I went to the pipe store today and bought 4 oz of a blended all natural tobacco. I am wanting to experiment with different flavors and such. I do have some questions about best practices when making your own snuff. Since it has alreay been processed I shouldn’t need to “cure” the tobacco correct? When added liquids to the baccy should I mist it on there before drying? or should I dry it, make flour then add the liquid such as coffee or liquor? If I add any spices such as nutmeg, anise or cinammon. is it best to add the spices directly to the flour? do I need to worry about adding any sodium to the product? Thanks for the feedback!
Grind your flour base first. Spices can be added directly. Your worry should be mold. See the thread http://snuffhouse.org/discussion/6032/snuff-making-101/p1
I was thinking about making a spiced irish coffee with spices and jameson and coffee… Any tips on best ways to avoid mold? The water for the coffee will be bottled
For avoiding mold, I’d say to keep the temperature below 70F. Most molds need temps above 70F to grow. When I ‘cook’ my home-grown air-cured tobacco for snuff, I try raise the temps above 130, but try to get the temp back down (below 70) soon after, especially if I wanted a moister snuff. My stove won’t hold a temp less than 170, but I use a steam pot, and so inside the steam pot, I don’t think the temperature ever reaches 170. My guess is that it’s closer to 130-150F. Anywhere in between 70F and 120F is the ‘danger window’, while the moisture level is high. Also, I think the salt reduces the chance of mold growth, but I’m not sure of what percentages are needed to be effective. Anyone? I use about 5% salt by weight in my homemade snuff. I know many here will say it’s OK to use pipe tobacco, or cigarette tobacco to make snuff. But I don’t know what processing that’s had, so I don’t. If you can’t grow, then I’d recommend purchasing air-cured whole leaf rather than using pipe tobacco. But that’s just me. It’s taxed less, and you have some idea what’s been done to it before it arrives to you. Good luck, and report back your results!
What is the best way of adding liquid flavor to the flour? Right now I have the flour and a shot of Spiced rum in the same jar sealed tight. Does anyone know the effectiveness of that method, or have a better method?
It will take up some flavour like that, but if the intention is to get the whole of that volume of liquid into the snuff you might as well just add it to the flour. Evaporation is ok for small amounts, but, again, if you know the volume of liquid you want to put into the snuff you might as well add directly, although if you allowed some airflow you lose some alcohol to the atmosphere - that’s good if you don’t want a raw alcohol taste in the snuff, but you can also just boil the booze off and add the remaining syrup. It’s all about moving something from a to b and if you work out what you want in the snuff the method becomes a bit moot. I prefer to add casings directly, but this is all a matter of opinion and there is no shortage of them - and by the time this post ends we will have all said contradictory things. The main issues are matching the ingredients and maturing the flour - and, yes, that’s completely subjective too. Experimentation is all. Good luck with it, Nigel
I appreciate it Nigel, I come from a culinary background and have a ton of interesting ideas as far as developing flavors. I am sure everyone has the “best” way to do things. I am just looking for different ideas and methods so I can develop one that works best for me. I appreciate the feedback. I am only working with about 50g of snuff so it is a very small batch.
Cool project…
I’m curious how menthol affects the ph of snuff.
It shouldn’t affect it to much either using essential oils or fresh herbs
One thing I am trying right now is a bunch of mint leaves steeped in water then misted onto the tobacco
Okay, so I made my first batch… It is chocolate orange spice… I only have about 30g of it… If anyone would like a sample to rate it for me, I would gladly take any constructive criticism… Thanks, Brandon
Thank’s for the info! I might try both methods. The one thing I’m sure of is to use a very strong infusion. I do wonder if it would be good to mix some vodka or everclear into the infusion to kill off any mold spores etc. Maybe just make to make the infusion with alcohol to begin with, worth a shot.
You can also infuse different oils, such as coconut oil, clarified butter etc with fresh herbs as well if you prefer snuff with moisture. Simply heat your oil in a pan on medium heat for a minute or two to get it nice and hot then toss in fresh herbs. Turn it to medium/low heat and cook for a minute or two. Strain the oil, discard the herbs then viola, you have infused oil.
I am hungry for a philly cheese steak saute mushrooms sauce and onion with hot pepper hoagie relish. on a 12 inch amoroso’s roll . I need to capture this essence to make the most yummy snuff.
hahaha, Damn, I don’t know if I can do that, but I know what’s for lunch now!
That’s something I’ll keep in mind if I try doing an oiled snuff!
Anyone press the snuffs? Nowadays when i prepare my snuffs (usually in 5gr packs to keep them fresh) i press my homemade snuff very tight. After one week i scratch the snuff with a spoon little by little. The consistency is perfect.
I’m experimenting with some dried out Virginia Flake I ground up in a coffee grinder. Very very sweet and grassy, I actually rather like it. Surprisingly enough the scent has a lot more staying power than any snuffs I’ve bought recently. I just let the tobacco sit out overnight to dry and used a coffee grinder to grind it. I’d grind it for a minute, then scrape off the fine dust that accumulated on the top half of the grinder. It’s medium moist and fine, has the same appearance as Morlaix.