I have been wanting to try Bruton and like Superior. I am wondering if anyone has done both to give me a feel on how they compare before I buy some Thanks

Those are the only 2 scotches I’ve had. They are pretty similar to my noob nose but I find Bruton a bit harsher, perhaps a bit more acrid. Otherwise I think they are pretty close in flavour.

Bruton is a little more “sour” than Superior. I find Superior to be more like Rooster. Bruton is also the king in the nicotine department.

They don’t call Bruton Brutal for nothing. It’s lacking in the flavour department but it’s one hellish powerful snuff. I love it. Superior is OK.

Thank You. I wanted a large nicotine hit without a lot of flavor for my experiments

Uh oh. The Mad Scientist is at work. I have a giant spark-gap and some dry ice, if you need 'em…

I want to make a snuff that makes you think “The Gates of Hell” like if it went any further you would be crisp (laughing)

I know someone with a wonky eye who’s really short if you need an assistant. I haven’t tried either, but Superior must be the best one, why else would they call it that? :))

I love superior because it smells and feels tobacco but I want to try something with more bite for my projects. If you like the smell of plain tobacco with a nice nicotine hit, you might want to try Superior

I do a bit o’ Superior every day. Reminds me of a hickory campfire before I throw the hot dogs on. No, wait. It’s like that same campfire the next morning, after the rain has put it out. Yeah, that’s it.

Honest is another good one along these lines that is often overlooked, probably a bit more scarce.

It looks like from the reviews that @Xander thinks so too

@cstokes4 Do you think the sour you were talking about is the taste of nicotine? I looked at the chart on Bruton and the nicotine ph levels were lower than most but the protonated nicotine (free nicotine) was higher than almost all other snuffs. It’s this form of nicotine that creates the addiction

Unprotonated nicotine is basically free-based. The alkalinity is increased to allow the nicotine to leave the tobacco more quickly. Various snuffs have different levels of alkalinity. I tried mixing a bit of baking soda with Bruton once, and it was a wicked miserable experience.

Bruton will be with me on the way home Friday. I need to try it

@MattheFox: I think the sour note has more to do with the process of manufacture more than anything.

Thank You Everyone

Damn, Bruton was only sold in the 4.65 oz cans and I couldn’t bring myself to get that much until I am sure. Bought Square instead and I am pleased so far

I wish I could get Bruton in that size.

There is (8) listed snuffs on Swisher Sweets site and I believe all are sold at the Food Lion. They also sell American Peach and one other that eludes me right now. It is my hope to get them to carry all US scotchs

So my wife seen the comment about Bruton and said she will buy it for me on the way home

What a good woman. Is she married?

@ad_noseum Yeah, took me 5 tries to find her. Good thing to because I don’t know what I would do if I had to start counting on my other hand

Listen up, everybody! We have a man here who likes his SWMBO !

Now that was funny

I kid. If I lost mine, it’d be like losing half my brain. And that would leave…lessee…no brain.

@Matthefox Swisher currently makes 21 snuffs, the most of any U.S. company: Buttercup (sweet) Dixie (sweet) Honey Bee Sweet Lorillard Sweet Navy Plain Scotch Navy Sweet Scotch Railroad Mills Checkerberry (not a scotch) Railroad Mills Maccoboy (not a scotch) Railroad Mills Plain Scotch Railroad Mills Sweet Scotch Ralph’s Scotch Society (sweet) Square Starr Strawberry (sweet) Superior Three Thistles Strong Three Thistles Sweet Tops Mild Tops Sweet Wild Cherry (sweet) I can find quite a few of these locally, but I have to go to about 4-5 different spots to come up with them. U.S.S.T. and A.S.C. make few snuffs by comparison. 6 for the former and 7 for the latter, including Peach.

@Xander I was going by the Swisher Sweet site. I wonder why they only showcase (8) I also wonder why they discontinued Lorillard High Toast. You will have to give me a list of the locations and what they have. Delaware is only a short drive from the Island

@Xander: does U.S.S.T. still make Standard? I haven’t seen it for sale on the web for a while, not that it’d be any great loss (in my opinion). And are you sure Swisher is still making all of those? I thought for sure Maccoboy’s days were over.

Lorillard High Toast is long gone. You might find some leftovers on ebay, as well as a few others that I did not mention. I’ve never had it, so can’t say if it was a proper toast or simply a scotch trying to sound fancy. It was around in some historic records though, as was Lorillard (Plain) scotch and lorillard Maccoboy (which I have tried.)

@Mike_B No I am not sure. Although I understand Maccoboy is still on the shelves in Georgia. That list was from about 3 years ago. USST still lists Standard on their site, but its not one I’ve ever seen in a shop. I got mine from Nicotine Rush and I think its all gone now, not too much different from Rooster. @Matthefox, Swisher really doesn’t care about the snuffs they make. They bought out the Helme company in the '80s and they more or less inherited that range of snuffs and its customer base. Before that and even still, they focus on their budget cigar line. So, they have no interest in promoting snuff. They seem to be content to make it until its profit margin drops below a certain threshold. Like most big tobacco companies in the US they see the future as moist snuff aka dip (but not dipped scotch snuffs). I wish there was somone with enough passion and capital to just take the Helme label of their hands. They treat it as a liability. Anyway, I don’t know the names of the places I have found snuff here (Wilmington area). Most are labeled “Cigarette Outlet” - the ones on Rt 13 between here and Odessa. I could show them to you on a map or direct you there, but not much beyond that. I’m not eve sure they have names. If you are familiar with the Hare’s corner (New Castle) farmer’s market they have quite a few. I’m told the Food Lion in NorthEast, MD has a lot, but oddly the one in Elkton 5 miles away does not. Have not myself checked though.

Thanks I believe Swisher spends less than 1 mil in advertising and give aways for a little over 2 bil in sales. I think they are still in the comfort zone

Tops Mild and Ralph’s…two other dang good ones I forgot about, Xander! Next time you’re close to the Helme mill there maybe you could do a search on the property, Alex. (Maybe you already have done that). It would be interesting to see who owns it but , judging by some of your photo’s ,it seems to be in a state of shambles, though. Is there room for a windmill on the property? \\m/

Bruton first try, had to fix myself a drink just in case. Instant Fire in the nose that died as fast as it started, doesn’t leave a lingering smell of tobacco. It does leave a smell of a campfire that was rained on and a slight sourness that is less than doing Square. I like it and thanks everyone for the input

I had a smash-b0x of Brutons for a long time, and didn’t pay much attention to it. Finally, I forced myself to focus on it one weekend, and found I really liked it. But I have so much other American Plain snuff that I haven’t bothered to order more Bruton’s. Have you tried Square ? Very tasty.

I bought Square yesterday. It is pretty good too. I think Superior, Bruton & Square all have a late lingering of a slight sourness in your mouth as @cstokes4 explained

I find Square about the smokiest. Today I received some Starr. It was mentioned here recently that it is the least smoky of the American scotches and it’s true, might make a good base when you don’t want the smoke.

I will have to add that one to my list. Thanks @Mouse

They are very similar yet very different.Both have a very smokey flavor but Superior is far Superior imo[pun intended].Bruton is not nearly as refined,I think thats the word Im looking for.Superior gives the nic kick and smokey goodness but without the wicked eye watering initial hit.

@Bart The Garrett mill? It was owned by Helme in its last years of operation. The original Helme mill in Helmetta, NJ is also a semi-ruin, probably worse off, but that land I think the State of NJ bought. The mill here I’m not sure who owns in but some of the property is semi restored for the construction company that uses it. I guess they are the owners. Why? Do you want to buy it? I’ll try and get some more photos in the spring. I suppose they do have room for a windmill, but its not really ideally suited for wind, being down at the bottom of a valley. Being on a creek it is ideally suited for being a water mill, since that’s what it once was. Maybe a windmill would work nearer the coast or on a hilltop. They’ve been talking about putting a wind farm off the coast for years now. Those folks up in Nantucket have plenty of wind. I visited this windmill once: http://capecodwindmills.scificincinnati.com/nantucket\\_windmill.htm

Ah dawd, Bruton is delicious, I put a bunch in my lip and my nose (I stuff the bruton don’t even try to sniff it any more) and it smells seriously like a grandpa-y Christmas tree. I notice the fresh pine-y scent more with the bigger 2.75 oz cans, I think they’re more fresh than the 28 g can.

Interesting read, Xander! I especially like the historical events and tid bits at the end of the article. Not looking to purchase any mills, yet…haha. I was just curious if the structure has been held in the manufacturer’s name all these years. The one redeaming quality, I’m sure the mill was built to last.

Bart - yeas, I don’t want to bad mouf any snuff but honestly I dis-recommend Railroad Mills. it looks and feels like its mixed with maltodextrin (quite a few swisher snuffs are but I’m really not sure about this one), and the smell is a cheap cigar cigarette smell. If you want a light cigar smelling snuff I’m sure there’s a much better one to get. And the nicotine content actually dadnt impress my guy. (I still use the rr mills as dip. I added a few full teaspoons of baking soda to my 4 oz can and its an effective gum spread)

I use railroad mills sweet in a lot of blending experiments because of its light sweet but bland nature. Bruton is a snuff that is going to be a every once in a while snuff and not because of strength but when I did it, I couldn’t get rid of the sour taste in my mouth regardless of what other snuffs I did. A brush your teeth and gargle afterwards snuff. The only snuff that has had that effect (so far)

OK Now I know how you use Bruton. You need to have a chaser snuff to go with it. Worked well for me today