The BBC programme Restoration is one where viewers vote which building out of a list identified by English Heritage is saved. Here the list is limited to Britain’s oldest working mills in Kendal and Sheffield, both of which have been manufacturing snuff since the 18th century. Now, idling the fatuous and masochistic notion that either Kendal Brown House and its environs or Sharrow Mill must be totally destroyed along with the business for evermore, which venerable company’s ashes could you, like Marius among the ruins of Carthage, tread with the least opprobrium and regret?
The reply to you from S.Gawith not withstanding, I’d give up Sharrow Mill in a heartbeat. I could exist contentedly without the Sharrow snuffs but the thought of never popping the lid off an aged tin of Squadron Leader, Skiff Mixture, or Best Brown flake is too horrifying to contemplate! I wonder what our friend Roderick of Toque could do if he set his mind to whipping up a batch of pipe tobacco?
There is no way I could go without Sharrow.
I’m with saving Sharrow too. I’ve never yet had a Kendall Brown snuff, but I sure do love the Wilsons of Sharrows’ “Irish High Dry Toast #22” EDITED to add, plus I’ve seen the Sharrows creaky old millwith its big giant mortar and pestle things spinning around, who could see this and want to destroy it?
I need WoS Menthol Plus and Squadron Leader! D:
This is like asking a father which of his children he wants killed! Statistically speaking, I have more favorites among the Sharrow and Sharrow produced snuffs, but there are some areas of snuff making that they don’t seem to cover very well (the rappees and KBs of Samuel Gawith for instance). Nonetheless, I can’t choose. I suppose there are no older mills in operation. I can think of some younger ones that would cause me to shed few tears should they meet the wrecking ball.
How about using the wrecking ball on the homes &/or offices of whatever cretins came up with this TV series?
That’s a bitch of a question PhilipS. At a pinch, I’d have to save Sharrow Mills I think. Although as long as at least one of them was still in operation I think I’d be happy enough. Couldn’t we just keep both and raze the Gawith Hoggarth mill instead ? Nobody would seriously miss that place.
In addition to the Fribourg & Treyer trademark owned by Wilsons, doesn’t the Sharrow mill also grind out a lot of snuff for other manufacturers? I think that if the Sharrow mill died so too would a lot of other brands besides Wilsons/Fribourg & Treyer. Does McChrystal’s have their own snuff mill, or do they obtain their snuff base from another party? Who actually makes Hedges and J.H. Wilson? I doubt that Imperial Tobacco grinds their own snuff.
WoS also makes Frederick Tranter and probably makes Mullins & Westley. Recently we learned that they also produce Dean Swift, but more recently we were informed that they had not made any in over 5 years! Its highly likely that they make Off the Cuff, and if I recall correctly, they also make the Polish brand, Three Musketeers nowadays. I beleive McChrystal’s makes their own.
@PhilipS Is this simply a hypothetical discussion or an actual imminent consideration? If the former, then I’d say adieu Sammy, the latter well, it’s entirely too sad to contemplate…
Raze Gawith Hoggarth and Restore Samuel Gawith.
@Xander: Given the tobacco and grind/appearance of Mullins and Westley I’d be amazed if it wasn’t Wilsons snuff. @kjoerup: Of course Imperial Tobacco grind their own snuff. Don’t forget the fairly recent statistic that 80% of snuff consumption in the U.K. is J&H Wilsons. For an embarrassingly long time, I thought they were the only company in Britain who made snuff. Their little blue tins are everywhere.
80%!!! Wow! Could you supply more tobacco sales info Brad? Is snuff actually on the upswing? Is St.Bruno still the leading pipe tobacco?
Well, this is something I just found: www.googlefight.com. Enter in two words or phrases and you’ll find out which is more searched. Slam dunk for S.Gawith vs. Wilson’s Sharrow. Nobody wants to be without their Irish D Light or Squadron Leader. I know this question is a fun “what if…” But on the show they don’t actually knock things down, do they?
from the original post I am interpreting that on the actual show that yes they do knock things down (its apparently a British version of these really ugly and awful ‘reality tv’ things we’re so into this decade) but that no, the show has not actually targeted any snuff mills, it was just a purely hypothetical ‘what if they did’ question.
@Alcyon: The 80% figure is probably a good few years out of date, but I’d guess that J&H Wilsons still have the majority of snuff sales in the U.K. If a store sells snuff, it’ll sell those little J&H Wilsons tins ! As for St. Bruno, again I wouldn’t be surprised if it was still the top seller. Just did a quick google and found that it was the top brand with 23% of the market in 1996.
“Statistically speaking, I have more favorites among the Sharrow and Sharrow produced snuffs, but there are some areas of snuff making that they don’t seem to cover very well (the rappees and KBs of Samuel Gawith for instance)” That’s true. For much of my snuff career the only UK company (as far as I ever knew) that provided heavy, dark snuff was Fribourg & Treyer. Excepting Kendal Brown Original, which was the only KB on the list, all the moist snuffs made by Samuel Gawith and Sharrow today are quite recent additions. The range provided by these two companies has increased enormously. I agree, however, that Samuel Gawith provide greater genuine variety with a fine selection of natural snuffs. Wilsons, by contrast, provide just the one (albeit a very good one). If only SG excluded postage costs … if only they didn’t murder their own merchandise …
“@Alcyon: The 80% figure is probably a good few years out of date, but I’d guess that J&H Wilsons still have the majority of snuff sales in the U.K. If a store sells snuff, it’ll sell those little J&H Wilsons tins !” I also remember this 80% figure - from an article published in the early to mid 80s. Bought by Imperial only J&H Wilsons had the wherewithal for large-scale distribution and, in the late 70s, a national advertising campaign.
I’ve seen paraphenelia from that advertising campaign. Well, not personally, but there is a great gallery of snuff photos on the yahoogroups forum. A lot of it is rather amusing. Some surfaces on ebay from time to time also.