In November 2011, I ground up some horrible peach-flavor cigars in a mortar. I got them from a friend who worked in a drug store and was throwing them out. The resulting ‘snuff’ was revolting. I added 2% sodium carbonate dissolved in enough water to make the snuff very moist, put it in a glass jar, and forgot about it. One week before the two year anniversary of this experiment, I happened upon the jar in my closet. I decided to leave it one more week before opening it, so it was exactly two years to the day. I opened the jar today. The snuff had turned almost black, and I was hit with a wall of ammonia when I removed the lid. The tobacco was still just as moist as when I put it in the jar, so I guess a lot of fermentation had taken place over those two years. There was not the slightest hint of the peach flavoring, and the snuff now smells peaty and ‘farmyardy’. I just dried it out, and it is now sitting in my ball mill being pulverized to a proper grind. My first attempt at grinding it left it too coarse, because I only had a coffee grinder and mortar and pestle at the time. I’m expecting it to turn out something like a black rappee. When it is pulverized and sifted, I’m going to rehydrate it with 1% of salt dissolved in water. I’m pretty excited to try it, and very happy that I forgot about it long enough to make this a real experiment! I’ll report back…
looking forward to your impressions. Your ball mill–is it a rubber barrel tumbler. like a Lortone, with steel shot or a different animal?
My ‘ball mill’ is actually a Harbor Freight rock tumbler. It has a rubber drum, so it’s pretty quiet. I want to use steel balls as grinding media, but I’m having a little trouble getting hold of some. I can’t find any steel balls in any hardware stores locally, except Ace. They are $0.25 each in Ace, so I decided to pass! They are sold as slingshot ammo, but slingshots are illegal in NY, so I can’t find any of those either. I’ll order some online eventually, but I’m getting along pretty good with an alternative that I thought up- chain. I bought two feet of chunky shot-peened steel chain and scrubbed it thoroughly then boiled it. It works very well, and has the advantage that I can simply pull it out of the drum in one piece rather than messing around with steel balls and magnets. I’m still going to get steel balls though, because I think they will be more efficient and therefore faster.
check out these steel balls (free shipping too!): http://www.ebay.com/itm/100-3-8-inch-Diameter-Carbon-Steel-Bearing-Balls-G40-Ball-Bearings-16348-/400572563865?pt=BI\_Heavy\_Equipment\_Parts&hash=item5d43fc4199 edit: free shipping only Between Wed. Nov. 13 and Fri. Nov. 15 I have no connection with the seller, by the way.
Nice! I’ll have to order some of those, thanks. Well I tried my snuff, and it’s pretty good in a dark, earthy, peaty way. I tend to like floral snuffs that have darker, peaty undertones, so I’ll keep hold of this and try flavoring it with rose or violet or something. I suspect that it is extremely high in nitrosamines though, so it will be a very occasional thing. It’s the first snuff that I have made that actually seems like a commercial snuff, so I’m getting there…