Few days ago I was jarring my last Toque acquisitions and updating the excel where I keep tabs of my ever-growing stash I realized how big (for my standards) it has grown, now having more than 100 types of snuff and weighting around 3 Kg and going bigger as I just recieved another Mr. Snuff order
I am a bit surprised I have gone this far with something that started innocently with a 10 g box of Poschl Gawith Apricot to complement my cigarette smoking and because I liked how it smelled; in just 4 years I have changed my tobacco habit from compulsive cigarette smoker (which I was for around 15 years), passing briefly through pipes, e-cigs, chew, and now comfortably settled as snuffer and snuser with the fags far behind me.
Just wanted to share my story with you and ask how snuff has changed your habit, has it been premeditated or unthinkingly like me?
I never smoked cigarettes. I have always enjoyed cigars and later I bought a few pipes. Later still I started with snuff. Like many beginners it took me a while to decide what I enjoy and before my preferences solidified more or less, I bought too much snuff. I ended up throwing out a lot of it some because it was old and no longer good and some because I just didnāt like them.
I think itās a mistake to stockpile snuff except maybe toasts. It doesnāt age well. There is no way to know what a person will like and tastes can change so itās a process we all go through. In that I donāt think snuff is any different from any other consumer activity.
Somebody will have to figure out the mathematics behind inventorying enough snuff to have around while it is new enough to be fresh. Any business math specialists around?
I have a rather large snuff collection ,and fortunately I knew it was important to properly store my investment to keep it in top condition in airtight glass jars. Mostly all of my stash is as fresh and flavorful as the day I decanted it. The only thing that didnāt keep well was the larger bags of schmalzlers .I take itās because of the fat they add in the mix. I should had frozen them.Ā
Snuffhouse had introduced me to snus and I enjoy a few portions daily. I have a large collection of Peterson Pipes plus a few other makers and a great assortment of first class pipe tobaccos. Never got into smoking cigars to often but I like one a few times a month. I even get the hankering for a cigarette every now and again but I am no slave to the cancer sticks. I have a collection of Dokha tobaccos that I employ at least once daily.Ā
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I try to rotate through my stash but I have some favorites always close at hand. My frequency has slowed down drastically . Instead of using snuff every ten minutes or so I can go an hour or more without. And while I am reading snuffhouse threads I find I am digging out some forgotten favorites and enjoying them once more. I used to carry 6-10 snuffs everywhere now I am down to 3. Do to my lack of finances I no longer buy the latest snuffs, I missing out but it donāt bother my serenity I am content with what I have.There are a few I like to own before I check out. Ā Ā
Well, cigarettes to pipes to snuff, pretty much sums up the broad trajectory. Ciggies from about the age of fourteen to around 25, when I actually gave up for five years, during which time I put on about 100 kilograms. No, not quite, but a lot. Then back on ciggies, trying to quit with NRT, with periodic success and failure. Saw a pipe in a second-hand market, a little kiko meerschaum, bought it, started smoking pipes, about eight or ten bowls a day. Someone on a pipe forum suggested I try snuff, I put in a cautious order for 25 grams of Toque Quit and some Abraxas Premium Coarse. From the very first sniff, I knew I was onto a winner. Since Iām used to using online forums for my hobbies, I found snuffhouse pretty quickly, and quickly learned which kinds of snuffs I liked by following the lead of experienced members here. Pretty much gave up the pipe. Then I stopped hanging out on the forum and just kept on working through my stock of snuff, but mainly consuming Dholakia White and similar snuffs, taking up the pipe again. And now Iām back on the forum, and in a bit of a mood to try a few new snuffs again. Everything Iāve ever tried by SWS has been great, and there are a few new ones I havenāt tried, so Iāve got a priority list. Thatās about it.
My first tobacco product was Copenhagen Snuff. I tried a few other dipping tobaccos and a bunch of leaf and plug chew. Then I started cigarettes, too. In the mid-1980s someone gave me a tin of Dr Rumneyās. I liked it, so he told me where to get it. That tobacconist only had the blue and green tins of that. They also had Oliver Twists, which I liked then. I got a cob around this time, but didnāt smoke it often. The place closed a couple years later, and I used both versions of Dr. Rumneyās for a couple winters until then. I smoked cigarettes for another couple decades, with a few quit attempts. I smoked Captain Black in my cob once in a while, but was hooked on ready-mades. I discovered better pipe tobacco around 2010 and started smoking pipes more often. Around then is when a hobby was born from a habit. I ditched brand cigarettes for rollies about two years ago, smoking less, but unable to completely quit. There was an uncomfortable adjustment period, and then I started to feel better when I gave up store-bought smokes. I wonāt smoke one now, but when I have, they taste bad and make me feel not right. I began reading a lot of tobacco and pipe related material at this time, as well as a number of cigarette industry documents online. SNUFF, GLORIOUS, SNUFF reentered my life about six months ago. It has almost replaced rollups in my tobacco consumption. I didnāt think it was possible. Itās healthier and cheaper and far more enjoyable than cigarettes! Thereās still a habit, but the hobby continues to grow and change. If I acquire a new snuff, or discover something new in a snuff I use regularly, I find myself wanting to learn more about it. If I learn of a snuff, I want to find it and try it. On the other hand, snuff just is: I am not bound to give it as much time as I would pipes. It can be as much or as little as I make of it each day.
When I worked in law enforcement, my partner offered me some chew.Ā Tried it, used it every once in a whileā¦but not quite a habit nor a hobby.Ā Same with cigars.Ā Iād treat myself a couple of times a month to a nice cigar.Ā Even then, not quite a habit or a hobby.Ā Just enjoyed the occasional nicotine.
Then it changed.Ā Chewed more and more.Ā Was able to chew at work, so I would chew at work and not at home.Ā Wife didnāt like it.Ā Didnāt mind cigars, but the chew was not her favorite.Ā So, weāre definitely moving into habit territory at this point.Ā Then I found snus.Ā I could snus at work, I could snus at home, I could snus in a job interview, I could snus when I slept!Ā Now we were in full-blown habit territory.
Took up the pipe now and again.Ā But, snus was my constantā¦and still were were not in hobby territory.Ā Tried vaping as a way to quit snus.Ā Worked for awhile, but while I enjoy vaping, I donāt enjoy the maintenance of the mess.Ā So, I bounced back and forth between snus and vaping.
THEN I FOUND SNUFF.Ā I mean, I knew about snuff.Ā I had tried it here or there over the years.Ā I thought it was sort of fun on a larkā¦when with friends after a bit of drink.Ā But, several months ago I really FOUND snuff.Ā Thatās when the hobby began.Ā Iāve never really looked at the other forms of tobacco enjoyment as hobbies.Ā They are ways to get nicotine.Ā Ways to relax.Ā But, something about the experience, the history, and the varied details about snuff that really interests me.Ā I mean, borderline obsession level interest.Ā I love it.
Iām early in my hobby, so I canāt really say how its evolved for me.Ā Iām a newbie still, and going through all the things a newbie goes through.Ā I have moved through American scotches, into plain snuffs, into artisan snuffsā¦and I know thereās a lot of new snuff experiences still to come.
Started very young stealing my coonass relatives Picayune non filters and hand rolled pure Perique lung busters. Ā Dabbled with chew in all forms, including dip, cheap cigars and Camel straights. Ā In 1972 started using snuff, first with Dr. Rumneyās Mentholyptus and moved on to Dean Swift Bezoar Fine Grind which got me through my early Navy days. Ā Discovered G. Smith & Sons, F&T HDT and even some old Dunhill snuffs. Ā Never considered snuff a nicotine delivery system; many more efficient methods for that.
I settled down to good cigars, good briars and good pipe weed, an occasional cig and idiotic amounts of snuffā¦for the pure olfactory pleasure of it. Ā What nicotine I get from snuff is just a nice bonus, not the center of attention or primary motive for indulging in nasal snuff.
@chefdaniel since you sound like a Cajun and fellow country boy, do you know anything about Marsh Wheeling cigars? Are they 100% tobacco and are they any good. I love rustic stuff but never got a chance to try those. Anybody chime in if you know something. Thanks. PS. @chefdaniel I agree with you 100% on what snuff and tobacco generally is supposed to be about. When this board started that was a point of view almost everybody shared.
cpmcdill turned me on to them, I didnāt like the first one I smoked, but theyāve grown on me. I got the āStogiesā variety, long, thin, burned fine, tastes like tobacco, nothing fancy, homogenized tobacco binder.
Thanks for the info @mouse. Your tastes in pipe tobacco seem to be close to mine. If they are ok with you I would probably enjoy them. The ones I saw advertised were 7 inches or so. Iāll just have to figure out how to get somebody to send me some when I get the money. LilBrown doesnāt ship outside the old country AFAIK.
@Snuffbox Ā I havenāt smoked one in years, but if memory serves they are mostly tobacco with no ācheapā flavor or aroma a la Swisher Sweets, Roi Tan, etc.
@Mouse and @cpmcdill are likely better at reviewing them given their more recent experiences.
I think the Marsh Wheeling cigars are all Virginia tobacco, so will taste different from premiums. The ones I smoke are Virginian Dark and Mountaineers, which have a rustic appearance and seem to be just pure tobacco. Thereās a hint of sweetness that comes from the Virginia leaf, more like pipe Virginia than cigarette Virginia. Definitely worlds better than just about all the other OTCs of the Swisher variety. I also like Parodi, a dry-cured Italian style made from Pennsylvania-grown tobacco (pretty sure).
@cpmcdill Ā Agreed. Ā I think most cigarette Virginia comes from Canada. Ā I could be wrong, but when I added it to the new vintage of PVT I twisted some in a cigarette and it struck me as being very similar to MacDonalds RYO of bygone days. Ā Great for snuff but would make a nasty cigar, imho.
I like Parodi as well. Ā A cigar that chews almost as well as it smokes
I started smoking cigarettes while in the Navy (I was bored on watch and saw everyone else smoking so I bummed one). Pretty soon I was hooked and smoked a pack a day. Smokes werenāt all that expensive especially while out to sea. After leaving the Navy when my enlistment was up, I slowly weaned myself off cigarettes and took up the pipe. I smoked pipes off and on for some time along with the occasional cigar and then discovered vaping. Vaping tended to dehydrate me and I never really got satisfaction from vaping and so I quit vaping this month. Iāve always been interested in snuff especially after reading about its popularity in the 18th century. I stumbled upon this group and learned what good snuff really is. After acquiring some excellent choices from Chef Daniel, Toque and Sir Walter jScott, I am now quite happy with snuff as a hobby and flavorful experience. The whole tobacco alkaloids in snuff satisfies so much greater than eliquid.
Thanks @chefdaniel@cpmcdill@bigmick Iāll put both of them on the shopping list. I like the Agio Meharis ok but donāt believe I have tried others in that style. The dry-cured advantage over a ānormalā cigar is you donāt have to have a good humidor and they have an almost indefinite shelf life. Definitely worth keeping a bunch around for when you want a quick, tasty smoke.
@larry_90066 welcome to the legal and healthy powdery side!
@chefdaniel, Iām curious to hear you say: āWhat nicotine I get from snuff is just a nice bonus, not the center of attention or primary motive for indulging in nasal snuff.ā I love tobacco, but Iām also a nicotine addict. When I donāt get nicotine, I turn into a miserable, unhappy sod. I can use NRT to get past that, and then I just miss the aesthetics of tobacco, which is a whole different issue. Like I said, I used to smoke eight or nine pipes a day, of at least middle-up strength tobacco, but I found I could meet my nicotine needs easily with snuff. In fact, when Iām smoking a pipe, I often stop to take a quick hit of Dholakia White, just because it isnāt reaching my brain quickly enough. I definitely find snuff the best, most efficient way of getting nicotine into my system, although the hit from snuss is stronger.
And, on a more important topic, how come your posts are the only ones that use Garamond font? And why, after I quoted you, are mine turning into Garamond, too? I know you use fountain pens, and I guess Garamond IS something a bit like a cursive script, but ā¦ how?
Not meaning to butt in so if my post is unwelcome feel free to ignore me.
That said, as a lover of tobacco from about the age of 10 I have never wanted the nicotine. I love the flavor of tobacco. If chaw was healthy Iād be doing that. Cigars are my favorites. Pipes are good too, snuff is best because itās the safest form, cheap, and I can use it anywhere I go. I go through periods where I donāt smoke anything or take snuff and I never have any withdrawal. I think some people just have different body chemistry and tastes and like everything else we all have our own unique views and reactions, etc.
āAnd, on a more important topic, how come your posts are the only ones that use Garamond font? And why, after I quoted you, are mine turning into Garamond, too? I know you use fountain pens, and I guess Garamond IS something a bit like a cursive script, but ā¦ how?ā
@JakartaBoy Ā Not sure what computer youāre using. Ā On my PC there is a menu bar at the top of the āLeave a Commentā box. Ā There are several formatting options along with a few others.
