I’m a v. unexperienced snuffer who just got my 2nd order of snuff, which included Snuffstores Café Noire. My expectations were sky high, but god damn was i disapointed. To me, CN smells nothing like coffee, but rather reminds me of smoked sausage. Nothing inherently wrong with smoked sausage, but it just ain’t coffee. From what I understand CN is a very appreciated snuff, and I’m just writing this post to see if there are more disappointed snuffers out there.
I’ll be happy to take it off your hands. Coffee is one of the toughest scents/flavors to capture in snuff. Abraxas Cafe 11 is the very best IMHO, and worth every penny. You might look at WOW Coffee Bite, SG Black Coffee (very similar to Cafe Noir, so YMMV), or one of WoS two coffee snuffs to find your favorite.
Hehe. I am not sure I want to give it away just yet. It’s not unpleasant (I think :s). Maybe it’s an unfair comparison, but i also got the WOW Coconut toffee which was more coconutty than most coconuts! Do all coffee snuffs have just subtle hints of the good stuff at best or are there snuffs that are the coffee equivalent of WOW CT?
@Bastu give their Coffee Bite a try. I think you’ll like it.
@lunecat I get a hint of something “funky” in Fugazi. I can’t put my finger on what it is, but it’s weird. The coffee is good, but that moldy gym sock thing makes it tough to take. I’ve a fresh tin on order to make a comparison. FUBAR is not known for consistency as fans of the old Grunt can attest. UPDATE: Fresh tin of FUGAZI Black Joe opened an hour ago to air out. Nice big pinch. Fresh. Still funky. Not bad, just something there that doesn’t enhance the weed or the coffee. I’ll finish it, but that’s the last one I’ll buy.
Bringing it back to the Snuffstore CN: do you guys smell the coffee in it, or do you enjoy it for other reasons? I mean, the reason it’s so popular might have nothing to do with the coffee. Is that hypothesis true?
I definitely get the smell of fresh ground coffee in it, same as SG Black Coffee but it is not overwhelming at all. I like that it seems to be on the Viking Dark/Silky Dark tobacco base, it reminds me of a pot of freshly ground coffee being made on a wood stove.
@Bastu I am a regular with SG Black Coffee, and Cafe Noir reminds me of that snuff with some very subtle differences. I’m not certain, but to my nose, SG Black Coffee, SS Cafe Noir and Viking Dark have a lot in common, with the obvious exception of VD not having any coffee whatsoever. I like all three for what they are, not what I wish they were. As I mentioned earlier, Abraxas makes the finest coffee snuff ever with Cafe 11 IMHO. For me it’s an occasional indulgence…like when I’m alone or with someone 
@chefdaniel I agree CafeNoir and SG Black Coffee are pretty much indistinguishable, I must try some Cafe 11 sometime
Coffee is one of the toughest scents/flavors to capture in snuff.
In your experience, why do you think that’s so? In my mind (as someone who’s never even TOYED with the idea of blending his own snuff), I would think the dark, roasty, toasty notes of black coffee would take to tobacco fairly easily. I’ve always wondered by coffee scented snuffs are (imo) quite good, but not as coffee-y as I might prefer.
@idbowman I think it is oxidation. It doesn’t take much oxygen for coffee to take on a stale, diminished scent because those compounds are oils; it’s a form of accelerated rancidity. Think of the difference in aroma between freshly ground coffee beans and previously ground coffee that’s had some air around it. Not even close to the same scent. Naturally derived, steam distilled coffee essential oil is absurdly expensive, and it goes to hell in a matter of hours when exposed to air. I am currently working on a derivative; roasted coffee beans and clarified butter in a canning jar, cooked in a pressure canner to create a vacuum, heat things up a bit and let the oils have a lovely romance without any air. I honestly don’t hold high hopes for the experiment, I think that once things are settled it will be wonderful. For about ten minutes. Then the air will do it’s dirty work. I’ve done other experiments with 190 proof grain alcohol and damned near blew up the house, so won’t be trying that again anytime soon. Water extractions, seriously reduced, showed some promise, but also have an affinity to mold. There are sorbate salts that will inhibit mold, but I’m not interested in putting that shit up my nose. For Fleur de Cafe, which took two years of aging, I packed freshly roasted espresso beans in with the tobaccos, aged it under pressure in an air restricted environment, turning once a week, until the weed took on a coffee scent. I added a topping of concentrated alcohol extraction/infusion of freshly roasted espresso beans and that has worked somewhat. It’s still good, but only a shadow of when it was fresh. I love a challenge so will continue to work on the project. I just wonder how G. Smith & Sons made Cafe Royale. My favorite snuff of all time and my Holy Grail in making my own snuff. Cheers
@chefdaniel What a fantastic explanation. So if I understand you correctly, there is a complex but achievable formula for a satisfying coffee-scented snuff…the problem primarily lies in the impermanence of the scent? So - to oversimplify - the choice becomes either an imperfect-but-serviceable scent that doesn’t diminish immediately upon opening, or a truly amazing product that may not be commercially viable due it’s short shelf life?
@idbowman Bingo! I just need to pursue the solution to the compromise and find that achievable formula. When, or if, I do find that Holy Grail there will be a new coffee snuff offering, most likely right here on Snuffhouse. Time will tell. Thank you for your kind comments. Cheers
I wonder if the answer may be a bit out of the box, with roasted grains instead. I know in my brewing I experimented quite heavily for a while with over roasting different malts to get different smokey profiles - a few were best described as " coffee".
@chefdaniel How does G. Smith & Sons original Cafe Royale compare to the Covent cafe royale still available ? I have only tried the Covent cafe Royale which is wonderful … though have to say I am typing this with nostrils full of the wonderful Fleur de Cafe
@Derek_007 They are very close, but the original has a mysterious liqueur background that I don’t find in the Covent version…which is damn good, and I need to get more! Both excellent with some minor differences. I neglected to mention Covent in my prior posts on this thread. My bad. A top notch coffee snuff.
@chefdaniel Where do you I get the original ? I also love the covent Cafe Royale (made by GH, or WoS as I recall. though they never returned my emails ) In London again next month so I feel a homage to 27a the market covent Garden is in order
@Derek_007 G. Smith & Sons Cafe Royal is now Unobtanium. I still have a few grams in a mason jar from the eighties that I spoon up on very rare occasions. It is a long lost ultimate snuff. RIP.
The current version of Covent Cafe Royale is made by GH’s. As far as I know; G. Smiths used to utilise either WoS or GH’s to blend their recipes dependant on the time period, price et al. I had a chat with the proprietor at Covent about this subject and he said that the current one by GH’s is exactly the same as the one formerly supplied by G. Smiths [though maybe not identical WoS version]. According to him the recipies from G. Smith were not copyrighted, merely the names, hence the change in spelling from Smiths Cafe Royal to Covent Royale, and likewise George IV became King George.
@MisterPaul You are one of the few that remembers G Smith’s as being Cafe Royal and not Royale. I’m pretty sure, not 100% certain, that G Smith also used S. Gawith for a few snuffs. I could be full of crap, too. I don’t know of a GH snuff under their label that is close to either Royal or Royale. I do know that I like the Covent version very much and hope to get more soon. My supply of the original G Smith’s is dwindling faster than I’d prefer. The subtle differences between the two are likely due to age. The Smith’s is over 30 years old.