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…

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 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…

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

Being one of those individuals with nothing better to do, I’ve made another four boxes, and patiently wait for them to fully cure. When cured and trimmed I’ll sand the lids down to a smooth finish. I’ll ask a Japanese friend to kindly decorate the lids with some calligraphy in black and orange acrylic, an art in which she excels. Here are two more sites on box making, neither in English, unfortunately. The techniques are relevant, but the finished items do not look suitable for snuff, being far too bulky with high lids. I found that twenty-five gram snuff tins as moulds and large oranges with a thick skin are easiest for a sturdy flat round box with lift-off lid. Moreover the larger sized box is also decidedly more potent. One of these sites recommends delaying the inversion operation until the skins have dried a little. That’s good advice. Also discovered that it’s best to trim away the two weak points on each shell (formed by the poles) as this is where tears usually develop when turning. http://manualidades.facilisimo.com/foros/mas-manualidades/algunas-cosas-reutilizando\\_384931\\_122.html http://solountip.blogspot.com/2011/05/como-reciclar.html

Another neglected material for snuffboxes is papier mâché. Look on the internet and the only papier mâché snuff boxes displayed are antique. This is what one site says of the process: “The commercial production of papier mâché snuffboxes began in the last quarter of the eighteenth century. They were constructed using a patented process of building up layers of paper that were pasted onto a wooden or metal base, each layer being polished and smoothed to give an even surface. The box would have been painted with black lacquer and hand decorated.” http://www.bmagic.org.uk/objects/1944F264 One could of course use a snuff tin for the base and build up the layers of paper from there. Every child in 50s Britain used papier mâché and the process is straightforward. All that is required is newspaper, flour and water. As it so happens this is unnecessary. Craft outlets sell ready-made papier mâché boxes, some for as little as 40 pence. Google images for - papier/paper mâché box - and you will see a plethora of ready-made boxes that may be bought cheaply online. Some shapes and sizes seem suitable for a round snuff box. All you would then have to do is apply a coat of black lacquer, decorate according to artistic ability and then varnish. And there, as facile as the descent into Avernus, is a snuffbox.

I had never heard of the orange peel thing, the only comparable thing I knew about was the old potato skin boxes; a well nigh indestructible papier mache variant. I have some old papier mache boxes, sadly with worn closures now. Many of the old time snuffers would use nothing else. I wonder if plastic is as good, having broadly similar properties? Do the orange peel boxes turn black? I used to make incense holders as a student type, just by leaving an orange in the window. They turned into black, rock like things.

might have to try this myself . i made a few pipes a while back one out of a piece of redwood burl and one out of koa wood that i stained but should have left it natural

Cool thread. I looked at the pictures on the sites and it seems straightforward enough to make an orange peel snuff box. I probably won’t try it but I would love to see other’s efforts. Folk lore like this is great, I dig seeing crafts that people do using everyday stuff, but I’d never have thought of using fruit to make a box. This is cool.

Would it be possible to make one wiht a banana? I think it would be cool. Banana peels are so smooth and would make good art, I think. And maybe adding some of that clear nail polish to it after would make it harder and glossy?

@Brandasaur that would be neat to make a Banana peel snuff box sort of like one of those “Horn” snuff boxes…

I tried and it didnt turn out too well.

@Brandasaur Pictures please! lol Seriously, how did you managed to pull the flesh out without breaking the skin?

Here are some more boxes, which are on Image Shack as I can‘t upload images. My son’s mobile telephone takes a rotten picture so the boxes are much better than portrayed, but its the best I can do. The butterfly was painted by a local artist using acrylics and varnished with Atelier gloss medium. http://imageshack.us/g/832/beforepj.jpg/

They’re fantastic, @PhilipS!

They are wonderful!

Great! These are made ​​according to a very ancient Italian tradition. Sin that tradition for snuff tobacco has been lost along the way…luckily there are still countries like England and Germany who keep alive the flame of this wonderful viciousness!

Here all this time I been throwing away potential snuff boxes. I will have to Try my hand at this.

Just found this video on the subject: http://youtu.be/lG58k5PUymU

@Talljim Thanks for this and welcome Back! :-h

Cheers @basment_shaman Glad to be back.

Great find @Talljim! I’m bookmarking this to remind myself to copy that video for the library. Anyone who can remake it with English subtitles, please let me know!

Just had a crack at this with lemon peel. Still need to make a lid, but made overnight drying it on a radiator! Good and hard and smells of lemons…