Hello, all. My name is Roger and I’ve been a dedicated tobacco fiend for the majority of my life. I started smoking cigarettes at a young age, then cigars, then a pipe, moved on to snus then got really big into electronic cigarettes which changed my smoking from “mandatory” to “recreational”. Once I got the addiction to smoking under control I found that I could enjoy it all much more for what it is. I don’t smoke a pack or two a day anymore. I only smoke when I can sit back and enjoy the process. I don’t smoke to relax anymore, I smoke while I’m relaxing.
So with that lengthy introduction out of the way, I have recently discovered snuff and to be honest… I kind of hate it. I WANT to love it. And I think I CAN love it with the proper guidance. I live in rural Arkansas so the only local access I have to snuff is the occasional tobacco store that carries the American Scotch snuffs. I’ve tried two of them; WE Garrett and Dental Sweet Snuff. I enjoyed them equally, which is to say I didn’t enjoy them a great deal. So i did some research; read a lot of web postings, watched YouTube videos (Specifically SnuffBegins), and have read anything I could find about it. I corrected a few errors which made the process a bit more enjoyable. I think my issue now is the snuff I’m using. I just don’t care for it much.
So earlier today I got on Mr. Snuff and tried to make an order. Not knowing what type I would enjoy, I picked a few random ones I had seen suggested for beginners (Viking Blonde, Poschl President, Toque SP Extra, etc.) and attempted to order. Due to some unfortunate issues with my credit card I was not able to place the order. However, I think this may be a blessing in disguise. I really don’t want to order just a few random types at quantity and hope for the best. But in looking around I did not see anywhere that sold small samples of various styles. The closest I found were the 1g Toque Bullets which might be my best route.
Any suggestions on shopping for a new guy that has no idea what he is going to like? If a random grab at Mr. Snuff is my best bet I will certainly go that route once I get the address issue with my card taken care of tomorrow.
(Viking Blonde, Poschl President, Toque SP Extra, etc.) would be a good start, got to start somewhere. There is a huge variety and until you give it a go there’s little to ponder.
Everyone’s tastes and noses are so different, it is hard to say. For instance, one of my favorite snuffs is an American scotch, namely WE Garrett’s Sweet Mild Snuff. I’m not a fan of the Garrett’s Scotch (the non-sweet one), but the Sweet is something I use a lot of every day.
You won’t really know what you like, until you’ve tried some. And some of your favorites, others may hate. Some of the one’s you hate, will be other’s favorites. So…enjoy the experimentation, and I hope you find one that you really like.
Welcome @gemini2281 ! It’s sounds like you are doing all the right things - exploring the various websites and videos to learn the basics and then asking more questions to fill in the gaps. Unfortunately the answer to your main question regarding what snuff you are going to like can only be answered by … YOU. Just like any other consumable product, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. It’s why manufacturers give us hundreds of choices.
Some general suggestions could be made, but it would be best that you provided more info on your own preferences. What cigars and pipe tobaccos do you like? What factors caused your to hate the snuff you tried so far? ( I haven’t had any American Scotches, but do hear they are not kind to beginners due to their dry and powdery grind levels.)
For variety Mr Snuff does sell bundles. They also sell assortments within certain brands (McChrystal’s, Wilsons of Sharrow). You could also go directly to the Toque Snuff website and order a sampler of 10g tins.
No need to apologize - I personally like hearing about newbie’s experiences, because I’m still kinda one myself. I think if you want to love it, and you get the Mr. Snuff thing down, you’re bound to find some snuff that you love. I was kind of the same way… wanted to love snuff but only thought it was alright. I think it was my third order of random snuff that happened to have the ideal snuff for me, and I was like YES! (it included Samuel Gawith Firedance, 6 Photo Kailash, and Fribourg & Treyer High Dry Toast. These made me pretty excited.)
Another thing I do is pay attention to snuffs that frequently pop up on the “What’s in Your Nose?” thread. For me, that has been a good way to go about trying snuffs, but like they say, YMMV. A ton of people love SP Extra, but not I. Probably because that was my first Toque, and I took it like it was Viking Blonde, and ouch. I think Viking Dark is just as easy to take as Viking Blonde, and more people seem to prefer Viking Dark. Old Mill snuffs are pretty cool. I could go on… Good luck!
First off, welcome @gemini2281 =D> As @spyder said, tastes are all different, and there is no telling what you would end up liking. If you place an order, make sure to order at least one of each “variety”. But even then, there’s no guarantee that if you don’t like THAT snuff, you won’t like another in the same category. Here is a list of my favorite of each category. Remember though, as has already been said, YRMV. Toast- Wilsons of Sharrow Irish High Toast no22 SP- Wilsons of Sharrow Best SP Medicated- No idea, the only medicated I’ve liked so far (Dholakia Medicated no10, is not on the market yet) Natural- Samuel Gawith Blue Crest Rappee- Viking Brown (I don’t think they actually call this a Rappee, but to me the flavor is almost identical to London Brown, with an easier to take grind and moisture level). Fruit/Dessert- Anything by Toque that looks good to you. Toque rocks the casbah on sweet and fruity snuffs. Schmalzler- Bernards Aecht Altbayerischer Indians- I would recommend staying away from the “whites” for now (Dholakia White, 6 Photo Cheeta, 41 Photo White Elephant), especially if American Scotch isn’t appealing to you. I would highly recommend trying 6 Photo Kailash, though. It smells like incense, and I’ve found it to be a very relaxing bedtime snuff. Complex- Check out Old Mill. You won’t find it on MrSnuff. Ask around (or PM me) for details onn how to order. He processes and ships from Tennessee.
Thank you for all of the great information, everyone!
It appears the issue with Mr. Snuff is not yet resolved after updating my billing addresses. I’ve got an email in to them for assistance so we’ll see how it goes.
Since I’m a horribly impatient person I orders the bullet sampler from Toque just to get started. I ordered Espresso, Menthol, Original, Peppermint, Quit, and SP Extra. Hopefully this will hold me over until I can get an order placed with Mr. Snuff for a bigger variety.
Roger You can order directly from Toque the shipping seems better for some odd reason. http://www.toquesnuff.com/ You can also order direct from http://www.snuifmolenswebshop.nl/. For there snuffs and ground spices for the misses. You can be sure it is fresh.Not that MS snuff is old and he does have the largest selection.But sometimes product don’t move very fast. My favorites from Toque are Almond Toast,Toque USA Whiskey & Honey and Spanish Gem to name a few.
Enjoy your adventure in our wonderful world full of snuff. It took me a while to discover the range of exotic Indian snuffs and now they make up the majority of my daily use.
I love Mr Snuff for their variety, I placed my first snuff order from them two weeks ago and today I’ve already ordered again an order twice as big. I go to them because I prefer quality. I too couldn’t place the order online because I use a debit card, they give you a number to call which is based out of new York, it’s super easy to call and finish the order, the lady I’ve gotten both times now is very polite. I still prefer to set up the order on the site and since I know it won’t take my card I just select pay by phone than call. Easy as that.
As to being new, I’m new myself and I’m finding after a week of use my nose is adapting quickly to being a snuff nose and technique is getting easier. I was a little disappointed in my first order because I need more nicotine, I went careful with my first order to get medium levels since I was trying it out, but I really need high levels… I spent seventeen years smoking a pack+ a day cigarettes and quit moving onto premium cigars which I can smoke 4-8 in a day and be just ducky, so I really need more nicotine to be pleased. My first order I got some high dry toast, viking Brown, sws border rapee, two German smalzlers. I usually take a bullet of the viking Brown with me to work and a bullet of toast… The brown has been my go too all day and I find the toast dries me up if I get a runny nose. In my newest order I grabbed viking thor’s hammer, I’m expecting that will have the higher nicotine I need over the brown, also some toque quit and some sp’s. The German Bernard’s are very heavy, like a dessert to me, I ordered three more kinds those and the sir Walter Scott’s I prefer a few pinches at the end of a day over a nice drink hope my info helps and welcome to the snuff world too! I mostly stick with English and German snuff because I want really really quality tobacco, because I enjoy very premium hand rolled cigars.
@basement_shaman, that is what I did to order the bullets. My payment went through there without issue. I’ll try the paying over the phone thing with Mr Snuff right now. I had seen the option but it didn’t even cross my mind to use it. Thanks!
@Dctjr80, I will check out the English and German snuff as well. I do love good cigars and English pipe tobacco very much! If I could find a Latakia snuff, I would be in heaven!
Thanks to @Dctjr80’s suggestion, I just got off the phone with Mr. Snuff and my order will be on it’s way soon. Here is what I picked up:
Viking Blonde 25g
Wilsons Prime Minister 10g
Ozona President 7g
Wilsons Tom Buck Extra Strong SP 5g
Toque SP Extra Bullet 1g
Toque Peppermint Bullet 1g
Toque Whisky and Honey Bullet 1g
Toque Raspberry Menthol Bullet 1g
Toque Christmas Pudding Bullet 1g
They had some of the Toque bullets on sale for 99 cents so I figured I’d pick up a few. This, along with my Toque order, should be a decent bit of a start.
Thanks again to everyone for all of the help and suggestions. I’m really glad I found this site!
Also of note, I never take the pinch directly from my bullets, I dump it into my boxcar and take it that way. Following the method I read on here to take a deep breath and hold it while taking a small whiff over the pinch so that it doesn’t go too far back into the nose.
I found great cheap deals on clear bullets off eBay.
Live and learn As I stated, being so new I definitely didn’t pick out the snuffs I’d enjoy the most my first order, I still happy with them and at least snuff is cheap enough I didn’t mind putting together a second order only a week later way more geared to my specific tastes. Definitely loving it though and it’s already helped me decrease my cigar use which was my main goal… Hopefully with stronger snuff it’ll all work out lol
hope my info helps and welcome to the snuff world too! I mostly stick with English and German snuff because I want really really quality tobacco, because I enjoy very premium hand rolled cigars.