Hi, a quick question - is JH Wilson Top Mill what we’d call an SP snuff? What exactly IS the definition of an SP snuff?

More importantly - can you buy larger tins of Top Mill? I can only seem to find small tins - and since this is becoming my go-to snuff, I’m trying to find a larger size.

Thanks!

Yes it’s an SP. What exactly that means is the subject of much conjecture, try oogle searching this site.

Certainly an SP, and a very good one imo.

Medicated 99 and SP No.1 are both available in larger tins, but not Top Mill. At least I’ve never seen the larger tins anywhere, and I have looked. SP is a lightly scented snuff, typically with a little bergamot or citrus, and many makers have an SP type snuff in their repertoire. Wilson’s of Sharrow still have several in their line up, and JHW’s SP No.1 is their version of a WoS snuff. Top Mill was their own scenting profile (as both mills were from the same family, and the JHW site was on a hill overlooking the WoS site, it became known locally as the Top Mill, with WoS known as the Bottom Mill)

Ah! Very interesting - thank you!

I find Top Mill from the 5g bone dry sneezebox better than SP No1 in the same form. And No1 in the 20g tin is spectacular. So would jump all over the chance to get a real tin of Top Mill. If it ever comes available

There were times when JHW released Top Mill in 25 g vac tins. It was still available back in 2009 in some UK shops. Just imagine the joy of those folks who found the source! Old lovely thread with a picture of large Top Mill tin: https://snuffhouse.com/discussion/2789/does-anyone-like-top-mill-no-1/p1

Hah thanks for the link @volunge ! A guy there sums it up: “I would punch 3 people and their moms if I could find this in a 25g’er”

Bone dry sneezebox sums it up well @ar47. JH would sell loads of Top Mill if they ever brought it back in 25g vac cans.

The last couple of ‘tins’ of JHW SP no1 I’ve had are made by McBarens. They are a round thin sneezebox and aren’t like SP No1 I remember. From the same tobacconist I got supposedly Medicated 99 - that was in a small Wilson’s type tin but actually had Hedges in it!!!

Have a rectangular tin I got back in 1983 while summing in London in my teenager days. For certain bone dry and opened just a few years ago and is very well treasured as is. Excellent and irreplaceable. Top Mill is in my top drawer of dry snuffs!

Top Mill is exquisite. I find it similar to Toque Ambrosia but better due to having more holding power to the smell.

I haven’t tried the latest version of Top Mill S.P, now made by the Mac Baren Tobacco Company, but the original Top Mill was for decades the flagship snuff of J&H Wilsons – even after the company passed into the hands of Imperial in 1953. Why it was so successful in the north of England is described below.

In the latter part of Victoria’s reign, Sharrow’s S.P was sold in a number of northern counties (including Yorkshire) as Top S.P. and had been for many years. Their astute rivals, J&H Wilsons, registered ‘Top Mill’ as a brand name in 1899 and then sent agents posing as customers to tobacconists asking for Top Mill S.P and were invariably served Top S.P. The tobacconists then received letters threatening legal action unless they published an apology (framed by J&H Wilson’s solicitors) in newspapers and Sharrow’s Top S.P was withdrawn. Sharrow had expected that their S.P would continue to sell without the prefix ‘Top’ but, in the words of Mark Chaytor, “they had underestimated the innate conservatism of the snufftaker. ‘Top’ he was accustomed to and ‘Top’ he must have, even if it did have a different flavour”. A large part of Sharrow’s valuable market was lost this way and the cloth cap, clogs n’ braces communities continued with J&H Wilsons Top Mill S.P. thereafter.

J&H Wilson’s trade brochure briefly describes Top Mill as: “Very similar to S.P No.1, but with added flavour in a higher concentration. This however does not encroach on the taste of the balanced blend of tobacco”.

Thank you for shedding light on it, @PhilipS2! Fascinating details, indeed.

J.&H. Wilson triplet and Hedges nowadays are made by WoS for Mac Baren, who acquired these brands some years ago.

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Recently picked up this box. I do wish it was available in something other than those dreadful 5g tap tins, but alas, if I want it, it seems that is my only choice at this point (the old plastic rectangular boxes they used to use were only slightly better). In any case, when I break into this dusty dozen, you can be assured that I will be decanting the lot into more suitable storage.

I wrote a brief history of Queen’s snuff available as a pdf file. What has that to do with S.P you might ask? My research indicates that S.P, apart from the taste imparted by choice of tobacco mix, method of’ laying down’ and liquoring was originally unscented. The double liquoring in water mixed with Pearl Ash (top cistern) and lime (lower cistern) and finally a solution of alum produced a type of snuff known as Brown Scotch – a moister version of the regular dry Scotch. I posted an early recipe for S.P Scotch a while back.

A manufacturer came up with the idea of scenting S.P with, amongst other scents, citrus of bergamot (Citrus Bergamia) obtained from Reggio-Colabria in Italy, which is a cross between pear lemon and the Seville orange and calling it Queens. Who the original manufacturer was remains unknown to me but soon all the major Houses were producing their own versions of Queens based on S.P. Two versions of ‘the leading Queens’ by Taddy & Co. were posted a while back. Additional flavourings could include lavender, lemon, cinnamon, and Otto Rose – but the predominant flavour of Queens is bergamot.

Mark Chaytor in his history of the Wilsons of Sharrow tells us that their S.P. was evolved over time. Somewhere in this evolution S.P. took on the flavour of Queens and was named Best SP. Thanks to Sharrow, most people now associate the demigros Brown Scotch S.P. with an Earl Grey ambience because of the bergamot.

When Joseph and Henry Wilson parted ways they would undoubtedly have known the recipe but from the outset determined to make an S.P. that was different to Sharrow’s version – and so it was. The recipe passed into the hands of C.C Harland of Windemere and was known in the trade as Mr. Harland’s Formula.

Others may disagree but I always found J&H Wilsons S.P. has but the merest hint of bergamot, relying for its pungency and flavour on the tobacco mixture and the degree of fermentation. I preferred it to Sharrow’s version for that reason.

Tom Buck is another Queens-style S.P. with a higher concentration of flavouring. Here is a page from the Sales & Pollard notebook. As yet I can’t decipher the book as everything is coded. It clearly shows, however, that Tom Buck is very similar to No. 3 QS (which I presume to be Queen’s). Who first made a snuff under the name of ‘Tom Buck’ is unknown to me. It was only added to the Sharrow list in 1844 so another large manufacturer would have been the first to use the name. If my supposition that the snuff is after Thomas ‘Buck’ Whaley (1765-1800) is correct then its inception in the early 19th century is likely. Probably regency when there was a vogue for naming snuffs after people (Esterhazy, Blucher, Wellington, Jefferson etc.)

I hope that answers your question on what is an S.P.

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