I have some exciting news. Tomorrow or the next day we will receive two new flavors of F&T. To get some idea of what we are in for, I scrolled through my old files and found an article called “Behind the Bow Windows”. This little pamphlet lists 24 flavors of F&T. As most of you know, until now there have only been 13 available. The new flavors are Bureau and Patchouli. I have put the article (pdf) up on the website in case you are interested. Just go to the homepage: http://mrsnuff.com/index.htm and at the top of the main body you will see a link. Click the link and take a look at the all to brief descriptions of the snuffs in question. Interesting, especially Bureau, imho. I also put a link to an out of print book, privately published in 1921 by David MacBeth called “An Old Snuff House 1720 1920 Fribourg and Treyer”. There are some great pictures of the old shop inside and out, as well as big snuff jars and so on. As you scroll through the book you start to realize just how prolific they were over the years in the production of many many flavors, long since lost in the annals of time. For example on page 15 we see Old Paris, Fribourg’s Mixture, Amsterdam, Martinique, Arthur’s Club Mixture, Dutch Carotte, Light Dutch, Dunkirk, Bolongaro, Brazil, Prince Regent’s Mixture, Robillard, Hardham’s No. 37, Letter F, Cuba, Cologne, Nut Brown, Oronoko, Dieppe Scented Bergamotte, Montagne, Montaban, Queen’s Mixture, Frankfort, Brussels, Marino de Leipsic, Domingo, Villefranche, d’Abbeville, Dutch Bran. Letter F? Dutch Bran? The mind boggles. Enjoy, Dave
how interesting it is that Wilson’s disregarded all of the suggestions I put forward on behalf of this snuff community… Oh well, I’m certain I will still enjoy both of them.
I’ll try them eventually. I think Bureau might be more my sort of snuff than Patchouli, though.
This might just be the prompt for my next order. Bureau sounds interesting; vague enough to make me want to try it.
Im gonna make my own Bureau by mixing all 13 of the F&T’s together, mahh haha haha (evil laugh)
I can’t remember anything much about Bureau, save that it was demigros and aromatic. The George Evans book lists it from 1799 making it one of the oldest F&T recipes. Patchouli, a very recent F&T snuff, is simply awful. However, lovers of highly perfumed snuffs will enjoy it. Many here wished to see a reproduction of Masulipatem. The tobacco was originally from India, shipped by the East India Company and famously sold in claret bottles with a skewer for extraction. It was a favourite of Queen Charlotte, the wife of George III. For many years, however, the tobacco had been sourced from Cuba. It is doubtful whether any replacement would have borne much resemblance to either the original or the coarse Cuban snuff sold as Masulipatem when the Fribourg & Treyer business folded in December 1981. This was probably the only snuff that “went to my head”. Bran snuff was sold with a phial of Vinagrillo (rose scented vinegar), but didn’t (I believe) survive into the 20th century. Hardham’s No.37, a moist scented snuff, was eventually made by at least one other company, and was available during the 1950’s although I never tried it. In 1856 it was condemned by Arthur Hill Hassall after he chemically analysed many snuffs. “That oxide of lead, probably in the form of red lead, was discovered in three cases, as "uch as 3 per cent, being found in one of the samples of Hardham’s 37. The presence of this metallic oxide is also an adulteration and constitutes an infraction of the Tobacco Act. " ‘Food and its Adulterations’
@philips yes you are right masuliptam was something we all wanted, so in your snuff expertise why do you think Wilsons went with a flavor such as patcholi and not something we all wanted? It seems so strange when the mill manager seemed so interested in my/our suggestions.
Giaach - Probably because it’s easier to make a reasonable copy with tobacco from Zimbabwe. Patchouli is a very strong perfume (disguising tobacco source) and is more likely to appeal to younger snuffers. (I personally think it smells like lavatory air freshener and wouldn’t take it myself). Recreating Masulipatem, by comparison, would have been a formidable task and gros snuffs - particularly one as heavy as this - are not so popular these days. (PS - I’d dearly like to try some Ethiopian snuff. A colleague of mine reckoned some locally made dark, strong and naturally aromatic snuff is, like their coffee, world-class.)
@PhilipS So they go with zimbabwe because it’s cheaper and available. But riddle me this, would Dominican grown Cuban tobacco be so unattainable and pricey as to never consider using it?
Patchouli, well that brings back some old memories from the 70’s. Never had anything to do with tobacco though. used it in my car to cover certain oders of a herb that I used to partake of. Covered the smell well, but parents thought it make my car stink. But I digress I have put away childish things long ago. edm
I am really excited to see some more Fribourg & Treyer flavors. I have all 13 on their way to me at the moment. I was really impressed with Kendal Brown, I’m sure the rest will be just as good. Can’t wait!
Here’s the recipe for the original Masuliptam. It would be a little difficult to replicate it today. "Dr. Shortt states that snuff is largely prepared at Masulipatam in the Kistna district, and is exported for sale all over India, chiefly to Calcutta, where it is readily bought up by Jewish, Armenian, and Arabian merchants for export to Persia and the Arabian Gulf. It is made of the best tobacco produced in the district ; the mode of preparing it is as follows:— The leaves are cut into halves and the stem entirely removed. One half is dried in the sun and pounded into a coarse powder and the second half is boiled twice in salt water, and the juice extracted is used again in the place of salt water with a fresh supply of tobacco. When the juice becomes rather thick and gummy, it is poured into a big pot and left to cool. The tobacco powder is now put into large chatties and the juice, with which a little brandy has been mixed, is poured over the powder, and the preparation is allowed to stand for about a week. The snuff is then taken out and put into English wine bottles and it is ready for exportation. " From: THE ECONOMIC PRODUCTS OF INDIA p.133 http://tinyurl.com/4bzdr8
I’m with Glaach on this. I feel so ignored and underestimated.
I share the feelings of Giaach and Juxtaposer. I’ve spoken to F&T/WoS and they’ve ignored me completely. Maybe the 3 of us should boycott them. That will teach them a lesson they will never forget. This is all a joke, of course!!!
yeah well I’ll try it sometimes the way a mixture of scents comes out can be suprising. With pukechewlee there are a few questions to be asked root or leaf? The leaf actualy makes a scent that is palatable and isn’t indicitive of hippiness, kind of sweet and lusty not so earth and nasty. Another thing even if you don’t like patcholi if you’re carefull it makes a really awesome blender. Just a little touch of it added to another blend acts a lot the way msg or butter would in cooking bringing out more of the other scent and enriching it (probably a pinch to a tin). Though if you’re feeling ignored reread the letters we got when we asked wilsons to bring more F&T snuffs back. The implication was so none commital. Which tells me that it’s extremely likely that they were already in the process of developing or trying to bring back older snuffs. Well for one thing I doubt these are 2/2 more like 2/x of the new (old) snuffs, more likely these are the first two that developed first probably because they are the easiest to develop quickly. With a snuff like patchuli all you have to do is change one ratio at the most two or three. To get that one down would take less time then the others. The nightstand (or whatever it’s real name is) is supposedly a blend of their other snuffs this makes me think possibly this snuff blends a few of the snuffs already on their production list plus patchuli which as already stated is a great mixer (and quite capable of disapearing completely while complimenting other scents, it’s in a lot of the perfumes and colognes that you would never guess it’s in). If I had more money I’d bet all of it that I’am right and these are just the first new two.
Am I the only person here who loves the smell of patchouli? I’m admitedly a child of the 70s and totally unrepentant. Whether patchouli will make a good snuff remains to be tested, but personally I’m psyched about it. I’ll be adding these two to my next order, for sure.
No ddavelarsen, I too love patchouli. I mean love it. I will be nabbing some 50g tubes of FT’s take on it for sure. While not a child of the 70’s myself, My parents were 20-somethings of the 70’s and I have known the smell of patchouli all my life. Like mashed potatoes is a comfort food…patchouli is a comfort scent. Like someone else mentioned I also used it in my car and bedroom to cover the smell of another plant in which I partake but quit needing once I realized my parents had known what I was doing for years, I wasn’t getting away with anything they just didn’t mind, and then patchouli became a smell I would use just for nostalgia and memories. Excited and determined when it comes to the F&T Patchouli. It will be mine.
I also love the smell of patchouli, and walked around in a cloud of the stuff in the eighties. Should bring back some memories.
@cardross2 I didn’t mean to come off all moody or anything like that, just confused ha. You can rest assured I will keep my word and welcome these new snuffs to my collection!
Comfort smell indeed, what a great way to describe it. I still burn patchouli incense whenever I find some; it doesn’t last long and I never buy enough. The good stuff is hard to find, but it’s pure joy when I do. I don’t bother to cover any other smells anymore either; I’m just too old for anyone to care what I’m doing. 
I’ve been wishing for patchouli snuff for a long time – relatively speaking. Since I started snuffing anyway. I’ve thought about every way I might impart the aroma to homemade snuff and really would have tried it until I learned that there’s potential on the horizon. I’m psyched!