AKA Johnny Scott, of course. Yet again the snuff gods favour me with an advance taste of two very special blends - and if you liked the Creme de Figue you will adore these. ‘Fields of Junipers’ must be the oddest named snuff in the entire canon but who can fathom the borderers; maybe it’s a perfectly typical kind of name ‘way oop North’ - whatever, it’s superb. A medium fine, medium moisture rustica snuff with a very decent nicotine content, FoJ is heavenly and something I would buy in bulk whoever made it; always the highest praise I can give. Juniper is a wonderful flavouring for snuff, it just works and this is moreish in the extreme, one of those you keep absent mindedly taking until the snuff box is empty. ‘Auld Alliance’ is a coarse, medium moist snuff that features a burley laced flour with a deeply, gloriously rich complexity that is pure nasal heaven. I have a large tin in front of me and every time I take a pinch I get a different set of flavours suggesting themselves; vanilla, toffee and, of all things, Red Man chewing tobacco; that raisin like flavour that always jumps out of a fresh pack. Pure class. I think the artisan blenders of the past would understand these snuffs - tantalisingly they suggest flavours and textures that have been long forgotten, but these snuffs are surely the like of which Dryden and Swift would have enjoyed whilst sipping the wares of the old London coffee houses. We can’t be sure our art will survive the modern world - maybe it won’t - so enjoy them now. Johnny tells me the first consignments are on route to the warehouse this weekend. If only the labels said Abraxas…
I love Creme de Figue enough to have bought a 50g jar, but I wonder sometimes if it isn’t just Red Man Plug ground up into snuff and mixed with a lighter Virginia or burley. Not that that would alter my appreciation of it.
I can definitely vouch for it not being ground up Redman. Handmade in every way with sauces made by the blender from natural ingredients - I wouldn’t waste my time on a fake.
Oh man, I just HAVE to have these…
Fields of Junipers sounds wonderful! Mr.snuff must love you guys!
I’m sure they’ll taste and smell as glorious as they sound. !!!
I’ll definitely be ordering both, given the excellence of Creme de Figue.
When, man, WHEN?!? I must try them all!
Creme de Figue #1 Wow!
@Abraxas Thanks for the update. Since your new batch of Premium Batch Coarse and the Cafe 11 arrived I have been meaning to put in an order with Mr.Snuff but I have just been up to my neck in work and was going to order tomorrow. If these two are going to turn up in the next few days then I will hold off for a couple of days and order them - and yours - all in one go. I love the aroma of Juniper incense - and most of my favourite pipe tobaccos have some Burley in them - so these two sound ideal. If they can compare with the Creme de Figue then they will be a real treat. And having been using your Cerise I have no doubt that the Premium Batch and the Cafe 11 will also be excellent. I was dreading next week from a work perspective but if I can order all four of these snuffs at some point then the week looks rather improved.
I hope cafe and PBS live up to your expectations Chris, but I have to say that these two by Johnny are in a class of their own. I have been using the juniper exclusively over the last couple of days and what a snuff, just a virtuoso piece of blending. Lest anybody start to wonder, I have no business interest in them, I am just delighted to see such an exciting hand made product emerge - I think you will understand when you sample them.
Getting more excited by the minute…
FoJ and AA sound absolutely heavenly!
@Abraxas Your Cerise has been going down - or should that be up - very well so between that experience and all the reviews I have read I’m pretty sure that they will be equally fine. I’m not quite old enough to remember the Georgian snuffs but I think we are living in a golden age of snuff right now. Between you, Sir Johnny, Roderick and Jaap there are some superb snuffs available. I salute you all.
That’s very kind of you!
Juniper always reminds me of my favorite gin
and gin always reminds me of the senior h.s. class party, my first exposure to too much… I hate gin but love the smell of juniper, go figure, lol.
And my senior class party always reminds me of OTHER types of nose candy.
Guess you are a bit younger than I am, LSD was still something of a novelty and pot hadn’t hit the mainstream yet. Alcohol was the drug of choice for adolescents back in the dusty past where I lived.
It still is the most popular intoxicant all age groups. Though that’s changing.