There are few things more pleasurable in life than opening your post box to find not one, but two new snuffs to sample. Last Friday just that happened to me. Two parcel’s: Samuel Gawith Cola and the Abraxas Dragun.
SG Cola: I was pleasantly surprised by this snuff. Medium brown in color and medium fine grind. However, to the touch…wonderfully silky smooth. A perfect moisture balance, no clumping to speak of. Most importantly, there is no mistaking the flavor. It is as cola as cola gets. Distinctive, sweet, without being cloying, and long-lasting. This is definitely one for the collection if you like cola at all, or even if you are a nose-candy kind of snuffer, though it is not as candy-like as many - which to my nose end up smelling a bit fake. That makes them ‘mood’ snuffs for me. This would not be an every day snuff for me, given my tastes, but I could see it becoming a popular snuff in the general market place.
DRAGUN: Nigel was kind enough to send me 2 x 15g jars. I foolishly gave one to Patrick. Ok, he deserves it as much as I do, but the greedy-dave in me surfaced right from the very first sniff. Frankly I am blown away by this snuff. It is seriously the first snuff since Dholakia White hit the scene to be an all day every snuff for me. I have barely had my nose out the jar since Friday afternoon and it is almost gone. This is one to order in bulk (take note Nigel). It is a whole different ball game from Premium and Club. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed these tremendously, but I reckon they are connoisseur snuffs and honestly for all my snuffing over the years, the truth is I am probably not much of a connoisseur considering I rip through about 5 grams of white a day.
Dragun is light brown, fairly fine grind but with enough moisture to keep it from smoking. The smell out the jar is sweet almondy, or possibly even a hint of rose. I was expecting a hit of chili but it is more subtle than that. It does have a mild burn on first big sniff but there is just something deeper about it. I like spicy food it must be said (vindaloo), and this is awesome in the same way. What is really great about it imho is that it is the slow burn. In other words the chili doesn’t come out at first, just like a good curry or chili con carni…. you eat it and go, oh yeah this isn’t too spicy, then after 10 minutes you realise your mouth is on fire and you are sweating like a sweaty thing. Same with Dragun, except the nose version of that.
The flavor lasts, but of course it morphs as the chili kicks in. It never actually burns it just intensifies in a very pleasant way. A friend of a friend told me that as it fades he could swear he smells “Mary d’ya wanna” dance. Of course I wouldn’t know about such things.
It will be interesting to hear others reactions. I gave a jar to Pat and he teared up like he was watching Titanic, then coughed like a madman claiming he swallowed a bit of chili. He liked it a lot though which I suspect is down to the endorphin thing just like spicy food.
In short, this is an outstanding snuff and I will be amazed if it does not do very well in the marketplace amongst snuffers intermediate and up. It is a snuff I do not intend on being without.
Dave