Crème de Figue is subtle. At first, its coarse grind is off-putting. Granular, the snuff looks like the sawdust of Circassian Walnut. The half-filled tin is insulting, but the content’s 15g weight is exact. Upon opening, it smells like a bag of ordinary pipe tobacco. Upon uptake, you get a little burn and barely anything to taste. At first Crème de Figue treads lightly but then rhythmically builds, like Maurice Ravel’s Boléro, slowly adding intensity and flavour, layer by subtle layer. The snuff is dry, yet bonds itself to the nostrils by humidity of the nasal cavity. Its rough grind prevents the throat drip associated with dry powders and uses the Arak to release the essences of fig, molasses, vanilla and Spanish cedar into the pallet. Very long in the nose, the pleasure unwraps itself slowly like the wax paper of saltwater taffy. After a goodly moment you bring the tin to your nose to discover the familiarity that lurked within it all along: the rejoicing memory of the humidor at your favourite cigar shop.

On the back of the tin, under the health warning, in a print too fine for my unassisted eyes to see, the following manufacturer’s instructions are written: “REFRIDERATE AND KEEP TIGHTLY CLOSED AFTER OPENING”. Sir Walter Scott fabricates artisanal snuff in which the ribs and stalks of the tobacco leaves have been removed. No preservatives are added and not all ingredients are torrefied. As such, tins must be refrigerated after opening. This is very unusual for snuff and not every pinch reviewer is aware of these explicit instructions. Not heeding the order may alter the flavour and negatively affect the snuff taking experience.

Your comment of “the snuff is dry” and “half filled tin” tells me you got a dried out tin. Fresh Creme de Figue is very moist and filled to the brim. I have had it when it was dried out and it is not nearly as flavourful and the drip irritates the throat more, rehydrate it and it turns into a much better snuff.

Perhaps, but I have a dozen or so tins of Sir Walter Scott’s and they all have that flakey consistency. I think it is wonderful as it is.

ALL coarsely ground snuff is supposed to be moist, its ground coarse so it can hold more moisture and flavour. Dry coarsely ground snuff is full of sharp edges that irritate the nasal passages and throat, when its moist it is soft and fluffy and loses its sharp edges. If all your tins are of this consistency its because they are all dried out and need to be rehydrated. Not only will you get much more flavour from them they will feel better in the nose. They are supposed to be very moist, if you put that much moisture into a fine ground snuff it would turn to mud that is why they are ground coarse.

They are certainly not moist like a schmaltzler. I will put them in the humidor for a while and revert…and I still think its great.

I assure you no snuff suffers more from drying out than artisan snuffs. Stale dried out SG from a tapbox is much closer to the fresh product than dried out artisan snuffs. Fresh Creme de Figue should have a rich fig flavour that slowly evolves into the tobacco backround. Most artisan snuffs are very rich and decadent. They lose that richness when they dry out, they need a lot of moisture to carry it. Fresh tins are filled to the brim if your tin is half empty thats how much moisture it lost and shrank, coarse grinds swell significantly when full of moisture.

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The problem is, even fresh SWS tins don’t come filled to the brim, @n9inchnails. Sadly, @Johnny has opted for way too large and not airtight enough containers… The drying out issue could be easily solved by packaging snuff in plastic baggies of appropriate size (ziplock or basic polyethylene like those used by Bernard for their Gekachelter Virginie) and inserting them into the same screw top tins (or at least taping them, like WoS did before switching to current shrink band seals, if plastic is looked down uppon by the Artisan).

I have not ordered any SWS snuffs since the first year of its release so maybe its packed different now. My tin of Creme De Figue, Auld Alliance and I forget what other snuffs I ordered that year were filled to the brim and packed so tightly I needed to scape the top with a pipe tool to loosen it enough to pinch. I dont know how it is now maybe he uses bigger tins or just isnt filling them like he used to but when it first came out it was filled to the brim

Lovely worded review

Hey gentlemen, I’ve had one tin of SWS Border Rapé, it was by no means a full tin. However I really love coarse snuffs and will try this one also. Ive tried Viking Dark but its nowhere close to Aged B Rapé for me. I have his Latakia Blend and find it was too fine. If anyone knows another coarse snuff thats earthy please let me know. K

Gee, I wish you were here, Kieran. I make a nice coarse gritty snuff from dark fire cured tobacco. It has a lovely rough texture in the nose. You’d like it.

I hope you find something.

Cheers,

Graeme

Yep, Kieran, make your own someday, you’ll love it.

I could bet additives-free Pueblo Classic rolling tobacco is available in your country, or American Spirit. Mix a pouch (30 g) with one pure Cuban cigar (budget one will do it; such weighs 7-10 g), mill with electrical coffee grinder (without drying the tobacco out), sift it with, let’s say, 400 micron sieve (or 600 micron, if you fancy Neftobak grind - similar aperture size is in the mesh of most tea strainers), add some water with sodium carbonate (or potassium carbonate) and salt, thoroughly mix, leave to rest for some days, or indulge in it right off the bat.

Can’t go wrong with a golden middle formula like this: 67-65% tobacco, 26% water, 4-5% potassium carbonate (or sodium carbonate) and 3-4% salt.

Vlounge, thank you my friend. I appreciate this. I will definitely attempt this at some point. K

Plus 1, that you got dried out snuff. Every tin of CDF and thrice brewed that I’ve ordered has been fluffy and moist, and also strong in flavor and aroma. Lukily it hasn’'t lost all that great flavor.