One of the things I’ve discovered in my four months of serious snuffing is that I’m strangely attracted to certain snuffs that smell very offensive when judged by everyday standards. I seem to recall other, more experienced snuff takers alluding to the same thing: it seems that some of the most deeply cherished snuffs are those which have a scent that only a connoissuer could love. I can’t claim connoisseur status yet, but to my nose, there are four main scents that most people would claim to find offensive, but which become irresistable when skillfully incorporated into certain snuffs; Barnyard = Dholakia Black and Taxi Red are the two that immediately come to mind. I spent a lot of time around horses when I was younger, and these remind me of standing behind one, including the kick. I love them both, and I would like to know of more snuffs that have this character. Ammonia = NTSU Black should not be aired out. The ammonia is what makes it what it is, and I feel like I should make a special trip to Confession every time I use it, and enjoy it for the reasons I enjoy it. Locker Room = Dholakia White smells like a fishstall on a hot day sometimes, and like a pair of socks I’ve worn for a week straight on others. There’s also a strong ammonia hit to it, as if the fishy, sweaty odor wasn’t enough. Deeply offensive and absolutely addictive. I think Roderick said on another thread that some men are attracted to this scent because it reminds them of the comraderie of their younger days when they were involved in sports, but the sports I was heavily involved in were bicycle racing and distance running, which I still do. People who ride in Paris-Roubaix or run marathons don’t have much time to spend in locker rooms, so I don’t know where I come by this attraction. Wet Dirt = I seem to recall a French term used in wine tasting, something which loosely translates into “beautiful dirt” which I can’t remember at the moment, but some of my favorite snuffs remind me of falling face down in a field of dark soil during a spring rain storm. I’m thinking in particular of F&T Santo Domingo since I’ve been snuffing so much of that lately. Sometimes, the barnyard and wet dirt thing are going at the same time, and then I’m really in seventh heaven. On the other hand, there’s the “wet dog” thing, which most people find offensive in everyday life, and which NO snuff takers of whom I’m aware find attractive. Or is this something I will grow to love as I gain more experience? Comments, criticisms or observations?
cant stand toque champaigne or samuel gawith golden glow or wilsons of sharrow aniseed eucalyptus not too keen on jaxons cherry menthol either.
my absolute favourite is toque original.
The only scents I really don’t care for are artifical candy type flavors. Even those which are probably natural, but feel artifical bother me.
But those articial candy type flavors are viewed as delightful by most of the rest of the world, while I’m fantasizing about old tires, coal mines, sitting in an unairconditioned tar paper shack after a Mississippi river flood drinking home brew boubon with a lady of ill repute, burning upholstery, moldy wood, the defecation of barnyard animals, dead fish, and the way the bathroom smells at your favorite biker bar. Of course, we’re not in the same boat as hard core real French Cheese conniosseurs, but I’ll bet that boat would smell far different from the one de Kralingse Macuba calls to mind.
Maybe I am on the road to becoming a connoisseur although I am very new to snuff. I find I am liking Dholakia Black and it is sort of barnyard scented, I also grew up around horses and cattle. I also love the fresh rich dark dirt of some of the F&T snuffs, perhaps that comes from childhood memories of farming and I have always loved the smell of rich potting soil and enjoyed planting things and digging in the dirt. The ammonia scent of NTSU was too much for me, I did not like it and am not drawn to it in any fashion. As for the Dholakia White I have been unable to snuff enough of it to really decide on what it smells like. It seems to be painful to take and painful to smell.
It is obvious that memory association plays a large part in your snuff preferences. (The association between olfaction and the limbic system is more intimate in some people than others.) Concerning the question of fragrance … Imagine how dull and insipid a novel would be if every event in the story only came up smelling of roses, and with all the characters’ methods and morals as freshly pomaded as their herb-scented bathwater. The character of Mother Teresa might be closer to her god, but Lucrezia Borgia is a more interesting and complex person. Snuffs that are less than immediately pleasant are the interesting ones. A snuff with a delightful nose soon looses its appeal because the limbic system interprets it only as delightful. The experience soon becomes jaded.
@ dgriego I don’t know what to say about the Dholakia White. Everybody has to find a technique that works for them with this one, or just give it up. For me, it’s the only snuff that can be taken by breathing through your nose as hard as you would if you were sitting at rest, and then slowly moving your very small pinch toward your nose until it’s in your nostrils. I too love the rich dark dirt of F&T’s Santo Domingo, Princes and Princes Special. The Old Paris reminds me more of indoors, but with the same general character. I’ve got some Samuel Gawith Kendal Brown Original which seems to have the same general character, but it’s rather dried out, and I’ve been unsuccesful at rehydrating it.
@ LHB, I used to add some water to snuff to rehydrate it but usually ended up with a lot of clumps in the tin. What I do now is to spread the snuff on a piece of plastic and then spray some water over it. Leave it for a while and then back into the tin. Works perfect.
@ Pieter Claasen Thank you for the tip. Since it’s a Samuel Gawith blend, it’s in one of those 10 gram dispensers with the slide hole on the bottom, so I’ve been trying to rehydrate it in the container. I’ve got four others though, so I’m thinking I should just empty them out, do as you suggest, and then transfer them to another, airtight container. Right now, the snuff has the consistency of dry coffee grounds. It’s not entirely unpleasant, but it feels rather dry and granular in the nose, which doesn’t seem quite right. On the other hand, it generates a phenomenal blow, which I’m really coming to appreciate, and I suspect it would be even better if the stuff was moister.
The point of offensive smells is your nose saying avoid that. I.e. don’t eat that poo or don’t drink that amonia. Maybe somehow the more subtle nuances that really makes a smell bad (turn on your danger senses) isn’t in the snuff but the snuff still has a similar profile so it’s not offensive because your nose can tell you it’s not dangerous. Just a theory.
Over time I settled into an overwhelming preference for the classic types: toasts, scotches, SPs, a good menthol such as Hedges L260, a well-balanced Kendal Brown… I believe that these are well established classics for a reason, in that none of them subordinate their well-rounded tobacco flavor to an over-fragrant flavor bouquet. It’s not a coincidence that the finest cigars are pure tobacco and not “toffee” or “strawberry delight” flavored. Of course there are those occasions in which I desire a couple of pinches of an exotic Indian blend or a lingering, heavily perfumed Fribourg & Treyer snuff, but not as an all day or even more than once per week snuff. As for barnyard and ammonia smells, well, those are things I seek to do without in life. Each to his/her own, but, um, personally speaking – no thank you! I’m willing to bet that these were considered undesirable qualities in snuff until very recently. There are a few people on the Beavis & Butthead snus-oriented forum who have a misguided notion that piss soaked-smelling snuff is a sign of quality and “freshness” (perhaps they prefer their wine to be a week old as well), but I think that is ludicrous. My surmise is that in the slow transport and pre-vacuum packaging era, it was rare to even encounter fresh ammonia-laden snuff. “Wet Dog”: I hope that won’t be the next Toque flavo(u)r.
@ kjoerup Humbug, I say. What do you think most things smelled like in the “slow transport and pre-vacuum packaging era?” People bathed once in a lifetime if they were lucky, urban dwellers gasped for air beneath the stench of a million coal fires, streets were lined with human and animal refuse, and everybody had at least two sexually transmitted diseases. Those so-called “classic scents” as they appear nowadays are probably about as classic as Lean Cuisine Pizza and Coors Light. I’m an atavistic throwback, I admit it. So I’m not talking about freshness; I’m talking about character. Give me the stink of a great aged French Cheese, covered with mold, over a container of stacked, packed and vaccum sealed Kraft Cheddar. Give me a dirty bottle of crusty old Port with four inches of sediment on the bottom that has to be decanted, over one of your hygeinic modern fruit-bombs with the plastic cork. Give me an old, out of level, tumbledown, shotgun shack in South Dallas, and keep your giraffe cage McMansions up in McKinney. Give me Janis Joplin and a bottle of 100 proof Southern Comfort, and you can have Beyonce and a bottle of Grey Goose Vodka. Give me “The Wire” and “Deadwood”, and you can have “Adam 12” and “Gunsmoke.” Give me the filthy, genuine analog(ue) sludge of Iggy and the Stooges and the New York Dolls, and have all you want of your digitized, manufactured lo-fi pap like Pavement and Sebadoh played over your computer. Not that I don’t get extreme enjoyment from a good, clean, wholesome “modern” SP or Toast, although I often have difficulty perceiving the “well rounded tobacco flavor” of Hedges beneath its nose-blistering (but delightful) menthol hit. But let’s not be too anachronistic.
I’m not romanticizing anything here. I don’t believe that there is anything faceless or banal about any of the snuff types I am describing. Love them or hate them, you cannot seriously say that W.E. Garrett or IHT No. 22 lack character. Being that you and I are the only ones willing to step up to the plate and wax lyrically about Brunswick and American Sweets indicates that we are pretty much on the same page. “Character,” why, yes, I agree with you – in general terms. However, certain specifics we are just going to have to agree to disagree upon. I have really come to appreciate the 1910 rose water-soaked industrial sludge that is Railroad Mills Maccoboy, but ammonia and barnyard just ain’t my thing. Don’t even get me started on the locker room thing. Roderick said it best, and I’ll leave his implications just where he left them. Old Paris is among the most mysterious of snuffs. Is it just me or does each tin seem to be something entirely different? I can well do without Janis Joplin, but, believe me, you will not find the flimsy likes of Pavement or Sebadoh in this house. My copy of Fun House is the well-played LP I’ve always owned, and my Fall and Swell Maps singles are likewise worn to hell – just as they should be.
I really like F&T French Carotte. A lot of people have written that they find it to be of an “offensive” nature, but I’ve never understood what they find “nasty” about this rather polite snuff.
re: French Carotte - I think some don’t get along with sandalwood, or sweetness. I however find both French Carottes I have to have both in balanced proportions.
I have the same experience with Old Paris, I’ve ordered many times and it seems different most of the times. French Carotte is another favorite of mine.
old paris really seems to age well. Get a tin take a few snuffs and leave it alone for about two months check it out again and see if smells somewhat diffrent. Pavement sucks but sebadoh is alright I mean they’re no dinosaur jr.
Quote Kjoerup As for barnyard and ammonia smells, well, those are things I seek to do without in life. Each to his/her own, but, um, personally speaking – no thank you! I’m willing to bet that these were considered undesirable qualities in snuff until very recently. There are a few people on the Beavis & Butthead snus-oriented forum who have a misguided notion that piss soaked-smelling snuff is a sign of quality and “freshness” (perhaps they prefer their wine to be a week old as well), but I think that is ludicrous. unquote @Kjoerup… There are so many snuffs on the market today simply because everyone has different tastes. I don’t know anyone on either board that has stated that they like the ammonia odor. As far as the Barnyard odor I only have one thing to say…Spanish Jewel. 
btw, the members of both this board and, as you say, the Beavis and Butthead snus board, try to respect each others actions and opinions. I have never read anything negative about this board on the snus site and I have never read anything negative [untill now] about the snus board on this site. I believe there is a great mutual respect, at least by the older more experianced members of each board. Besides providing information about tobacco products the members on the other forum like to have fun, and they do. There is a forum devoted to all things not tobacco related where jokes and unrelated crap is posted. Most of the rest of the site is pretty much tobacco related with a ton of info.
*raises hand* I like the ammonia odor.