OSP Snuffs - Batch #3

Types of Snuff and Reviews
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Batch 3 ramblings.  Tried Batch 3 on and off through the weekend, and having some now as I type this.

As a snuff novice (compared to many), I read the batch notes and with the florals and citrus (bergamot) was thinking this would be SP-like.  Not so.  I think this is a little lighter brown than #1 and #2, and this seems to be the moistest batch yet - coming in at a medium.  Playing in it with a spoon gets some clumping.  Grind is similar to #1 and #2 - silky smooth.

You can’t hardly get the tin open before hit with the aroma - rich citrus notes (rind/oils, not bright juice/pulp), some muted floral, yeasty bread/beer wort.  The tobacco scent is not too prominent, and I am not familiar with Cyprus trees or oil, so I think I am missing or not recognizing that.  It has a richness that’s hard to describe.

In the nose, the scents are similar, with the fruit oils being in the fore, supported by the tobacco bill, which I think provides the bread/beery “mouthfeel” for lack of a better word.  Slight burn - much lighter than #2 - that fades quickly, with a bit less nicotine than #2.  As the citrus fades, I get a well balanced snuff, with some of the botanicals/floral/herbal scents, and the beer wort/tobacco scent lingers nicely.  Bright and fresh - would make a great spring seasonal.  The weather was nice, and had me cutting some trees that dropped in a windstorm with a friend.  This did well outside in the warm late winter bit of sun and fresh air.

#3, as with #1 and #2, is long lasting in the nose.  I’m not sure how hard that is, but I have only had one snuff brand last like this and that was Old Mill.  I’m guessing that it is more expensive, and based in oils instead of water based scents - but I don’t know.  Most others fade quickly, and these stay with you.  So long that you can forget about it, and if you go outside and get a breath of fresh air, they seem to refresh and remind you they are there.  Very nice. 

I am really surprised that out of the gate, OSP has made three very different blends - all with distinct qualities and scents - and done them very well.  New ventures/hobbies don’t generally start quite so well.

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Thank you again for your kind words! In fairness, my snuff making hobby was very rough when I started. By the time I decided to start releasing, I had wasted more leaf than I can account for. The real learning curve for me has been moving into bigger and bigger batches. The math doesn’t necessarily carry over the way you’d want it to, but you start getting a feel for it. As for the depth and longevity of scent, I’ll answer that here since more than a few people have asked. I attribute longevity to depth, which is attained by the use of oil, water extractions- AND alcohol tinctures. Timeline wise, it seems to work out like this. Oils as toppings generally come off as the very first thing you get. This is your getting at the door and your only chance to make a good first impression. Oil toppings last the last amount of time, from a few seconds to maybe five minutes. At the other end of the spectrum, you have water extractions, basically really steering herbal teas brewed in distilled water. This becomes the thing that comes on just after the tobacco bill hits it’s peak and lasts long after it’s gone, though in a lingering, “hey, what’s that” kind of way. You know, life when you hit a pocket of fresh air. This is all about patience. Keeping your flour soaking in it for weeks while keeping the area completely bacteriostatic is not an ready task. Alcohol tinctures kind of seem to open up in totally random sharp spurts. Of everything, alcohol tinctures seem to be the best at actually absorbing into the leaf, but you have to be careful to match it to the right tobacco, or else it either gets really gross or disappears altogether. It really is about choosing where you want your layers to fall, like building a firework.

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Very interesting perspective of one of may ways to fermentation of more than a one dimensional snuff. You by chance didn’t inherent a scribble pad from the late Chef Daniel. LOL?

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@nicmizer Actually he and I spoke a lot over the last two years about production in general, and the dying art of leaf blending. All of my ideas are my own, but many of them did come about as the result of brainstorming with Chef Richard, Greg Pease, and Russell Oulette. It’s an amazing community, and I honestly have no idea how I found myself in the middle of it.

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I could have sworn that I already did a review of this, but I can’t find it any where.

https://youtu.be/xzeUuhGtJrI

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@Hitzusen It looks like I have missed out on a real treat here: life is a bitch. Scenting and flavouring must be trial and error though. I have a buddy who makes artisan shaving soap and it is the same there. It took him months and months to get the formula and scent right. I guess it is the same with snuff. Getting the aroma right is one thing but getting depth and longevity is another. This is something @Roderick needs to work on with his Coke snuff. If it had the longevity of his SP Extra I would be using it all the time.