A company called Grant’s in Ireland used to produce a good, but relatively coarse-milled, High Toast, which was available from almost every tobacconist from Dublin down to Galway but had much more of a nutty rather than a smoky flavour. My uncle, originally from Co. Cork, before moving to Oxford in 1934 on a Mussolini Scholarship, and who introduced me to snuff, enjoyed it very much. Better still was Carroll’s ‘Irish ‘D’ Snuff’ which was the finest-textured snuff I ever sampled. It had the consistency of talcum powder and caution was advisable to avoid a coughing fit. Gawith’s ‘Irish ‘D’ Light’ was very similar. The letter ‘D’ refers to dry. Sadly, none of these very light-coloured snuffs are made any more.

Much darker in colour, and not quite as fine and dry or penetrating is ‘Irish 22’ from Sharrow Mills which closely resembles Gawith’s “Irish ‘D’ Original” (no longer available). Opinions will vary, but this snuff is arguably the best high-dried snuff still available but it’s not as good as Carroll’s or Samuel Gawith’s authentic versions of what an exceptionally dry snuff is really like. Nowadays, to prevent congestion, I usually only buy canisters not listed below 3 on the Sharrow Moisture Scale.

Sold under the Fribourg & Treyer label is High Dry T(oast) and then there is Toque Natural Toast. Although I have no experience of them there are probably snuffs from India and artisan snuffs of a similar ilk. Are there any favourites amongst members here?

For anyone who does not know it, here is the alleged story of how high-dried snuff became high-dried-toast from Hugh McCausland’s book, “Snuff and Snuff-Boxes”

(London: Batchworth Press Ltd., 1951):

"…Early in the eighteenth century Lundy Foot [a Dublin snuff-maker] was established in a modest way of business as a maker and purveyor of highly dried snuff. The preparation of the light, dust-like powder was, and is, a prolonged business, demanding that the tobacco stalks from which the snuff is ground should first be dried in a nicely regulated heat. It was while drying stalks with a view to grinding later a large quantity of snuff that Lundy Foot turned an accident to good account. His practice it was to kiln-dry his tobacco stalks overnight, leaving them, while he went home to bed, in charge of one, Larry, his assistant. It was Larry’s duty to watch and regulate the heat, seeing to it that the drying process reached only the point where his master considered perfection. Reliable enough when sober, Larry yet had a weakness: poteen proved too much for him on a night when an unusually large batch of tobacco was under treatment. His master found him the next morning, lying unconscious beside the kiln; the neglected stalks had been over-dried to the point of charring, and apparently ruined. Loth to face their complete loss, Lundy Foot ground some in the hope that they might yet provide snuff good enough to sell at a cheap rate to the undiscriminating. On trying a few pinches, he found to his amazement that the slightly burnt or toasted flavour was pleasant and entirely original.

Before long the Lundy Foot High Toast speciality was the rage of Dublin; later it was to make his name familiar far beyond his native city."

The term “Irish Blackguard” memorializes Larry’s contribution to the unwitting discovery of this snuff.