I think TB and QES are the only exact duplicates in the WoS line, but there are several snuffs with only slight variations, especially in the SP range: SP Silver is Best SP but a finer grind, Gold Label is Best SP but with Virginia tobacco, SP 100, SP 2 and SS are all related but slightly different. There are quite a few clones of various WoS snuffs among their contract brands: Frederick Tranter, Mullins & Westly, Dean Swift, etc. Samuel Gawith on the other hand has quite a few snuffs under their own label that are different in name only.
@Xander, which of the Samuel Gawiths are duplicates? Can you tell us please?
Off the top of my head: Auld Sannick=Wild Duck, London Brown=Black Rappee, Maās Ruin=Gin & Tonic. I believe there are several more as well, but I donāt have notes on most of them.
Silky Dark - Viking Dark photo by @snuffmeister
I get more sweetness and less citrus from Queens Special
Thatāll probably be batch variations, buddy. WoS themselves have confirmed several times that Tom Buck was the name that they sold QES as to the Americas. For some reason, Americans in the late 18th and early 19th century, didnāt take kindly to stuff affiliated with our monarchy ā¦ :-"
Both names stuck, as for some reason others in various parts of the world also didnāt like stuff affiliated with our monarchy either ā¦ and as time progressed both names got used worldwide. Best SP was originally also known as Queens - so there was Queens (Best SP) and Queens Extra Strong (Tom Buck)
What I was told was that QES was made for the dandy Londoners whereas the manly northerners bought Tom Buck because they wouldnā t be caught dead with some sissy Queen snuff.
Interestingā¦ Thatās a version I hadnāt heard before. Iāll try to do some digging and see in I can find out who Tom Buck was really aimed at ā¦
I figured it was from different batches