There have been a lot of comments over the years about this snuff, often retorting it is NOT a Kendal Brown, either by geography or by style. I’ve had a tin lurking in the shadows for a long tine, and this morning decided to dig it out and get to know it. Now first of all, this is distinctly different from what you would get from either of the Gawith brands. However… Let’s for a moment focus not on the snuff, but on what the Fribourg and Treyer brand is all about. I believe their purpose was always to produce a more luxurious and pompous snuff, and if I can get away with saying this, a more refined and elaborate snuff than the mass producers of the time. Whether or not you actually prefer the F&T style is personal taste, but lets recognie it for what it is. Now, imagine this snuff had never existed, and you take a sample of Kendal Brown into F&T, and say I want you to produce a version of this snuff in true F&T style… THIS is most certainly the result. Fine silky grind, elaborate tobacco base, and a complexity of scent… but after it has settles down in the nose, I am getting a definite Kendal Brown scent, albeit with a little more pomposity. I like this snuff! I don’t consider it an imposter either, I just consider it Fribourg and Treyer’s velvet jacketted, frilly cuffed version. The KB afterscent lingers well too. Feel free to shoot me down on this guys, but I think this has been a bit overlooked and rather done down by it’s accusations of being an imposter. If you have this in your collection, go take a pinch and savour it for what it is, rather than critique for what it isn’t. Anyone agree?
I’ve never met an F&T I didn’t like. Some are not for everyone, but they are all enjoyable imo.
well said: “go take a pinch and savour it for what it is, rather than critique for what it isnt.” That very true. This took me a long time actually to internalize. And at a risk of appearing haughty, theres indeed some value in the F&T brand. Albeit theres alot written about it being repackaged Sharrow. I cant really say because i havent had the privilege of the original F&T, but there does seem to be extra care taken in the manufacture of it. And of course pinching from those white tins. I touched on this in a thread i wrote about WOS and Toque and how the WOS created a better experience for me that i attribute to something beyond grind and scent; a psychological and physiological interplay that created an velvet F&T “experience”, real or imagined.
Yeah, those tubes are rather odd. I get that they are the modern equivalent of the bottles they used to be sold in, and it does differentiate them from the competition. They are not however not exactly convenient for pocket carry, nor for those of us who prefer to pinch rather than pour or spoon. The tubes are actually easier than most tins for filling a snuffbox from, but how many of their snuffs would actually you want a loaded snuffbox of? Kendal Brown, Santa Domingo, Old Paris, HDT and the two Princes maybe? As for the others, I would suspect most users would take an occasional pinch from. I cannot imagine taking a dozen or more hearty pinches from any of the vibrant florals in one day. I think this one could stand up to that kind of frequency quite well though.
I am agree with you 50ft_trad F&T Kendal Brown is more or less Kendal Brown from Kendal style snuff, but made in pompous way of F&T and their customers of times gone by. For me F&T Kendal Brown compared to Gawith’s Kendal Brown(s) is comparable to a noble man dressed as peasant/game keeper at costume ball to a real dirt common peasant/gamekeeper.
Jack
I have a tin of this snuff, and just by chance, yesterday I opened it, took a couple of pinches. As the scent developed, I thought to myself, “This is pretty damn nice.” So I took a few more little bumps, then put it away.
It turns out SG KB’s, of all types, are some of my mainstay snuffs. I’m never without them. And yet, the F&T is very nice, in an elegant way. I have two special boxes containing all the F and T snuffs. They last me a very long while because they are too “fancy” for my everyday use. The scents are rich and complex, and if I used them too much I’d get an olfactory overload. I don’t care if their version of Kendal Brown is completely different from Sam Gawith’s. I like it on it’s own merit.
@mrmanos I think the floral F&Ts will last me a very long time too, for the same reasons. I too prefer the more subtly scented ones for all day use, and several of them seem to grow with scent intensity on every pinch. Glad to know it’s not just me that sees this as a “valid” Kendal Brown scented snuff. That is, not a Kendal Brown snuff, but a snuff that captures the KB scent.