Are there any brands of snuff that list their numerical nicotine content (as in how much per gram)? I only found one site that lists five different snuffs (http://rodutobaccotruth.blogspot.com/2012/11/nicotine-levels-in-american-smokeless.html?m=1). And, on a separate note, why is there almost no free nicotine in nasal snuff? I definitely get a strong buzz, but research says otherwise. For example, Railroad Mills lists their nicotine content as 23.1 mg/g, but their free nicotine content is only 0.5 mg/g (see link above).
Free nicotine is a result of the pH being very high. Your nasal passages are more efficient at absorbing nicotine but less able to neutralize different pH than your saliva.
So if one wanted to increase the nic dose of any given snuff they’d just need to whack some bicarb or similar in? Or is it not that simple? Hehe, caustic soda and rustica would probably prove fatal and not just from the ensuing burns.
Well I’ve ordered some White Elephant. Gonna be interesting and I can’t wait to see how it stacks up against my beloved rustica. Got some Viking Dark and F&T HDT in there too!
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@fj1998 Ah, White Elephant. Such a strong snuff, yet smells so good to me.
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I believe whites are just low lamina portions of leaf pulverized to death, made into a paste with lime and flavorings, allowed to dry and re-pulverized to death again.
I tried a midrib batch, very light in color, almost as light as a white. I read they can use stalks and roots too, roots have high N but are outside the realm of hobbyists to powder easily.
Just guessing though, should put some under a microscope at work and see if that is helpful at all.
Anyone ever dip a white? All-lamina blends when wet bind very well with itself, like a dough, whereas all-rib portions just don’t seem nearly so cohesive.
If so that would explain why whites come on so fast. midribs are low nic, but the ph is so high you get almost all the nicotine in the unprotenated form, so fast onset and fast departure, whereas my home blends are slower to come on but a noseful could leave me satisfied for 2 hours.
@fj1988- if you did that to a snuff that wasn’t too adulterated then yes, when wet the nicotine salt would convert to free nicotine. if already high ph i’m guessing not much difference other than discomfort.
I should say though i’m nobody, just guessing at everything I do, my tests are always n=1, and although I read a lot of papers on this i’m still just speculating.
p.s. I read some tax type stuff that was scanned by google books a british tax journal from the 1800s, and in it people were complaining of a white snuff that had been getting popular, it was just the trash (mid ribs, stalks, roots) that were heavily adulterated with lime and they wanted to ban adulterants because once you got used to whites no other snuff would satisfy, so the vendors of white snuff were selling less actual taxed tobacco and making more profits on sales so it was hard for others to compete. I think this was very similar if not identical to the white snuff of today.
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