Hello everyone, I’ve been off this forum for a long while because I went back to full-time cigarettes. However it’s been almost ten days since my last stick, and I’ve switched back to snuff… seems I’ve forgotten how much I ADORE cramming tobacco powder in my nose. Oh so lovely. But, I want to try grinding my own. I’ve got several forms of tobacco to use: 1. “Kentucky Twist” chewing tobacco twist made by American Snuff Co. and it’s pretty damn dry and brittle already 2. “Bourbon Select” chewing tobacco loose leaf, also extremely dry 3. “Autumn Evening” ribbon cut pipe tobacco, from Cornell & Diehl, it needs to dry some more but smells amazing And I bought a plastic “herb grinder” from a head shop. It has pretty course teeth so I’m concerned that it won’t grind finely enough… it’s one of those grinders that’s essentially used just for marijuana but I didn’t want to use my pepper grinder and end up sticking pepper residue into my nose… ick Does anyone have thoughts, or advice, methods for grinding your own?? Any help would really be appreciated!! Thanks chaps!
Mortar and pestle, Burr grinder, ball mill are your best bets. Blade grinder will work. Don’t be afraid of a little pepper. Or you could clean the grinder first.
Burr grinder You can adjust the grind. coffee grinder in short burst, sieve to desired size
Just found this http://www.ebay.com/itm/TOBACCO-GRINDER-Civil-War-CUTTER-Snuff-CAST-IRON-Country-General-Store-CIGARETTE-/360808209821?pt=Folk\_Art&hash=item5401d85d9d Probably only for smoking tobaccos
I use a Krupps blade grinder. It’s hard to get a consistent grind like the commercial snuffs, though. I really want to get a set of sieves that are between 150-400 micron. Then I could get a few different degrees of consistent courseness.
I’ve used a blade type coffee grinder and a pair of my wifes pantyhose as a sieve with decent results.
I wish I had read this post before I attempted making snuff last year. I took a tin of C&D Easy Times and put it through a coffee grinder. While pleasant it was still far too coarse for my liking. I can’t believe that I did not think to strain it through a sieve. You live, you learn.
I just bought a ball mill, designed as a rock tumbler. Basically just a rolling drum that you fill up with dry tobacco and ball bearings, which fall on the tobacco and crush it. Then strain and rehydrate with washing soda and salt. Excellent results! I used Cornell and Diehl Tuggle Hall, pure the flavor is a bit strong, so I mixed 50-50 with Toque Violet. Fantastic! I’ll post an image when I can take one.
^ on my phone your image is just an image of “image”
@n9inchnails: new Androod. Can’t get the hang of it. I’ll rectify it when I access a real computer.
Okay, I still can’t post the image, but here’s a link to the Wikipedia articledescribing a ball mill: A ball mill, a type of grinder, is a cylindrical device used in grinding (or mixing) materials like ores, chemicals, ceramic raw materials and paints. Ball mills rotate around a horizontal axis, partially filled with the material to be ground plus the grinding medium. Different materials are used as media, including ceramic balls, flint pebbles and stainless steel balls. An internal cascading effect reduces the material to a fine powder. Industrial ball mills can operate continuously, fed at one end and discharged at the other end. Large to medium-sized ball mills are mechanically rotated on their axis, but small ones normally consist of a cylindrical capped container that sits on two drive shafts (pulleys and belts are used to transmit rotary motion). A rock tumbler functions on the same principle. Ball mills are also used in pyrotechnics and the manufacture of black powder, but cannot be used in the preparation of some pyrotechnic mixtures such as flash powder because of their sensitivity to impact. High-quality ball mills are potentially expensive and can grind mixture particles to as small as 5 nm, enormously increasing surface area and reaction rates. The grinding works on the principle of critical speed. The critical speed can be understood as that speed after which the steel balls (which are responsible for the grinding of particles) start rotating along the direction of the cylindrical device; thus causing no further grinding.
I should say that before I got this, I also tried to use a blade blender. The results were much, much less satisfactory. I don’t know it it’s just that a blade can’t grind the tobacco as finely, or if the grind is uneven, or if the blade bruises or overheats the tobacco, but when I used the blades, the results were a powder that caused sneezing and excessive nasal irritation. With the ball grinder, the snuff is quite fine and, with the addition of the washing soda and salt, tastes and feels like a commercial snuff might. At that point, the biggest obstacle remains selecting the right tobaccos and perhaps adding scent and flavour. As I said, I cheated by using 50-50 home-made and Toque Violet, but the combination was far greater than the sum of the parts.
Either electric coffee bean grinder or pepper mill. Of course I always strain it.
I make all my own I use a magic bullet. Dry out the tobacco, grind, and rehydrate when done
I too use a ball mill, or rather a harbor freight rock tumbler. I keep meaning to find steel balls to use as media, but right now I’m using a length of chain, and it does a great job. I’m still trying to figure out what size mesh I need for a sieve, and then I’ll be set. Making tobacco flour is only one aspect of the task though. Making snuff from the flour is the real trick. Do yourself a favor. Stop messing around with coffee grinders, food processors and the like. Spend the $30 on a rock tumbler and never look back. A pestle and mortar is the next best thing, but is painfully slow and laborious. My rock tumbler will reduce a pound of dry tobacco to a perfect powder in a couple of hours with practically no effort. Just load it up, switch it on, and walk away.
Apologies for reviving an older thread, but… here we go… Bought myself a marble mortar and pestle with the hope of experimenting with some bulk pipe tobacco that has gone a little too dry for my taste. Any advice on how to eliminate the marble dust that comes from grinding, as I certainly don’t want that up my nose. All resources I have found refer to food-related usage (naturally) and recommend grinding dry white rice until it comes out clean… I don’t want rice up my nose either. I have had a few tries with sea salt and it seems that the results are getting somewhat cleaner. Should I just keep going with the salt until I achieve the desired result? Should I sacrifice some tobacco to season it? Any advice would be appreciate. I don’t mind the elbow grease and like the idea of being able to do something for myself with my own hands and being able to experience familiar tobaccos in a new way. Just looking to have a little fun. Thanks in advance gents.
My mortar and pestle are lab grade china and were already broken in when I got them, so I don’t have the same problem as you. I would think you could try the rice and salt until you got acceptable results. Then I would polish it with mineral oil. I use mine to make small batches where I mix American moist snuff with White Elephant. You wouldn’t believe the strong ammonia smell that is released, but it goes away. Last night I mixed Kayak Wintergreen with WE and added some eucalyptus oil. Really intense aroma and very high in free nicotine. One of these days I’ll catch a rock tumbler on sale at Harbor Freight Hardware, buy a couple of pounds of bulk leaf and try to make something from scratch.
I’ve seen some ball mills with rubber drums; will this work for snuff if used with ball bearings?
Even so… the experience of spending some time with a finishing (as in after sieving) mortar in your hand should not be missed. Pinching from the mortar is not only acceptable but is encouraged. Enjoy!