I cant seem to get all of those undertoning aromas, its just one mixed scent to me. Its good though, but does anyone else have the same issue? Or rather gift, I like it.
I have a hard time picking out a lot of it too so I gave up trying, I just snuff what I like and don’t think about it much. I’m sure many years of smoking has something to do with it.
Some people just don’t have as good a nose as others. I personally can’t smell complex aromas either. Some times you can advance your nasal detection with training but, I have no clue how to do that.
Well, I think that happens specially in the case of better crafted snuffs. For an example, I couldn’t detect any of the scents in Bourdeaux except for a nondescript woodiness and rose/geraniol if it wasn’t for the ingredients listing. The same happens with perfumes: the best are those that blends notes so perfectly that they institute a distinct, personal and easily identifiable smell. When you look for notes from specially trained noses and perfume aficionados it’s a wonderful way to make your nose “clever”, more… analytic. At least, it worked for me! Smelling spices and essential oils by themselves also helps to later identify them as notes from a particular perfume. When I smell my personal snuff blends, I’m always able to tell the different notes, and it is somewhat annoying, as it gives me the sensation that I didn’t get the various differently smelling snuffs to work together. To put it bluntly, I think it happens to everyone and that even the sharpest noses can confuse notes in the very same way that a musician (even a virtuoso with absolute ear) can make errors from time to time. And to keep the analogy rolling: the same way that a person devoid of musical formation can enjoy listening, an untrained nose can enjoy smelling (pleasure is a subjective thing, the way I see things).
I can’t smell them either. I smoked for 20 years though so that may have a lot to do with it.
If you have trouble catching the scent of a snuff, try rubbing a tiny little dab of it onto your gums. Some will reach your tongue and you’ll get the taste. Taste and smell are very closely linked, when you get the taste, you’ll find it easier to identify the scent. I have to say, I think it comes with experience, too. I remember being very disappointed with my first scented Toque snuffs, I could barely catch any of the scents. Now they seem quite strong.
I find the scents can be hugely amplified and clarified by going outdoors shortly after taking the snuff. I do this all the time when I go cycling but you just need to go out. Some of the SWS/Abraxas desert type snuffs work fantastically this way. Try it. You may be amazed.
I lean towards thinking it’s a brain training thing. I smell/taste a lot of different things in snuff, but my brain doesn’t interpret it into specific scents. Same with snus. I can generally pick out a big scent, but the minor, background stuff requires effort and then I don’t enjoy it as much. I have one friend that can almost tell you what region a base tobacco came from, and always can tell you the tobacco variety. Another finds even the smallest hints of flavor and can describe it in detail. When he does I usually get a moment of “oh yeah, that’s what I smelt”. Like I’ve said in several snus reviews I know what I like, but I generally don’t know why. lol
I find the scents can be hugely amplified and clarified by going outdoors shortly after taking the snuff. I do this all the time when I go cycling but you just need to go out. Some of the SWS/Abraxas desert type snuffs work fantastically this way. Try it. You may be amazed.
I go outside after takin a whiff too, makes it so much more enjoyable.
What’s the advantage of going outside?
@JakartaBoy: I don’t know why, but there’s a noticeable difference between snuffing inside and outside. When I take snuff in my house, windows closed, I get an initial blast of strong scent that quickly fades… or seems to fade. If then I open a window or go outside, “hidden” smells seem to be reawaken on a quite strange manner. Sometimes, scents that didn’t seem to be there in the beginning appear out of nowhere. Temperature and humidity also make the experience of taking snuff varying (at least for me), almost as much as taking factory fresh or slightly aged snuff. I think I’ve had read somewhere in the forum that people use to prefer toasts on hot, humid days, for an example. As why does the sense of smell works this bizarre way, I have no freaking clue! 
Thanks. I’m in the tropics, with very high humidity and temperature outside. I try to limit AC to when I sleep, but I notice smells in general are less strong in a cold, airconditioned room. Never really thought about how if affects the snuff experience.
Here the air outside is pretty fresh and I think that’s all it is really. F&T’s are really crazy when you try it with those. I did find one that doesn’t work so well though. My Havana Toast/Latakia blend has a bit of a strong cat’s piss aroma when outdoors so I don’t do that anymore. I really thought the local cat that calls in sometimes had sprayed my top and that everyone could smell it off me until I realised it was the snuff. It’s purely for indoors now where this effect does not happen.
Interesting. I have never had that happen @I_snuff_therefore___. I often take Havana Toast outside and, at work where it is even more humid.
If my cat pissed in my Havana Toast she’d be an ex cat. Deceased. Pushing up the daisies. Bereft of life. Drawn the curtain and joined the choir invisible.
I just love the way @chefdaniel puts words together.
It reminded me something John Cleese said. I forgot the words though.
I have the same problem with Aftershaves. Most of the talk about Base tones and the like is lost on me. With snuff the main scents that I pick up are the ones that I can taste, ex lemon etc.
Interesting. I have never had that happen @I_snuff_therefore___. I often take Havana Toast outside and, at work where it is even more humid.
Be glad! I was in an office with the windows open also that day after being outside and I thought it was coming from the people around me who maybe were not to hygenic? and then I was cycling along again outside and I thought it was something that the local farmers had sprayed onto the fields. It was in the library (this is gettting like Cludo) that I thought the smell was coming from me and my shirt top. Took me a while to twig it was the snuff as I never had that happen before. Maybe it’s something to do with the added Latakia but I never get it indoors or since as I always take something else for outdoors now. It’s probably just whatever way the amonia in it is working as the snuff is still fairly fresh but the ammonia not very strong so it only became more noticable in the fresher (non-humid) air. Won’t stop me using it as it’s to nice but it won’t be my first choice for when I go out. I must appologise to the cat but I’m sure it won’t care, to busy trying to murder all the local birds. Luckily I didn’t follow the @chefdaniel course of action. His cat must be a bit nervous! Just one snuff with to much ammonia and it’s goodbye cat! It was the dead parrot scene I think in Monty Python. The Chefdaniel scene would have been even funnier.
My nose has improved with practice over a year. I can pick up scents not detected in the same snuff a year ago. Been outdoors in clement weather helps as does snuffing during a hike as the nose opens up more.