Well - I broke a long and very irritating snuff drought - or famine, if you will - in grand style. I have about a pound of Gawith Brown #4 - gotten in payment (trade) for some arrangements I helped a colleague in the 'baccy business to get settled. A long and boring tale, but with a nice pay-off. I took my trusty pocket knife and, compressing the end of the twist into a sort of squished flat oval, pared off about a half inch in total. Without drying it, I began using a shot glass and scissors - the old hippies will know what I’m talking about here - to cut the still-moist stuff into itty bitty shreds. These I tossed into my mortar and pestle, and gave a good brisk grinding to at intervals determined largely by how sort my wrists were from mashing and smashing the still-damp tobacco. I ended up with a soft, medium-coarse, slightly damp snuff - the consistency is a bit like what would be expected from a particularly dry but not dessicated NTSU, but still very soft. No fermentation or alkalinization - just as-is. The stuff is heavenly - rich, smokey - but not like an American scotch snuff, almost like the base in the De Kralingese, but not quite so “piney” - more of an oak scent to the Kentucky tobacco used in the twist. I really can’t recommend this stuff highly enough - Brown #4 can be chewed (which I haven’t tried); smoked in a pipe (which I have tried - set aside about an hour for a bowl, go slowly, and make sure you’ve got your affairs in order, as it’s a powerful nick-kick to the face); or snuffed (which I have tried, to ear-popping, nostril opening effect). To quote the old tobacconist’s sign: “We three serve all one cause: I smokes, I snuffs, and I chaws.” As cheap as the Brown #4 is, I think any regular tobacco user (be he snuffer, chewer, or smoker) ought to lay in supplies of the stuff NOW, as the price can only go up from here.
Twists really are the most multi-usable form of tobacco there is. Bying in bulk makes sense.
In our country you can’t even get twists, if you ask for them in a tobacco shop they don’t know what you’re talking about. Until recently I smoked a lot of pipes and got into twists after getting some from a gentlemen in the UK after discussing it on smokersforums.uk, loved them and got a bunch of them after that. I don’t smoke any longer and sold my whole tobacco cellar, maybe I should have kept some to try and make snuff out of it. I never tried that, maybe because there are so many snuffs out there you can buy. A missed opportunity I guess.
I have about a pound of this twist as well. It does indeed make a good smoke, a good chew and a good snuff.
Do you gentlemen have storage advice for a large amount of twist? This far I’ve only purchased small pieces, so long-term storage hasn’t been an issue.
Well, I ground up a small amount of No. 4 this evening and I am happy to confirm that it makes an excellent snuff.