Dedicated to those DIY enthusiasts who have absolutely nothing better to do - The Mediterranean custom of making snuffboxes from cured citrus peel is a very old one and is mentioned in several texts on snuff or perfumery. The oil in the skin continues to flavour snuff for several years (apparently) and the box itself lasts indefinitely with care. Below is the Italian link showing professionally made tabacchiere from the dried peel of bergamot. (The plain ones retail at 6.5 Euro, a remarkable profit for a fruit peel). http://www.bergarte.it/ Many people, however, will not have access to whole bergamot but all have access to oranges and these too may be used to make boxes. This Spanish site shows how round boxes are made from oranges - http://manualidadesdetiempolibre-yaz.blogspot.com/2011/04/muy-buena-cajas-con-cascara-de-naranja.html Made two successful boxes (10 & 25 gram) and can testify that they naturally flavour plain snuff with a scent of orange. The olfactory effect is really very satisfactory indeed … and with tight fitting lids the boxes do not leak snuff. (See pictures). The lid of the smaller box was sanded down with the intent of decoration with acrylic paints but inspiration failed at this point. The wedge shaped insert was filed out to facilitate opening. Both boxes are like wood but very light and they took only four days to fully cure. Making these boxes is more difficult than the Spanish site suggests. It recommends that after removal of fruit and pith (leaving the interior a clean white) the skins should be soaked in a hot soda solution prior to inversion and moulding to make them pliant and malleable. Out of my dozen oranges, however, only two survived the turn-inside-out operation. No matter - I like fresh orange juice.
that is fantastic! self flavoring, organic snuff boxes … very nice.
Wow! Thanks for that PhilipS, most interesting - and eco-friendly too…
Thin skinned oranges like mandarins and tangerines would probably easier to use and might not require soaking. “The manufacture of snuff-boxes from orange-peel still goes on in Italy to-day. " At Acireale … I saw the hemispherical halves of sour orange rinds being tied with their inner sides out over ends of wooden cylinders and slowly dried in the sun. These are made to take the form of flat halves of disc-like snuff boxes, the inside being the oil bearing part of the rind and retaining its aromatic sour orange odor, and the outside, when polished and rubbed, giving the appearance of light buckskin. The larger halves as lids are made to just fit over the next smaller ones, making the completed disc-shaped boxes.” From: Hesperides: a history of the culture and use of citrus fruits by Samuel Tolkowsky (J. Bale, Sons & Curnow, Ltd., 1938) p.308.
Will definitely give this a try! Thanks for the link.
Thats really cool.
Fascinating information, PhilipS. Thanks for sharing. I’m not sure if I want to try that method of snuffbox making, but I love reading these bits of arcane snuff lore.
Thanks for the quote SnuffGrinder, hadn‘t seen that one before. I’d read about cured peel snuffboxes in older sources, but assumed the craft to be dead. When another member found a picture of a contemporary bergamot snuff flask, I investigated and found the fascinating Italian site above. That it continues in Reggio Calabria today was due to the lone efforts of a parish priest, who passed on his avocation in the 1990s. The Italian peasants of long ago who first used these containers were the heirs to the original bergamot flavoured snuff.
For those arty-types who want to try their hand at making their own boxes, here are some tips that hopefully should assist. Bisect the fruit through the poles rather than the equator so you don’t end up with a hole where the stem was. Remove all orange completely so that the interior is clean and white. This will eventually be the exterior of the box. Inverting the peel without tearing is difficult. The easiest method, I discovered, is to place the shells in boiling water with soda for twenty minutes, retrieve and remove excess liquid with a kitchen towel. Use the back of a spoon to gently smooth the interior and then stretch each half over a Samuel Gawith 25gram tin, fastening with an elastic band. Place a heavy weight over it overnight. After twelve hours or so you can then, with care, remove and turn each half inside out without damage. Some ad hoc reasoning is required for the moulds. For a large orange I used two 25gram tins, one from Sam Gawith and one from Sharrow, for the lid and base respectively. The inverted shells are stretched over the tin bases and fastened as before. Don’t trim edges too early as the peel will shrink. If you used the soda solution then the white part of the peel (the exterior of the box) will not crack. To get a really tight fit between lid and base, half cure, remove the lid only and place it over the base. Alternatively fully cure both parts, remove lid only and slightly re-hydrate the rim before placing it over the base. To make lifting off the lid a little easier try sanding down the base rim so that it is perfectly smooth. The professional boxes are all sanded down and some are painted. After four days in sunlight the peel is surprisingly tough so trim the rims before fully hardened and afterwards file them down with sandpaper. If it isn’t sunny then curing will probably take several weeks. Try filling a completed box with a plain snuff such as rappee or Irish. The effect is really very good.
I guess I’ll be buying a bag of oranges tomorrow. Actually, I may just get a few grapefruit as well, and try it with them.
You wouldn’t be able to do this with something like a pomegranate, could you?
This is absolutely fascinating! I never would have thought about using orange peel to make a snuff box. Of course it makes perfect sense, a dried out piece of peel is tough as old leather. Thanks for sharing this. Dave
The Spanish web page also refers to lemons also being used to make boxes. transistor, I don’t know if pomegranate rind would work, but it might be worth a try. Pomegranate doesn’t have much aroma, so you might not want to try turning it inside out anyway. You could just coat the inside with white glue thinned with water. I remember an old discussion that mentioned Chinese snuff bottles still being made from orange peel. I’ll see if I can find find it & bump it up.
This is a really interesting thread. I’d like to see some people’s efforts at making these boxes. Post pics when you’ve made one. Stefan
Yeah, I’m definitely up for seeing peoples creations. I might have a go at making one too… I’ve got more time on my hands than usual.
This is great. I may have to try this out as well.
Cool, thanks, @PhilipS ! Can you tell us more about the ‘soda solution’? What specifically do you mean and in what ratios? I’m guessing you mean ‘Baking soda’ and water, but I wanted to double check see if you can recommend a strength…
The Spanish web page says to soak the peels in a solution of hot water & 1 tablespoon soda for twelve hours. The amount of water and type of soda isn’t specified. Looking at the picture, I’d say about 300 ml of water & since the person isn’t using gloves, baking soda. I wouldn’t handle anything sitting in that strong of solution of washing soda with bare hands.
I personally think this is the best post in the history of the site; outstanding in all the right areas - weird, arcane, related to the history of the art and practical. Very cool PhilipS.
Snuffgrinder gave me the idea when he discovered that the old tradition still continues today and mailed a splendid picture of a painted example. Like many snuff takers I was aware of cured peel boxes, but for some reason assumed them to be a thing of the past. Was delighted to be proved wrong. http://snuffhouse.org/discussion/comment/162873/#Comment\_162873