I was just wondering if anyone had an opinion. Suppose I force myself to use Bruton’s until my shipment arrives, will it help me to improve my snuff taking technique and my tolerance (less coughing, drip, burning, etc) of snuff in general? I thought it might be a good snuff for a beginner to practice on. The theory is if I play chess with another novice, I might get better over time; I will also get lucky and win occasional even though my end game is horrible, but if I play against a grandmaster regularly, I will definitely learn from my mistakes even though he/she is kicking my butt.

The only problem with “advanced” fine snuffs it´s the risk that someone using them, being a beginner, can jeopardy the pleasant experience of snuffing by getting it too far to the throat or lungs and coughing incontrollably. If you are commited to snuff there´s no problem about you using Bruton and your technique will upgrade, at least with toasts & other fine grinds. Anyway if you feel unconfortable when using Bruton don´t let snuff down for one bad experience, out there are a lot of snuffs that will appeal you for sure.

I kind of had that idea when I went hard on my box of Toque Christmas Pudding (lol). It’s very fine. In the end it was just a miserable experience. I burned myself out on it. I did learn a lot the first two whole days on it… but I didn’t really need the following two whole days on it. Now I still sniff that stuff 2-3 times a day or something, and I still seem to be learning from that. Technique-wise I dont regret my two intensive days on just that fine stuff though, I gotta admit… it was good learning…

I snuff for pleasure - it’s not a competitor sport at that I have to excel at, and neither are there any snuffs that I “must” enjoy. If I don’t find a snuff enjoyable, I simply don’t use it. This does rule out medicated snuffs, fine grinds (like toasts & scotches), anything with an acrid drip, and messy/oily snuffs that can’t be pinched - that’s a lot of snuff I won’t buy - but it still leaves me a good couple of hundred varieties of snuff at my disposal, all of which are freely available from several sources. When I first started I thought I was “doing it wrong”, but as I progressed I realised the only thing I was doing wrong, was using snuffs I didn’t take pleasure from

I dont think the situation is quite the way you imagine it, 50. I mean, I can’t speak for others, but for my sake I’d like to master sniffing fine snuff because I personally want to. There are a lot of flavors I want to try and would like to enjoy without discomfort. My main thing will probably not be fine snuff for quite a while… but as it stands now, I do like to notice my technique every occasion I take a hit. Take little notes. Maybe I’ll be able to enjoy snuffs which I otherwise couldnt simply because of an untrained technique.

Great point Mario.

I’ve just found that some snuffs (for me) simply aren’t worth the extra effort. The extra difficulties, preparation, or having to change technique or whatever, just didn’t pay dividends. There are some that for me are unpleasant to use (really fine snuffs), but others such as oily smeary snuffs aren’t worth pissing about with when there’s far simpler options. Other people will of course take a different standpoint, and I certainly don’t want to talk anyone out of trying anything new - but that’s my conclusions. I wouldn’t like to think anyone felt compelled to try X, Y or Z either. Another thought - not all snuffs need the same technique, so using one snuff for practising with another isn’t necessarilly going to help. But again, I wouldn’t stand in the way of someone trying out different approaches for their own enjoyment

Good point! Can work the other way round too …

Well… to further elaborate towards some sort of conclusion for a newbie who likes to train on fine snuff technique… is to still have one that you like lying around to take a whiff from once in a while, but give yourself the pleasure of sticking to snuffs you can be relaxed about sniffing. I find, with the fine snuff I have here, Toque’s… I find that there is a way of sniffing a quick shot into your nose in a sort of burst, but without inhaling deep. The strength of the inhale is very fine and on level with how you would smell a flower, but just a burst of it instead. The effect seems to be that when you sniff a loose lump of snuff this way (cannot be pinched) you tend to get the bigger grains with the cloud of dust which weighs it all down. If you sniff too carefully you’ll just trail it all in - in one trail of fine powder which loosely makes its way to the throat. Its really difficult to explain this and get it just right, but there is a level between being too careful and not being careful enough which pays to find.

I too have come foul of the being too carefull thing, and found the easiest way for me to get my head round it is I have to sniff less than a noseful of air - although now I’ve typed it, I’m not sure that makes sense … :))

I know what you mean by nosefull, lol. One of my main problems, especially with the fine dry stuff oddly, is that when I do sniff cautiously, I get nothing. Then when I gradually start sniffing harder, the entire pile goes up my nose at once. Almost like it goes up into my sinuses. Then it uppercuts my eyeball.

To me the biggest problem with this is after using exclusively scotches, weaker english and german snuffs did not satisfy my cravings. So be wary of that and know you may have to take a “tolerance break” ,to borrow a stoner term, and just keep shoveling good snuff up your nose untill your tolerance drops a bit. Personally I use more indian snuff than anything else and find their nic levels high enough to not have that issue.

I’m looking forward to trying some Indian snuffs, as soon as they arrive. I can’t take enough scotch or frequently enough to get any nicotine, so I may not have to worry too much about tolerance.

Agreed! I do like the steady flow of nic from coarser snuff, and then use my e-cig (and occasional roll up) for the “quick hit”

stop talking about ecigs and rollups @50ft_trad haha. you are making me want either (or a nice cigar) so much.

… there’s the peer pressure creeping in again O:-) :))

might just go out to my favourite haunt here in york (evil eye) and get a monte or whatever trembling madness has to offer this time. im sure choice select will be shut now.

its a cocktail bar/spirits shop on stonegate. i enjoyed a nice monte n.4. four lads joined the table and i impressed them with my ‘monster’ manliness by chugging a bottle of tabasco and smoking the big cigar haha.

If its just practice you are after, not pleasure, then snuff away at scotches. Eventually they can give you pleasure. I would not choose Bruton, however, since its the most fine ground of the scotch family. Use Starr if you can find it, as its the most mild and less fine. If not, try Navy plain, RR Mills plain, or Tops Mild. I find those to be the middle level of fine grain in the scotches.

Can you still smoke in pubs in England then? In Scotland the smoking ban in public places has been around for years. I can out do you on the tabasco, when I lived in York I was known for eating raw garlic cloves & snorting chilli powder… Thank goodness the chill-snorting is a thing of the past. Although eating a raw clove every now & then is extreamly good for you, good for the blood & gives an amazing energy rush. Organinc garlic is best.

No unfortunately, it has an outside area thats usually warm. I eat garlic cloves for fun because i love the taste of garlic but it makes my breath deadly long into the next day, i have snorted (snuffed) chilli powder too

A few people here cut their teeth on American Scotches. Levi Garrett was my first

I too cut my snuff teeth on Scotches. Tube Rose was my first. I still think it’s a good snuff. One thing about the finer drier snuffs is that they will force you to refine your technique. I’ve never gotten on with coarser grinds(yet), I prefer the finer grinds. I do think that Bernard Doppelt-Fermentiert has a good nicotine kick. It’s a coarser grind. Have you tried that one @Nietzsche_Keen?

I have not tried that one, but Tube Rose was the very first snuff I ever tried. It almost turned me off to the whole thing. I’ve found a few that I really like so far. I stuck to toque in the very beginning and enjoyed mixing peppermint and menthol. I blindly chose some not so good snuffs in the mean time, but after joining this forum, I have found some good ones. Looking forward to trying more in the future.

Personally, I have the opposite problem. I can do the fine, dry snuffs without a problem, but I can’t get moist or coarse snuffs to stay up my nose.

Here’s a couple of tricks for taking fine grind snuffs I described in a wiki I’m writing: Take a really deep breath and hold it, then use the little breath you still have left to lift the snuff gently into your nose. You actually you diaphragm more than your lungs here. This is a bit harder to explain. Hold a pinch under your nose and make a clucking sound with your throat and there should be a tiniest amount of lift that pulls the powder up into you nose.

One trick I use with fine snuffs is to start by trying to SMELL the snuff and then just to sniff slightly harder. I find this is also a good way to appreciate a snuff’s scent. I was slightly disturbed that the volcano lady was often better able to identify a scent by sniffing ME than I was by actually taking the snuff. Perhaps I’m just slightly anosmic (Google that word, it’s interesting!)

I cut my teeth on scotches, and I learned technique QUICKLY.