Please chime in if you have any other suggestions for old snuffs that are still available today. Below are the only three snuffs I could find, two of which are entirely generic, that date back to the 18th century and before. There are varied Regency period snuffs such as Princes or Grand Cairo, still available today, but likely only the names are old, and not, with any degree of confidence, the recipes themselves.
Sharrow’s earliest snuffs included: LA, BA, S & P and Best Common. Out of these only S.P. has survived but it is no longer made according to recipe so I’ve excluded it.
Dating back to the 17th century, Rappee is easily the oldest non-proprietary generic snuff but I’m uncertain (sources vary) when and where it was first manufactured commercially. England, as most here know, had its first acquaintance with commercially made snuff in 1702 when looted Spanish casks were brought back in vast quantities. The Spanish booty was sold in England as ‘Vigo Snuff’ at three or four pence a pound and is described as a ‘gross snuff from the Havannah’. Whether the coarser snuffs that are called rappee today can really be classed as such is debatable.
High Dried snuff of one sort or another is also an old non-proprietary snuff but not as old as rappee. Scotch and Welch are the Celtic associations, suggesting that High Dried snuff has its origins in the British Isles. As everyone knows, the toasted version is Irish in origin and dates from the latter half of the 18th century. The esteemed 'Blackguard’ was so successful that Lundy Foot & Co (est. 1758) set up shop in London in addition to the original Dublin premises. The business was later bought out by PJ Carroll who continued to make the equivalent ‘Irish ‘D’ Snuff’ which was the finest-textured snuff I ever sampled. Gawith’s ‘Irish ‘D’ Light’ was practically identical. The letter ‘D’ refers to dry. Sadly, these very light-coloured snuffs are obsolete but there are – of course - other versions of Irish snuff still available to delight the nose, 18th century style.
The oldest Brown Scotch snuff in Britain still made to recipe and available today is Sharrow’s ‘Gold Label’. Unfortunately, Mark Chaytor doesn’t’ say when in the 18th century it was added to the list, but writing in 1962 he says it is still made exactly as it was back then, and it is the only snuff that still uses Wilson’s traditional Kentucky Leaf.
Below is an old receipt for Rappee and Irish.
it happens, idle hands and all