First Impressions...

Types of Snuff and Reviews
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You all will have to forgive me for doing this.   Truly, this is not an “official” snuff review, but impressions of a novice.  There didn’t seem to be a better way or place to do this, so I’ll take a risk at being bothersome by rambling on here.  

Today, the padded envelope came from MrSnuff, and I had to dive right in.  My experience so far has been some mediocre trial-by-tears with the Silver Dollar line, which seems all fine and dandy, but not quite what I was looking for.  As minty/mentholy/medicated-y snuff isn’t really my forte (and the only lines my shop carries, at least until the next two weeks, here I am, jumping feet-first:

Samuel Gawith Irish D Light – Powdery, complex, not particularly spicy, unusual background sweet floral notes with a nice lingering finish of something like allspice.  It has a bread-like quality intermixed.   I’m pretty sure I fell in love with this stuff.  Light, but not weak. 

Wilsons Cola – I admit, I like the cola flavors.  Why, I’m not sure, as the fruity flavors aren’t really my thing.   For some reason, it works.  The cola is a second-fiddle playing, and it’s a nice, mild snuff.  Something I’d enjoy while out tipping back a few drams.  Not overpoweringly cloying, good fresh finish, does not stick around for long nor does it fatigue the nasal passages or olfactory.   Good for multiple doses over time!

Wilsons Irish High Toast 22 – The descriptions of this intrigued me, but I wasn’t hugely impressed.  It’s strong, spicy, has a fresh-cut pine kind of quality to it.  The smell in the tin is misleading–toasty, but it didn’t come through so much for me.   Pretty strong nic-kick.

Wilsons Sherry –  Interesting experience.  I guess it’s sherry-like, but as I like actual Spanish sherry now and again, this had a salty quality, and while not unpleasant, made me wonder if they used cooking sherry (typically salted) or something else?   I’m going to have to give this one a few more goes.

Wilsons Whisky –  It’s very similar to cola but without the signature cola taste.  I liked it.  Mild and has a good mid-tobacco flavor to it.  

Samuel Gawith Blue Crest – Barnyard flavor ahoy!  I hate the term “earthy,” unless that earthiness is due to being below a rabbit hutch or a goat stall.  Has a fantastic matured and pressed, fermented note to it. 

Samuel Gawith Kendal Brown Original – Very strong in the darker tobacco realm.  Thick, molasses-like but not sweet at all.  Dense and pleasant, black pepper and dark rum?   It’s got a kick to it.

Samuel Gawith Sg Cola – An interesting comparison to the Wilson’s stuff-- the cola is boom, right up front, and somehow they achieved an almost carbonated, effervescent feeling.  The cola, while strong at first, dissipates quickly and makes way for what I swear is a red Virginia mellowness.  I’m gonna like this one.

Viking Thor’s Hammer – Oi!  What a punch!  I was looking for something Latakia-esque, fire-cured-ish, and this one hit the mark.  It’s bold as hell, smells like potting soil and chewing tobacco, and would wake the dead if they could sniff it.  Practically sobering.

In closing, I had a great time dabbling in my new snuff today.   Friends came by, shared with me, we were blown away, either in flavor, occasional sneezing or wondering if our noses would start bleeding.   Happiness all around.   Again, my apologies with the lack of experience or if I’m totally off the mark.   Simply getting used to the moister, more dense/crumbly stuff versus the light, flour-like and drier stuff took some getting used to.  As a pipe guy, I can find a lot in my tobacco (I don’t smoke aromatics–not into sweet stuff usually), and I enjoy tobacco being just that–tobacco.  

What a fun time!   More will be ordered!   Based on my experiences thus far, suggestions of stuff to try are very, very welcome.

B-)

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Crickets chirping–noted. 

I guess I have to find out where traffic merges and at what speed around here.  

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There’s a kind of maxim that pipe smokers have – that all roads lead to Virginia. I think that for snuffer a similar thing kind of holds true. As a novice one needs to snuff the hell out of the flavored products until one starts to discern the more subtle aspects. I think for example that given time, the D Light and the IHT no 22 might become your top favorites, but time’s the real bastard here. Like telling a college kid that Sinatra has merit.It really does take time to get beyond to gaudy stuff and single out the virtues of the stuff that matters.

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I’ve heard that old pipe-dude’s saw.  It’s pretty cliche, but a true one, I have to admit.  I smoked about two ounces of aromatics before I discovered Union Square ala GL Pease.   It was all downhill after that. 

Much like my interest in pipe tobacco, I don’t like the sweet crap.  Which is why the cola shocked me, that ain’t my style.  I’m much more pleased with the barn yard decomposed Blue Crest and the smoky Thor’s Hammer for the chunky rough-stuff and Irish D was a delicate and complex masterpiece.

The IHT 22 is going to need some time.  

As for the cola?  Who knows.  Might be a phase, but it’s really good while at the bar knockin’ back a neat rye.  The mixture gives me a kind of weird nostalgia that I can’t put my finger on.  Which is odd, because I f**king hate soda pop.   :laugh:

The journey is going to be fascinating. 

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Bloddy hell mates! All roads lead to Kentucky Burley! :slight_smile:

Sam Gawith’s Kendal Browns? Out of this world!

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Kendal Brown Original.   I think my nose started bleeding after diving in to too much Thor’s Hammer before I got a chance to overdose on that stuff.   Fortunately, there’s always tomorrow.   :lol:

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@KyleWeiss - I seem to prefer the more natural tobacco snuffs, especially from the several, amazingly talented artisan makers, but damn! SG Cola is one of those from let field for me that I will always have on hand…and your description about carbonated effervescent feeling is spot on. It was an early snuff for me that got me hooked, so nostalgic for me, also…even though it’s only been 6 months. One becomes experienced fast through Snuff Acquisition Disorder.

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I missed this before:

“Wilsons Irish High Toast 22 – The descriptions of this intrigued me, but I wasn’t hugely impressed.  It’s strong, spicy, has a fresh-cut pine kind of quality to it.”

I would guess what you’re smelling is the ammonia produced as a byproduct of making the snuff. Anything you get direct from Wilsons is going to be very fresh. I don’t know how much turnover the shops that sell Wilsons are doing. Bottom line, fresh snuff needs some airing out. If it doesn’t smell like a toast now it’s too fresh (unless it’s really old, which is possible but doubtful.) Give it a month or so in your drawer and I would bet money the spicy fresh cut pine quality you mentioned will be totally gone. That’s for a tin you leave closed after opening it a few times. I have no idea how long sealed tins take to calm down, and I wouldn’t recommend leaving them open because once snuff dries out it is never as good. Toasts do better than other styles in that regard but they’re still better kept sealed.

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@Trackerdex  –  Yeah, there’s something about the dark, horse-mucking smell of the pressed/fermented tobaccos.  Sometimes there’s a little extra touch that really makes the difference.  Then again, I’ve discovered it’s quite easy to both screw up and truly enhance snuff by mixing a little here, a little there–fortunately, working in small batches.   The SG Cola is pretty nifty.  I’ve found I can’t do it all the time, but it’s lovely. 

@Snuffbox – At our shop, we get our snuff from a distributor that doesn’t sell a lot of snuff.  At times, the Wilson tins are rusted shut, or worse, have rusted holes through them.   It’s a shame, really.  On a related note, there’s been talk with pipe tobacco that’s been sealed (especially for a long time that’s been aging in an anaerobic environment) that once opened, it needs to “gas out” for at least a day or two.  Sometimes a week.  As it re-oxegenates, it takes on a more true flavor that one would expect.  I can’t be 100% sure that’s what is happening with the pipe tobacco, it’s merely hearsay from experts that I’m parroting, but I wouldn’t doubt for one moment that the same thing happens to some degree with snuff.  With pipe tobacco, once the tin seal has been broken, even if re-capped, it will still be mostly, but not entirely sealed.  If the same holds true for snuff, I’m sure the open (yet lidded) snuff might have a chance to balance out, too.  Irish Toast smells simply divine, and boy would I love it to do the same thing in my nostrils.   Excellent suggestion and tips there, thank you.   Make sense to me!

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@KyleWeiss hope it works out for you. IHT 22 is a seriously good toast.

Stale snuff is worthless but unflavored toasts are an exception. I hope you get to try some snuff fresh from the mills because that is really where it’s at. My first snuff order was from a shop in NY (there is a thread here from me from 2008) and it was a disaster. If I would have quit then and not bought directly from Toque, Wilsons, De Kralingse, Samuel Gawith, etc. I would have never continued snuffing. If that’s what people buying from retailers are up against the manufacturers should be raising hell.

Sounds like your distributor needs a serious butt-kicking. They should be trashing snuff after some period and not passing the problem along to their retailers. If the can is in that kind of condition somebody has a lot of explaining to do. There is a definitely shelf life to most snuffs no matter what anybody says. I mean, I would trust what the manufacturer says but I wouldn’t trust anybody else. Trust your nose! Good luck and keep us updated.

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@Snuffbox, it’s a rather frustrating thing, to be honest.  It’s my assumption they (our distributor) is simply not rotating or selling stock as they should, nor checking it when it goes out.  

The good news is, we are in talks to see if MrSnuff (the outfit that redirects snuff from UK, based in NY) will act as our distributor.  Of course, direct, domestic online sales are not possible, but perhaps at least our shop can carry them and provide our growing snuff customer base with better, fresher products.   We’ll try, anyway.

Meanwhile, I have another order arriving soon–I’ll post another spread of my impressions.  We’re planning on having an impromptu snuff party with the co-workers and snuff appreciators when those arrive. 

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KyleWeiss you like dark, horse-mucking smell of the pressed/fermented tobaccos ,Then you should try South African Taxi Red . It course, dark, moist and right up you alley. It is also one high in Vitamin N. The Taxi Blue is about the same.

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@kyleweiss good luck and hope it all works out for you

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@kyleweiss  HOLY CRAP YOU’RE ALIVE AND YOU’RE HERE NOW!!!

I hope you’ve been well, buddy.
Unless you’re not the KW I know from another board, a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…in which case, I’ll slink back into my hole like nothing ever happened.

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@idbowman – …of course it’s me.   There is only one Kyle Weiss this insane, wordy and in love with tobacco.  Good to see ya, Brother.   Don’t tell the BoB boys I’m here.  It’s likely to cause a riot.  :P  I need to learn more about snuff, and this seemed like the place. 

@basement_shaman – Sounds good.  Gonna have to wait as the Royal Mail just hit the shop from the UK and my snuff buying might have to take a pause as my wallet recuperates.  Until I find a snuff called “Charlotte’s Web” that smells like a pig sty on an old farm or “Feedlot Jubilee” I suppose these will have to do.  

That all said, until I give a full list if the second impressions, let’s just say that Toque is now on my radar.  Almond Toast is just as pleasant and genre-similar to SG’s Irish D Light (in my book, anyway–what do I know?), but I am going to have to get to know it better.  It’s complex as hell.  On the other end of the spectrum, I had to get the Peanut Butter, and Toque ain’t no liar, it seems–it’s like snorting peanut butter.  Whether or not I’ll do it again with some Blueberry flavored something and a toast… at least have something resembling a schoolchild’s lunch.     

:smiley:

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@KyleWeiss Peanut Butter mixes well with Chocolate.

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@KyleWeiss in your review of the Gawith Cola are you referring to the grey tap box made by Poschl? The Poschl/ Gawith Cola is the only cola snuff I have tried and I like it a lot. I just wish they had it available in a larger size.

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@willc  …No, I was referring to the Samuel Gawith Cola.  I did, however, try the Poschl Cola in the grey tap box recently as I got it in my recent order.  It was slated as non-menthol according to the MrSnuff descriptor, however, I missed the review on it that did mention it was slightly mentholated.  I ended up finding it a bit too overwhelming and gave the contents to a chap at my store who rather liked it.  I kept the plastic box, though, it’s pretty cool!