I’m just wondering why Macalpe doesn’t want Snuffmiller to take care… I know it’s the english-spanish barrier, but still, a tad funny.
He probably means “don’t worry”
Stitch, I’m glad you enjoyed the spanish jewel. It is bordering on my everyday snuff… The problem is I know it is in limited supply (and at $220/kg it would be very expensive to get more), so I’m having to exercise a great deal of self discipline to prevent myself from snuffing it all. After taking it a few times you really don’t want to go back to anything else.
My offer still stands. Jaap Bes.
Stocker sells air and fire cured, one to two year aged hands. You would want the air cured ones to approximate the leaf in Spanish Jewel.The hands pictured in their catalog have a wonderful golden color. These are approximated at 30" long grade no. 1 long leaf.They sell 3 pound bundles for $30.75. I’d guess after removing the mid ribs, you’d be left with about 2.5 lbs. It’s ready to be make into snuff or chew. This will give you something to play with while you sort out the fine points of growing and curing your own. I got something like a pound of dry leaf from three plants. They required a lot of tending, but so does everything here except the cactus. I’d encourage you to plant a few specimens this spring to get your feet wet. The plants are very beautiful, if nothing else.
Stoker’s air-cured is way too strong and heavy a leaf to use for a Spanish Jewel clone, but it would make an excellent brandy/honey snuff. BTW, for a plain snuff with this leaf, it’s best to dry it at a low a temperature as possible, certainly no more than 150 degrees F.
Here is some receipe I found in an German book from 1888. The snuff there is called Bahia. The description is: A very fine light yellow Spanish tobacco, made from the finest stalk flour milled with the finest brown carrots (Karotten). If not yellow enough you have to take the aid of yellow colour. Ingerdients: Finely milled Violet (orris) roots, 1/4 of the total and someTonka beans. You have to be very careful with the sauce, otherwise te tobacco will get a bad colour. One kilogram of this tobacco will be payed with 3 to 9 Mark ( Germany, 1888!) Orris roots and Tonka beans has distictive flavors. Sadly enough the composition of the sauce is not mentioned. Maybe the flavor of the snuff itself can help? Jaap Bes
Very interesting recipe in its own right, Jaap. Thanks for posting it. This “Spanish Jewel” is very lightly sauced with honey dissolved in cognac added to stemmed sun cured leaf & allowed to ferment. The tobacco is then dried, ground & then put into clay pots for aging. No stems are used. No salt or other alkalis are mentioned either. The real puzzle is how to ferment the leaf without salt etc., produce a snuff with high nicotine content and maintain the light color without using the leaf midribs.
There is a possiblity that the alcohol in the cognac directs the fermentation, which means that it promotes or prevent the growth of certain species of microorganisms. Honey is then (and is in general) food to promote the growth of the desired micoorganisms. The aging in clay pots can be a second fermentation. If the pots are thightly packed and maybe closed, this will prevent the acces of oxygen and in that way also directs the fermentation. I’ll see if I can get hold of some Spanish tobacco and look if my guesses hold. Jaap Bes
Hello to you all, I am reading the comments from Snuffgrinder and Snuffmiller, and I must to tell you this morning I spoke with Mr. Vinyets once more. And today he told me : HE USES NOTHING TO FLAVOR THE SNUFF. Cognac and Honey were used long time before, but he left this recipe long time ago. I am really amazed with this Craftsman. I don’t know if I may believe in him, and I am not sure if his brain works well. This is the truth. This morning he told me the secret of this snuff is the type of seed or plant, the local weather and curation time ( two months inside a room with air and no sun at all). He promised me to send some old seeds that he is not sure if will grow or not. Also he told me he only used the best parts of leaves(no stems and no nervs at all). Pedro
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Yes BrianC, I alike completely with you…the Craftsman insists me several times that this snuff is completely natural with no flavorings at all. He used a phrase this morning : "…but is the natural flavor of this tobacco…when is dried you may grind with your hands and the smell, and you will reach this flavor!!!
I can certainly believe that it is all natural. My guess is he uses a very light virginia tobacco, similar to what is used in cigarrettes. I will be growing some of my own this year and will attempt to re-create it by putting it in a dark room for 2 months) I’ve read that naturally fermenting the tobacco requires large quantities in order for the center temp to reach a sufficient level to initiate fermentation then it must be turned several times over the course of a year. It does however smell as if the spanish jewel possesses some of the qualities of fermentation, but it appears the time would be too short for full proper fermentation.
Thank you again, Jaap. A veritable gold mine of information. I hope to grow some Perique this year and try anerobically fermenting some of it usng a little commercial Perique as an innoculant. Raw, cured Tobacco does have a sweet aroma that is really intense when the leaf is powdered and taken as snuff. This is not noticeable, at least to me, if the same leaf is smoked or chewed. Possibly the brown snuff was made with the cognac and honey. I’m going to remove all of the rib material from some Stoker’s air cured and compare it with snuff made from the whole leaf."…but is the natural flavor of this tobacco…when is dried you may grind with your hands and the smell, and you will reach this flavor!!! That is a beautiful phrase, Pedro. I think Senor Vinyets has all his wits about him and has earned the right to be cantankerous in his old age.
Could indeed well be the type of tobacco that gives the right flavor. The old receipes are all based on specific types of tobaccos grown in specific regions. More or less like the grapes produces specific wines. Today however these differences in tobacco, I think are almost lost. Virginia comes from Brazil; Kentucky from Malaya and not even called Kentucky anymore, but Dark fired. The one thing that still puzzels me is wether the tabacco is only dried during those two month, in which fermentation is hardly possible, or that even under these circumstances a type of fermentation is possible. Jaap Bes.
I think that a secondary fermentation, or sweating, is possible in hanging tobacco with the right temperature and humidity conditions. I think that this used to be done in 18th century Virginia. I’ll have to check my books on the subject.
There was a Spanish snuff that was widely popular in the late 17th and early 18th century known as Rancia or Musty in English. It was a pure snuff, made only from the soft parts of the best leaves. I believe that only the uppermost leaves, the mildest, were used in this snuff. Snuff made from middle and lower leaves in this fashion makes one potent sternutatory. It’s popularity spawned a whole host of bad imitations that led to it’s decline and eventual disappearance from the marketplace. Pedro, we knew that this was an old recipe, but I never dreamed that it was this old. You’ve been snuffing real history with your tobacco.
What does Pedro mean when he says, earlier in the thread, ‘I’m not sure that I believe in him’, referring to Senor Whatsisname? I came to the forum after the discovery of this clearly amazing substance, and it’s all very beguiling. Does it come with a bag of magic beans as well?
He is not sure if that snuff is really not flavoured…
I don’t want to get anyone’s hopes up just yet, but there’s been a little progress on developing a snuff that’s very close to the real Jewel. My thanks to Pieter for giving me some extremely valuable information. I believe that there is only one more serious problem to solve and I hope to have that one whipped in a couple of weeks.