I seen this quoted reply below to another opening thread about Toque Absinthe getting dry ( I rarely use it…but that one I do have in original tin and may have dried out. ) That’s what made me start this OT.

To answer your long lost quire, sure hydrate if it keeps it out of your lungs. a drop of water should be enough if not add another drop let sit for a period 5-10 minutes give it a good shake let sit a few more minutes then try.

What are the technique/s you utilize to hydrate a snuff? I have never hydrated any snuff. I do have 90% of my snuff stash ( collection ) decanted into airtight glass bottles of one sort or another. My dozen or so USA brands are in original tubs ( USA brands were first ones I purchased locally over 5 months ago. ) I doubt USA brands need hydration. But certainly sometime soon, I will come across a snuff that needs hydration. I can think of one right now… SWS FIELD OF JUNIPER…successive orders just came to me in mail dryer than my first moist order when it first came to market. How do you hydrate your snuff ? Are there methods that work better for different grinds ?

I wouldn’t recommend hydrating toques. They don’t react well to it for some reason. If you do though, use pure water. Tap water will ruin the smell of your snuff.

Forgot to say. I just drop 1-2 droplets of pure water in to the smash box, close it, and shake like crazy. Leave for 12-24hrs for the moisture to even spread.

@basement_shaman turned me on to a great method, you take a small bottlecap or something that will fit in your tin and fill it with water, put it in the middle of the tin, close the cap, open it again in a week and the water has evaporated into the snuff evenly hydrating it.

@horus92 That’s my most preferred method, except you don’t need a week. Overnight is long enough. Usually just a few hours really.

Sometimes I just breath into the tin before I close it but mostly I don’t mind them drying out as some can improve.

Sometimes if I want to hydrate snuff that has sat in a snuffbox or smashbox for some days, i put the open boxes in small airtight container, wet a paper towel with distilled water, put it over the top of container and snap the container lid on. Let sit overnight, and then next morning the paper towel is dry and the snuff is perfect. Shake the boxes and you’re good to go.

There are many ways to hydrate snuff,and many mediums to use. Distilled water, coffee,teas or there used bags, fresh mint leaves or other fresh herbs,cut flowers, liquid smoke, hydrosols, oils,Butter Ghee, alcohol extracts[like almond and others] fresh fruit,rinds of fruit, oily coffee beans , jelly’s, candy and moist bubble gum. Other plain moist snuff. Any thing that has moisture in it; dry snuff will absorb You can add drops, Atomize and spray, osmosis by indirect contact, shake, stir, steam, Place in bathroom while taking a hot shower, The damp towel over a jar,a bottle lid as horus92 mentioned. You just have to select the medium you want to use for the snuff to be hydrated. A little moisture goes a long way, it better to have less then too much. Best of luck!

@basement_shaman … phew…5 STAR INSIGHTFUL…if I could!!

I saw a youtube video by Tim Geering (www.youtube.com/user/Milverton68) talking about snuffs and he said to put the snuff in a Tupperware or similar container (empty the tin/tins of snuff into the container) and place a small cup, he said an egg cup, in the middle of the container, then wet some paper towels or thick tissues and place them in the egg cup and close the lid of the container. Leave it overnight and test the snuff in the morning and if it’s not moist enough leave it for longer.

make me think of my Pops. He was a Copenhagen man. He’d take a fresh can, open and pour in some Mogen David sweet kosher wine. No accounting for taste.

I’ve just used my stove top coffee maker. It’s done a wonderful job. Place snuff in the coffee holder and placed boiled water into the reservoir. Then sit the coffee holder into the reservoir for a few minutes. The steam from the water travels up the coffee holder and lightly permeates the snuff. I’ve just applied the method to my box of Tom Buck which for me is too dry and goes straight to my lungs no matter how gently I snuff. It’s worked a treat.

Just added a video on Re-hydrating snuff using the bottle cap method, and DIY distilled water. Let me know what you think: http://youtu.be/SE9f4xgeQkI

I’m still partial to Boveda humidi-paks in a tupperware container with an open tin of snuff. I do like the video and the insight from everyone else. I might have to try the bottle cap tek sometime. Thank you for posting the video.

Great video, I hydrated some snuff once by putting the snuff in a clean ceramic cereal bowl and placed a moist paper towel over the top of the bowl. About 3 hours later the paper towel was dry and the snuff was really moist. There was only about 5 grams of snuff in the bowl and I’ll admit it was homemade snuff (finely ground dry pipe tobacco) but this method worked really well.

Another nice video @Gewie. I can see the point of distilled water if your tap H2O has chlorine or other such chemicals. I have well water so this would be an unnecessary step. Any minerals would be left behind in the water container since they would not evaporate. Also seems it might be easier to just buy distilled water. If I need such a thing it comes from my dehumidifier. Not to be ingested though because of possible bacteria. (which could be eliminated by boiling) Good technique.

I agree with jpsavage @Gewie. I did learn a good bit from your video such as how to distill water on the stove top. Very smart! It does seem like its twice distilled though, since the moisture is only reaching the snuff via evaporation anyway. I use the bottle cap method pretty routinely, but just with fresh tap water. The advantage I could see of using stove top distilled is that you could add it to the snuff directly and immediately (carefully so as not to cause clumping) rather than wait a day for it to be absorbed. Anyway, great tips for anyone to borrow. Keep up the good work!

@Xander good point I guess I’m just trying out different things to see what works, I’ve also used normal water and it seems to produce a similar result. Anyway just started a snuff of the week section so best make sure it’s uploaded properly Take care

The only real problem with tap water as I see it is that the chlorine in it evaporates fairly rapidly, and if closed inside container could be absorbed by the snuff. All it would take to correct this would be to place in open container overnight and let the chlorine dissipate on own.

@stogie As stated: I have well water. This is water pumped from the ground by my own personal well. Certainly have no reason to add chemicals to it. May have a few minerals which are no concern. (and it makes great beer) Been drinking it for 50+ years.

I rehydrated my London Brown this morning. As a newbie, I’ve discovered that coarse snuffs are extremely hard to take when they are dry.

I have a Snuffhouse snuffbox that’s had some GH Sea Breezes in for a few days, and it’s dried out a bit. I was deciding whether to snuff as is or dump it out, and had an idea. While the kettle was boiling I passed the inside of the lid across the steam very briefly to collect a little moisture, closed the lid and set the box down upside down. After 30 seconds or so, give the box a good shake. Within a very short space of time (minutes) the snuff was revitalised. Voila - impromptu rehydration with distilled water! Quick and effective, and essentially free

Nice that’s a great idea!

@Gewie Thanks. It was the inverted pan lid in your vid that gave me the idea - I just cut out the middle man

I’ve tried something this morning. Whenever you get day old bread or dough nuts, one things that helps is to wrap them in a moist paper towel then microwave them for a few seconds. I took my tin of Bruton’s and placed a moist paper towel over the opened top; folded about four times, so it was thicker. I put it in the microwave for 35 seconds and am letting it sit for a few minutes. I will edit this post in a few when I observe the results. I predict it will only moisten the top quarter inch or so. Ok, some time as gone by since I tried the paper towel experiment and I do believe the top bit of the tin is indeed more moist; It’s definitely packable. Perhaps with more surface area, more snuff can be moistened at once.

Seems like there are loads of great ways to hydrate snuff! The more creative the better!

I have a Snuffhouse snuffbox that’s had some GH Sea Breezes in for a few days, and it’s dried out a bit. I was deciding whether to snuff as is or dump it out, and had an idea. While the kettle was boiling I passed the inside of the lid across the steam very briefly to collect a little moisture, closed the lid and set the box down upside down. After 30 seconds or so, give the box a good shake. Within a very short space of time (minutes) the snuff was revitalised. Voila - impromptu rehydration with distilled water! Quick and effective, and essentially free

Really impressed with how well this worked, and the snuff was still in good order today. I think this is going to be my primary means of rehydration from now on. As a tea drinker, the kettle is on semi regularly (particularly at work) anyway, so a dried out snuff can get refreshed at the same time as a dried out me

Un-glazed clay tile, soaked in water for about five minutes, work wonders as far as hydrating without over-hydrating. The American Spirit company sent me one for my RYO, works great.

Slice of carrot, thickness depends on quantity of snuff to be rehydrated. It works pretty well for me with most snuff. I have horses so I always have a lot of carrots.

@PotPoe i believe the pipe tobacco pouch moisteners that you can buy at most tobacconists and online for a couple dollars are clay. You know the ones, the little white discs inside a metal case with holes in it? Those I’m pretty sure are clay discs that you soak in water for a couple minutes and put in the tobacco. @mrmanos I never thought to use carrots or other vegetables, I’ve heard of using fruit peels which also adds a scent but I will have to try the carrot method. Seems like a good way to hydrate without adding scent.

I was meaning an unglazed clay patio tile, broken into a thousands pieces(and they all went skipping about). The disks seem to be of a much softer clay. The ones i have, if soaked to long, leave little bits of clay in the water.

Those old fashion clay flower pots work well for hydrating tobacco . Just file off sharp corners dip in water, shake and use.

I myself once bein an aviid cigar smoker have a humidor. That keeps my snuff from drying out initially as well as rehydrates. Nifty trick that recycles as well as rehydrates…Take empty Silver Dollar 5g tap tin fold a paper towel small enough to fit inside, soak with warm water and wring out excess put in empty tin and replace top, remoisten as necessary usually 7-14 days. Now you have a hydration pac that was basically free. Also you can rotate the top to control the moisture flow, open fully for bring container up to a nice Rh then close it down a bit to maintain humidity level. Hope this. was informative for someone, anybody, and or everyone. Thanks and thanks again for the read.

I tried rehydrating my viking brown with orange peels. It did the job, but now it stings my nose like never before and leaves my nose very irritated. I’m assuming the snuff absorbed some of the ascorbic acid. Anyone else encounter this? If I just seal the snuff up with electric tape for a while and try it again in a few weeks would the stinging go down?

Just received SWS snuffs… all dry… annoying could I open all six tins and put in large snap top food seal jar and leave it in with a small cup filled with distilled water so I can get them all wet at once? Lol There are 6 15g tins

@Ryan265 Yes that has happened to me as well. I tried squeezing juice from oranges and let it sit in a bigger jar with juice next to it and it is nice less burn. Just want to know if I can hydrate multiple tins at once like post above

@AlKindiSnuff you could do it this way it may take longer due to the size of the container. Make sure you thoroughly wash the container so there is not plastic scent (if new) or food scent if reused. I typically rehydrate no more than 20g at once. To make a homemade humidifier I use an empty old small 3.5g McChrystals tin, I drill a whole bunch of holes in the lid and cram the 3.5g tin with cotton wool soaked with water, than put on the lid with the holes in it on. After the homemade humidifier is full of water i put it in a 25g S&G, Viking or Toque tin full of my dry snuff then leave it 8 hours then youre right to go. With your method you could use an old 25g S&G tin as the humidifier container since I do not think a small 3.5 tin will hydrate 90g of snuff.

I’ve tried all sorts of methods, and the one I’ve recently been using is to take a teabag, already steeped, squeeze out all water, then put it in the tin, wait 6 or 8 hours, or overnight, then remove it, and the result was pretty good. Key thing to remember is to squeeze out all the water. It doesn’t leave any taste, to my surprise. It works best with 25g tins.

I just put each tin of SWS snuffs in each own ziplock small baggy with a peice of wet paper towel in each. Been in 6 hours needs abut more. I had no flavor at all in pontefract priory or Auld Alliance I hope this helps Ansons Imperiale was a bit dry too. I hope this helps when I look in the morning. 6 hours in so far and the color is a bit dark or vivid in some indicating some moisture. Will post results in the morning at about the 12 to 15 hour mark.

Well after 2days I do see a difference but is good enough. I think one more day would have been better. But hey not bad it worked.