My love of blueberry has led me on a search for blueberry flavored snuffs. I have tried all that I could get my hands on from Mr. Snuff and found nothing that satisfies me. The closest I could find to a snuff with sufficient intensity of flavor, along with a clean, fresh, pure blueberry scent was the Toque Blueberry (after the ammonia dissipated). But even then, the intensity of flavor was decidedly lacking for me, as the blueberry was only slightly present in my experience with it. But I sure do like that Toque base flour that Roderick uses for blueberry and many of his other fruit snuffs. So I started to ponder this dilemma. I found myself daydreaming about ways I could intensify the blueberry flavor in the Toque, short of concocting some blueberry sauce reduction that I do not know how to do. Finally, it hit me that if I could find a highly concentrated blueberry powder, and add it to the Toque Blueberry, I might get lucky and intensify the blueberry experience. What I found surprised me a bit. It may not surprise you but I thought I would share all of this just for the hell of it. On the internet I found and I ordered 2 different organic blueberry powders. Both were made of freeze dried blueberries ground into powder. One was quite intense blueberry and the other not so much. I threw the latter away after trying it out in various ways and focused my attention on the good one. Both of the blueberry powders were, in snuff language, a medium grind. When I snuffed the blueberry powder on its own, a curious thing happened. I could swear that I actually experienced a slight sort of rush. I tested this several times and the rush was consistent each time. Maybe it was the sugar in the blueberry or maybe something in the blueberry itself. Blueberry is actually highly complex fruit. Whatever, I don’t really have a clue what that was about. Anyway, I found it to be rather like an energy snuff in its effects and quite pleasant, I should add. I tried various combinations of mixtures of the powder and the Toque. When I mixed the blueberry powder with Toque Blueberry on a 4 to 1 ratio, it turned out to be very pleasant indeed, with an enhanced blueberry “flavor” that I found quite satisfying, that did not eclipse the Toque base tobacco. Of course, there is a bit of a trade-off in nicotine levels but not terribly so, although this was offset just a bit by the blueberry “hit” which added something rather unique to the experience that I still do not understand. In any case, I consider my experiment to have come to “fruition,” if you don’t mind the pun. As an aside, it is also rather funny (at first rather shocking) to see the material that is ejected via blowing one’s nose after snuffing blueberry powder. It is a deep purple! I am now going to try this experiment mixing cherry snuff with cherry powder (my other favorite fruit) and then mixing snuff with ginseng powder, both of which are on their way to me now. Oh well… I suppose I could be doing something productive and worthwhile but what would be the point of that? Sorry for the long post. I-) Anybody have any tips for me or a similar experience?
Hi Fred. This might be worth a try: http://shop.lorannoils.com/templates/product.aspx?ProductGuid=3520-0500&GroupGuid=60
Thanks @Mouse! I am going to order some of those. Have you used any of them with snuff?
Got my organic cherry powder in the mail today and got busy and made my first blend with it. I took Toque Cherry and Silver Dollar Cherry (the latter has a bit of menthol unlike the Toque) and mixed those in equal parts with Toque Vanilla and the organic pure cherry powder. I must admit, it is pretty damn good, to my senses anyway. The menthol brings out all of the flavors in an ever so subtle way while the vanilla seems to offset the menthol flavor so that the latter ends up being virtually unnoticeable, which is good to me as I don’t like menthol snuffs. Meanwhile the tart cherry flavor of the powder adds a cherry highlight to the overall effect. Quite nice it seems to me. But you, of course, may not have the same experience, at all, of course. When the ginseng powder gets here, I will mess with that as well, although I confess I have no idea what to expect with ginseng powder mixed with snuff.
I’ve ordered from Loranne before and had good results, sticking with the natural ones; I was told by S. Gawith that they use artificial flavor for, for instance, their Guarana snuff–no medicinal effects from it; and I’ve read that almost all blueberry flavoring is artificial, the Loranne one is the single exception I’ve found. Roderick mentioned that he only uses natural flavors. Perhaps that is why the scent of blueberries is mild in his version. Maybe you can up that with the addition of the Loranne product; I for one will be interested in your experiment.
@fredhanna Can you provide a link to the blueberry powder you liked, please? Might be worth a shot to play with in snuff or cocktails with it.
@BarkingLeopard happy to oblige. Here is the link to the organic raw blueberry powder: http://www.nuts.com/driedfruit/blueberries/organic-powder.html I should mention again that I got another blueberry powder from Amazon.com but it was not satisfactory to me as the scent was barely perceptible. Not recommended. In fact, I threw it out.
I’ve ordered from Loranne before and had good results, sticking with the natural ones; I was told by S. Gawith that they use artificial flavor for, for instance, their Guarana snuff–no medicinal effects from it; and I’ve read that almost all blueberry flavoring is artificial, the Loranne one is the single exception I’ve found. Roderick mentioned that he only uses natural flavors. Perhaps that is why the scent of blueberries is mild in his version. Maybe you can up that with the addition of the Loranne product; I for one will be interested in your experiment.
@Mouse Thank you! Much appreciated. I am not sure how to flavor snuff with liquid so any tips that anyone might have to help me with my ignorance would be GREATLY appreciated as well.
Since the Loranne blueberry flavor is not essential oil or alcohol based, rather it is a water based flavoring liquid, I would start with about a teaspoon of snuff, put it in a small glass jar, dip a wire or a czech pipe tool or something similar into the liquid and then use it to mix the snuff for 4 or 5 minutes, seal the jar and let it sit for a day to let the tobacco equalize in moisture, and then check to see if it was enough. Repeat as necessary. If it is too wet leave the jar open, stirring occasionally until it is the right moisture level. Be brave!
I love all kinds of berries and especially blueberries, had to try this out. Great advices guys.
Since the Loranne blueberry flavor is not essential oil or alcohol based, rather it is a water based flavoring liquid, I would start with about a teaspoon of snuff, put it in a small glass jar, dip a wire or a czech pipe tool or something similar into the liquid and then use it to mix the snuff for 4 or 5 minutes, seal the jar and let it sit for a day to let the tobacco equalize in moisture, and then check to see if it was enough. Repeat as necessary. If it is too wet leave the jar open, stirring occasionally until it is the right moisture level. Be brave!
Thanks @mouse! Thanks also for your advice to be brave. I am gathering my courage!
Well, I have received the ginseng powder but it remains unopened for now. I seem to have unfinished business with the cherry powder. Some time has passed and I am still messing around with the cherry powder combinations. I have been using the cherry blend described in an above post that I like very much. But when that ran out, rather than make more, I decided to see if I could try another variation. So I started out with using 1 part cherry powder mixed with 3 parts Toque Cherry. It was very nice but I could only get a barely acceptable nic impact with it. So I added 2 parts Temptation Cherry Menthol and 2 parts (high nic) FUBAR Snafu Plain to it. The Temptation Cherry Menthol has more nic to it than the Toque Cherry but just a bit too much menthol for me (Toque Cherry has none). But when I added the 2 parts high nic FUBAR Snafu Plain a balance was achieved and now the blend packs a nice nic hit with a pronounced, clearly evident, “tasty” cherry flavor. Both of the latter are Dholakia snuffs, as you know, and Dholakia products often seem to mix well with Toque snuffs, I have found. In this case, once again, the cherry powder has helped to make a very, very nice snuff indeed–to me at least. FWIW.
Aside from the blueberry and cherry powders, I have also tried some black raspberry powder. I do not recommend it. There was hardly any scent even when snuffed straight, and it stains the fingers, and I would assume the nose, with a dark purple. Not much flavor either.
Thanks for the update, @fredhanna . Keep them coming, and let us know how the ginseng powder works. EDIT: Never mind, just saw your ginseng thread. Once it appears as though you are largely complete with your experimenting, I will probably try to make a purchase based on your conclusions.
Also @fredhanna, which cherry powder did you wind up buying? Could you please provide a link? Thanks!
Hi @BarkingLeopard. Here is the link but apparently the item is now out of stock. http://www.nuts.com/driedfruit/cherries/cherry-acerola.html If you find another good cherry powder, please let me know.
Since seeing this thread I’ve been thinking seriously about using some of these fruit powders in my snuff. I finally took the plunge and bought some of them from Nuts.com; Cherry Acerola, Blueberry, Pomegranate, Strawberry and Acai. My first tests were the powders in water just to taste. I warmed the water somewhat to help open up the aromas. Beautiful. Then I girded my loins and took a nice pinch of each, straight. A bit of a bite, but nothing to get excited about, and great aromas. I went ahead and used them in three new snuffs for December: Cherry Bomb, Yvette and Tempête. Each of these have a foundation in fresh and dried fruit infusions made from some top notch spirits. (Yvette has some dried violet petals too). The powders gave a bright refreshing finish to the snuff and helped the scent stay around for a very long time. IM me here or email me and I will send you the details on these unusual and interesting variations on the fruit and floral snuff mainstream. I’m about to buy a few more of their freeze dried fruits to mill/sieve into my own powders. Blackberry sounds great as a snuff condiment, just not sure which direction to go. http://www.nuts.com/driedfruit/blackberries/freeze-dried.html
@chefdaniel just an idea, your melba toast is excellent, how about a blueberry cobbler type snuff?
@Bodger_Boggins Outstanding idea. Once I figure out the rest of the nuances of these powders, I’ll start goofing around with fresh blueberries for an infusion. I think a 50/50 Virginia/Burley tobacco bill, well *toasted before and after casing with the sauce, a final topping of the powder before milling…and a good amount of butter, would be a good start. *taking a page out of the Madras snuff cookbook, I may fry the tobacco in butter after it’s had a nice dry toasting, to develop that ‘biscuit’ aroma. I wonder if that’s what’s going on with Viking Blonde??
@chefdaniel that sounds great! I’ve never had the opportunity to try Madras, but I really like Viking Blonde, so if it’s similar I’m sure I’d like it.