply throwing up our hands, attributing everything to the vagaries of personal taste, and implying that one man’s glass of orange juice somehow equals another’s shot of kerosene.
The artisan snuffs further diversify the range of snuffs available to us. So long as there are snuff users who demand those specific products, they will continue. The reasons for choosing or not choosing a specific snuff are many and highly subjective. For some it’s the grind, For some it’s the base tobacco, For some it’s the scent, For some it’s a physical reaction in the nose or throat For some it’s the price For some it’s the container For some it’s the marketting/market perception For some it’s patriotic/regional pride For some it’s the availability For some it’s the novelty For some it’s the prestige For some it’s supporting the underdog For some it’s peer influence For some it’s rebellion For some it’s the nicotine For some it’s the longevity of scent For some it’s the complexity For some it’s psychological associations/past memories For some it’s how messy it is All we can hope is that the broad diversity of the snuffs available to us all, continues in order to satisfy such a broad diversity of users