Hi Last month I bought approx 30 WoS snuffs and I can honestly say I like them all. Some more than others, obviously, but there isn’t one I actually dislike. I now want their whole range lol What do you think of WoS? Also which are your favorite WoS’s?
I’m a big fan of WoS, but I have to admit I’ve encountered one or two of their flavors I didn’t care for. WoS Jockey Club comes to mind. I wasn’t terribly impressed with their French Carotte, either. Even though the F&T brand is also made by Wilson’s, F&T French Carotte is far superior to the WoS version, IMO. There are also a couple varieties I would never buy just because they contain flavors I don’t like, such as anise. Some of my favorite WoS flavors are Honey Menthol, Strasbourg, Crumbs of Comfort, and Grand Cairo. But there are still quite a few WoS varieties I haven’t tried yet.
Every one of them are bad. They are in fact, so bad, that I would let anyone send me all their Wilson’s so I can dispose of them. PM me for my address.
Very few Wilsons of Sharrow snuffs appeal to me, but those that do are bought by the lb or half-lb. Their version of Princes is very good value for money - as is their ancient flagship S.P range for which Sheffield snuff is best known. Best Dark, although quite rich, is well-balanced for a scented offering, and easy to take in vast quantities. Long ago, when I visited the Sharrow mill, the two flavours that stuck in my olfactory memory were the pure Chinese menthol crystals (eye wateringly powerful as they are crushed on site), and the much more pleasant pear/orange aroma of Italian bergamot. The latter (which is often blended with lavender) flavours a number of their snuffs, and I’ve never since been able to disassociate bergamot from Sharrow mill as the prevailing ambient aroma. (Regrettably the once publicised tours are no longer available, and the Westbrook mill of the other Wilsons (J&H) has been converted into offices.) I wish Sharrow (as well as other companies) would produce more single base or blended snuffs, deriving pungency and flavour solely from unscented tobacco(s) - instead of those foul perfumed or medicated snuffs. Sharrow manufactured a very good Latakia snuff called Cyprus in the late 1970s, as well as blended unscented S.P. Now the field is limited to #22 - fortunately one of the finest unscented snuffs available. All the rest of their snuffs, while not exactly bad, are simply uninteresting. (Samuel Gawith still offer genuine variety). BTW - Don’t accept Kendal Brown from Wilsons or F&T as the genuine article. Only the two remaining Kendal companies (Samuel Gawith and Gawith Hoggarth) make the real stuff.
22 and Tom Buck are definitely my favorite WoS.
Best S.P. and 22 are my current bulk snuffs and they really are back-to-basics all-time greats. All WoS snuffs I’ve tried have been good, medicated are too strong for my taste but haven’t tried SM Blue, which many people like. I agree with PhilipS that Samuel Gawith has better range of snuffs in theory, but Wilsons runs much better shop and customers actually can get their products.
@AllanH: If the other medicated snuffs are too strong don’t bother with SM Blue. It is powerful. The Honey Menthol is milder.
Like Philip I tend to stay away from the scented snuffs and I can’t stand spearmint at any price (no CoC for me), but their No. 22 IHT is superb and I always have that, Best SP and Princes on hand. The other SPs are also good and I am rather partial to Camphor & Mild.
The French Carrotte is about as repulsive as they come, in my (perhaps limited) experience. I have fairly diverse tastes, but this stuff is like a whore’s handbag, and has a horrible soapy thing going on when it hits the back of your throat. I’ve had the tiniest tin of it for a couple of years now, keep trying it but it’s still like pouring the blended contents of a perfumery into my snout. What does it have to do with carrottes either? “carotte essence” doesn’t sound like it bears any relation to tightly rolled sticks of mature tobacco leaf. Utter filth either way. Is the F & T one similar? However, the rest of their snuffs are very pleasant.
I recently got a tube of F&T’s French Carotte and it’s pretty sweet but I love it. I’ve never tried the WoS version. I think my most-used WoS is Chocolate Orange, which I’d love to buy in bulk somewhere (any ideas? Mr Snuff doesn’t have that one, must be the only one Dave doesn’t stock). I started out on WoS Apricot which I still take from time to time. It’s satisfying for me. I use No 22 and Sandalwood a lot too. Haven’t tried their whole line by a long shot. @Steerpike, did you take your user name from the wonderful Titus Groan stories?
Yes indeed I did. The Gormenghast novels are some of my favorite books.
@ddavelarsen: You can buy WoS bulk directly from WoS here: http://sharrowmills-online.com/snuff.html
@n9inchnails – righteous! Thank you so much.
I’ve tried nearly all the Wilsons range, and although I understand the critisisms, I have to consider myself a great fan of their snuffs. There are 4 or 5 (out of about 70) that I think are pretty poor. Vanilla is one, Tangerine is another. I have nothing against those flavors in particular, but something about the two of them rubs me the wrong way. I also avoid the Chocolate Orange, Jasmine, the coffee ones, most of the menthols, and the non-tobacco ones. Other brands do superior French Carotte, Kendal Brown, and Morlaix. Absolutley fabulous are Grand Cairo, Camphor & Mild, Strasbourg, the 4 toasts, and the 7 or 8 various SPs, and the various herbal scented ones. They also do an admirable range of fruit and flower scents (with a few exceptions) something that Samuel Gawith is piss poor at doing.
Yes, they do! But then they make so many great snuffs to make up for it!
No Snuff Miller will intentionally make a bad snuff. Our noes’s are all different. What is good for one noes, does not do it for the next. If we all liked the same snuffs, then there would not be the great range of flavours.
I must say, that I do not think there is a WoS snuff that I don’t like. I’m trying to work my way through their entire range and thus far, I am doing rather well. The only problem I have is that, my nose doesn’t like the menthols simply because they block me up! The real kick in the teeth is that, they smell incredible. Still, I would recommend WoS to everyone and anyone. Brilliant snuff makers. Jonathan.
The only one I’ve come across that I disliked (it wasn’t really disgusting either) was their Gold Label as I understand though I may have suffered from a “dusty” tin if you click on my profile you will find the related thread.
Jockey Club and Royal George belong in the dust bin. Yack!
I love Gold Label! Fabulous SP! Jockey Club and Royal George are good too, when the mood is right. I can’t say the same for the GH and SG Jockey Clubs.