It seems to be that flue cured Virginia is the way to go. As you said, the fire cured stuff would be great for blending, but not as a base. I emailed the guy about the Virginia scraps, the description says that they have cosmetic faults. As long as the taste is unaffected, the cosmetic qualities are unimportant, since they’re going to be pulverized anyway. I hope it’s only cosmetic, because the scraps are only $9.99/lb, which will make experimenting very inexpensive.
Try some Flue cured Burley too! Good for snuff blending. Virginia would be great for flavor, but mild in the Nic department. The Virginia taste in the Gold Label snuff is top notch. I have both Burley and Virginia currently aging as snuff, unflavored as of yet.
Yes, I was thinking of blending in some burley too. Can I ask you a little more about ageing? I really like the idea of doing this. At this low price, I could buy enough for a couple of years, and keep some for use and some forr ageing. I was thinking about putting it in mason jars (pulverized but unflavored) in a cool dark place, but I’m all ears if you have other suggestions. How long is too long for ageing? Will it continue to improve for years, or is there an upper limit?
Different strains of tobacco respond differently to aging. As a general rule, Burley undergoes the least amount of change over time, and Virginia the most. Perique, being a derivative of Burley, won’t change much in terms of the flavor itself, but it will mellow significantly with time. As for Orientals, your guess is as good as mine. As long as the airtight seal is intact, you can age tobacco indefinitely. In practical terms, very few have the patience to age a batch for more than ten years, although I’ve heard of a few very patient pipe smokers opening a 40-year-old tin and raving about how good it was. If you vacuum seal your storage containers, don’t bleed all of the air out. It’s the interaction between the air and the tobacco that allows for proper aging.
Yup, it’s Virginia I intend to age. I’m thinking of buying several pounds a year, some to use, some to age. I will be able to build it up so that I have ten year old stuff regularly eventually. Does the aging process lead to the buildup of nitrosamines, or does that process halt once the air is used up?
anyone know what brand of american cigarettes are made from virginia tobacco ?
I really can’t speak to the nitrosamine question, but it wouldn’t surprise me if aging increases them. By how much, I can’t say. Maybe someone else will have more information. @jpsks: Most American cigarettes will have a small amount of Virginia leaf, but they are mostly Burley. Some brands from Canada, the UK, and elsewhere are primarily Virginia, but I couldn’t tell you which ones.
American Spirits (judging by taste) contain a fair amount of virginia tobacco, although I don’t think they are 100% virginia tobacco.
Well I know that fermenting tobacco increases the nitrosamine content, but fermentation is not the same thing as ageing. Hmm. Well it’s probably best not to worry about these things too much. Setting the tobacco on fire is what really gets the nitrosamines going. I bet there are more nitrosamines in the smoke from one cigarette than there would be in a pound of aged virginia snuff…
Just got a reply to the email I sent to leafonly.com about their Virginia scraps. They are described as being in poor cosmetic condition, so I explained that cosmetics don’t matter as I will be turning it into powder anyway, but asked if flavor would be affected. Here’s the reply: Hi James, Sorry it took a while to get back to you. The Virginia scraps are in pretty good condition for scrap leaf - the flavor shouldn’t be affected. Looks like it’s ok for snuff then! The best part is that the scraps are only $9.99/lb, which means It will be cheap to experiment with. I can’t order for a week or two, so guys please don’t buy it all… :o)
I can’t afford the shipping to Hawaii.
How much is it? The shipping to NY is pretty steep if you only want a pound, $11 and change, but it doesn’t go up much if you buy more.
@doctorbeat - I use rustica for Abraxas - its not ‘hardcore’ - its what you do with it that makes it so. My snuff is very mild. I could also turn it into something like Dholakia White.
The shipping for one pound to 96753 is $48.93.
@Snuffster: well I’ve heard amazing things about Abraxas, so it’s obvious that very pleasant snuff can be made from rustica. Without giving away your trade secrets, could you tell me why my burley snuff burns so much, and what, if anything, I could do to mellow it down a little? I have made snuff from two different burleys, and it feels like cayenne pepper no matter how moist. @Juxtaposer: wow! That’s rather expensive! I tried putting increasing numbers of pounds in my shopping cart and checking how much this increased shipping costs. I found that each additional pound only added a buck or so to the shipping, so maybe you could try a similar experiment. You might find ordering a larger amount proves to be more economical in the long run. I have no association with the company, and I haven’t bought anything from them yet, but the guy seems very pleasant and helpful via email. Why don’t you try emailing him and asking if there’s anything he could do about the high shipping cost? From browsing the website, I get the impression that they often supply bulk tobacco, so this may have skewed the shipping prices a little. Often, these websites use an automatic system to estimate shipping costs, and if you speak to a human being, they might be able to give you a better quote. If he’s really nice, he may even pop a pound into a flat rate box for you or something. Might get you nowhere, but it never hurts to ask…
Fortunately I am not that interested in obtaining pounds of unprocessed tobacco. I have enough rustica, thuoc lao, mapacho, perique, turkish etc. for experimenting. I also plan to grow some plants this year so I should really concentrate my efforts there. I did look at getting the price down by upping the poundage but the result is just too way much tobacco for toying around.
@doctorbeat - it is impossible to say why your burley snuff burns because there are so many variables and subjective issues - I might take a pinch as a seasoned snuffer and detect no burn at all, or it may be additives that you are unaware of in the source tobacco. The only way to tone it down is to dilute it with other snuff. I recommend that you use the stuff you have made as a blending flour with commercial snuff - you can experiment with the flavours you like and end up with a hybrid that spins out your commercial snuff. If your home made is too strong just add it to some medium strength commercial snuff; Toque or WoS snuffs would be good. Toque also do a very nice neutral, mid nicotine snuff called Natural which would probably work well. The options are endless. There are plenty of posts about this and some stuff on the FAQ that should help. I would read as much as you can and then start from scratch again, rather than keep trying to modify something that has not worked out.
Yes, that seems like sound advice, it’s probably casings or additives in the tobacco. I’m just going to forget it and buy some unprocessed leaf.
Remember, rustica is an entirely different species of tobacco, not just a variety.
Ok, well with a little (ok, a LOT) of help from @Whalen and @Snuffmiller, I managed to make snuff out of this stuff! Turns out the problem wasn’t the tobacco, it was the fact that I was just pulverizing it and calling it snuff. To make even the most basic snuff, the tobacco must be processed a lot more than just grinding the stuff into a powder. The snuff is nothing to write home about, but it is pleasant tasting and has the proper nicotine ‘lift’. I’m pretty excited about this, because if I can make good snuff from mediocre tobacco using a rushed process, imagine what can be done with good tobacco and proper fermenting times :oD