Archive created 18/10/2025
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Join Our Discord ServerDid you see this, @Jonny ? From their X account:
Might have been nice if they let you know before you bought out all their leftovers! Still, it remains to be seen if they’ll truly be the same. McChrystal’s dry, fine style is the antithesis of Bernard’s moist fluffy grind.
That is excellent news. I am really pleased, that has made my day. It saves us so much bother and means we can keep on selling good snuff, probably now with less hassle from the authorities.
Well, let’s see how things work out in the real world of course, but I think that on the face of it, that is outstanding. Great minds think alike
It is a fine snuff, hopefully they hire someone from Bernard as a consultant to ensure it’s up to snuff!
I would take this news with a grain of salt in terms of the matter of what actually ends up being produced in the end. Sure, the label art will look the same, but the rest, well, we’ll see… Personally, I do not have very high expectations.
But why be so pessimistic? McChrystals is a professional company producing snuffs for 100 years. I take them at their word. Please detail your reasons for thinking otherwise.
Thanks. Graeme
They don’t grind their own tobacco , they’ve only recently been making their own snuffs again . Their style is alien to the Bernard style .There’s real doubt they can even make (most of) the snuffs in the original way . There’s plenty to be concerned about with the announcement . I’m just hopeful they can pull it off ,
Liste der Zusatzstoffe in Tobakprodukten 2004
One might still be able to download the above document as a pdf or some other format. It is a list of additives in (German) tobacco products 2004. The Bernard snuffs are included and a sample page is enclosed.
I’m not qualified to say but wonder if, perhaps, some of the additives would not be permitted in UK snuff production despite German safety standards being high. Perhaps the expert who posts as Volunge will have something to say.
As pointed out, Wilsons of Sharrow is now the only remaining facility in Britain that can manufacture snuff flour on a commercial basis. They would have to supply McChrystal’s .
I’m guessing Poschl is still a viable route for suitable bases too .Even finished snuffs under contract . In my opinion the source tobacco is the smallest hurdle for McChrystals to make the stuff inhouse .
I hope they manage to sucessfully resurect these snuffs.
It’s a damn shame the EU bureaucracy brought on the end of so many iconic brands and snuffs.
Bernard is particularly galling . You could argue that artisan producers and makers like Rosinski or De Kralingse were already revivals of long dead traditions and didn’t have the standing for special consideration . It’s different with Bernard : a virtually unbroken line of living heritage snuffed out by bullshit
But the children might get access to snuff if snuff is being made!
Only if degenerate half wits give it to them.
“Oh the children!” The battle cry of every prohibitionist.
Give it a rest or find a more suitable thread to antagonise.
Sweet! Hopefully this pans out.
And, on top of the additives matter, as far as I am aware Wilsons of Sharrow does not currently produce anything close to the base flour type(s) characteristic of the Bernard’s schmalzlers (or others, such as the venerable Gekachelter Virginie and Kownoer). I suspect that Pöschl would be the obvious choice to supply prepared flour to McChrystal’s, in the Teutonic style, but even then what about the subsequent processes that Bernard utilized at their full leaf-to-tapbox operation in Bavaria? McChrystal’s is good at what they do, applying scentings to prepared base flours and packing them in tins for sale, but unless their operation has changed dramatically recently, I seriously doubt they have either the knowledge or the technical capacity to do proper justice to anything in the Bernard’s catalogue, past or present.
The deal has been done and it appears as though no one else stepped up, so I guess we’ll see what transpires.
Claudia is fluent in English and she previously confirmed that Pöschl will not take on the responsibility for Bernard. However, what I didn’t consider, until I read your post, Demigros, was whether they would supply the flour to McChrystals. Feel free to send her an email and ask.
Claudia Schratzenstaller at Claudia.schratzenstaller@poeschl-tabacco-de
Of course it is not possible to judge the result before it has happened - but I stand by my claim that it is impossible for a different manufacturer to duplicate a snuff so that it is indistinguishable from the original.
Witness Fribourg & Treyer and the Viking range – and these are English snuffs still made by an English manufacturer. They are good in their own right but they differ from the originals.
Charles from McChrystal posted this on Pipe Smokers Den:
“Please rest assured we have spent many hours with them learning they’re processes that we honor their traditions and provide you all with the products that you know and love. we have spent many hours with them learning their processes that we may carry them on.”… and “we will be using the same recipes of that I can assure you.”
As for the speculations about ingredients allowed in UK snuff, apparently the “British tobacco Purity Laws” is something of a myth. Not only did it mainly apply to tobacco itself rather than processing or flavoring, it was rescinded in 1986.
Did Claudia say why they didn’t want to take over Bernard? They would have been the obvious candidate.
I can only agree with this. Honestly, Bernard’s is dead, just as F&T is, Samuel Gawith is, and so many others are. If McChrystal’s manages to make some good, or even great, snuffs bearing the old Bernard artwork on the labels, kudos to them. The more new snuffs there are out there, the better. Maybe I will like them more than Bernard’s original offerings themselves, but you are quite right: it is impossible for a different manufacturer to duplicate a snuff indistinguishable from the original. It’s the same general rule that applies to French wines, Italian cheeses, Cuban cigars, and all those kinds of things.
I feel like this chat has pigeon holed Bernard as nothing more than a brand. No different from Kraft foods, P&G or Unilever. I don’t even care for Bernard but the current state of events have proven that the most lazy attempt at marketing is the quite successful. Why is brand prominence so important? Is not McCrystal’s prominence sufficient to launch a new brand? I feel like favoring a tradition that old is similar to taking preference to a horse and buggy, when I have a new saloon parked in the garage. When I buy snuff, I buy what I like. And sometimes I like a tradition. Like a good beer, you’ll never know if the magic was some rogue employees boogers until the rogue is gone. Branding can signal value in industrial products, but snuff is a craft product.
I don’t think anyone uses Bernard’s (or any) snuff if they don’t like it. It’s not because it has a tradition going back 300 years, but that tradition informs the uniqueness of their products. Like you said, it’s a craft product which some favor and some don’t.
Personally, I don’t like any McChrystal’s snuffs. Their style is the polar opposite to Bernard’s. Fine, dry, thin, light, single prominent flavor vs. fluffy, moist, dense, dark, complex blends of multiple flavors. So I think it’s justifiable to wonder if McC is capable of duplicating something they have no experience making.
You spelled out what I mean when I say buying a tradition.
Yes, Bernard’s long, long history of snuff production is over. Even if the names and artwork continues the contents will be different.
When Pöschl Tabak took over the Perlesreuter company they maintained they would keep the same recipe for their (Perlesreuter ‘s) flagship Schmalzer but I never sampled the original so a comparison was not possible. However, Perlesreuter’s Schmalzer (made by Pöschl) was black, rather than the brown colour of Pöschl’s usual fare, and very rich in flavour. (Or at least it was). I don’t know if it is still made but the point is that Pöschl, unlike McChrystal’s, were/are capable of making a genuine German Schmalzer. Unfortunately, as per an earlier post, Pöschl Tabak have declined continuation of any of the Bernard line.
The grades of Schmalzler, as most here are doubtless aware, depend on the amount of mangotes they contain. The higher the proportion of mangotes, the better and more expensive the Schmalzler which is why the Bernard snuffs sold in those glass jars in Germany varied so much in cost. As Filek as pointed out in his excellent book (ask him for an English copy for more detail) there are four methods of making snuff and that these are:
Carrot Method (obsolete to the best of my knowledge)
The Paris Method (Samuel Gawith was the last manufacturer to use this method in the UK for their genuine rappee)
Rapid Method (how most snuff is manufactured-see the article on J&H Wilsons)
Schmalzler Method (Bavarian specialty)
Just how a company whose activities are confined to blending and/or adding flavours to Sharrow’s flour and packaging in tins with the McChrystal’s label are expected to recreate the genuine Bavarian Schmalzler Method of snuff production eludes me.
BTW - I don’t know whether it was still available when the business folded but Bernard’s Amostrinha has an interesting history. Amostrinha was the name of a very old snuff manufactured by the Portuguese and exported to China in huge quantities via their colony in Macau. It was very popular with the Chinese who were great snuff-takers and provided a valuable source of income to Portugal. (Britain, by comparison, exported opium to China and reaped an even greater income). However, I doubt whether Bernard’s version is in any way similar to the original Portuguese snuff.
That was a very interesting post. Thanks. But I don’t know this word. Can you help?
Its Spanish for those sleeves printers used to wear to keep ink of their shirts. Not sure if I am helping
“The Schmalzler is a mix of Brasil tobacco and special tobacco made of the so-called mangotes. Mangotes are tobaccos weaved into thick ropes in Brasil. They come freshly from the field, get weaved and pressed with special sauces. In the end they are sewed into fresh bullskin. These packages weigh up to 80 kilos. Now they are imported into Germany, where they age in a long process. If neccessary, the skins are cut up, the ropes cut into pieces and mixed with the fermented Brasil tobacco.” Bernard Schnupftabak GmbH - Schmalzler-Production
"Schmalzler - Produktion. Raw tobacco. In this type of snuff, dark tobaccos are processed, such as they are used in the production of cigars. These are dark – air-cured tobaccos.
One special type of Schmalzler snuff is Mangotes, which is also known as Fresko. This spiced tobacco is produced in Brazil, which is why this Schmalzler is often referred to by the name “Brasil”. Mangotes gets its rum-type flavour through fermentation in its country of origin. It is sent to Germany in traditional packaging after being spun into strands and sewn into untanned cow skins." Schmalzler - Production - Poeschl Tabak
" A Mangote Roll is a processed tobacco product in the form of a thick rope that fundamentally is manufactured by saucing and then spinning a quantity of fresh tobacco leaves and then subjecting the resulting green rope to a fermentation process. Mangote rolls are a product of Brasil where traditionally they are sewn into fresh cowhides for the purpose of packaging for exportation, though one tobacco manufacturing concern states that the mangotes they source are nowadays packed in plastic rather than skins (T. Alhäuser-Clausen, personal communication, 2022-11-23). A sort of snuff tobacco that is customarily made with mangote tobacco is the Bavarian schmalzler." Mangote Roll
Do ya’ll think they’ll put it in a tin? Or keep the tap-style?
Is anyone aware of any progress / news about this?
