For the past couple of months I’ve had to hold off on the old snuff to an extent. Basically, I’ve been ill with several things including flu through December and the first half of January, so snuffing wasn’t really possible. The last couple of weeks I’ve been easing myself back in with some Lowen-Prise and some other ‘easies’, getting my nose used to the lovely stuff again. Today however, I thought ‘I think im ready for something with a bit more oomph’, and opted for one of my favourites, HDT. This might have been a mistake. I dug out my spoon (one of the small bone ones from SnuffStore) and dug in, gave a good sniff and waited. Then my face fell off. The pain was all there, the burn, the watering eyes, the running nose…and it was glourious. I could not believe how much I’d missed it, HDT truly is a king among snuffs, as I’m sure most of you would agree. Does anyone else have any experiences of the return to snuff/stronger snuff?
No return story here, but I could’ve swore that I heard angels sing when I took the lid off of my F&T just now, the aroma. Glad to hear that you’re getting back on your feet.
Spoons and toasts do not mix in my opinion. Toasts need the finesse and tight control only the pinch can provide in order to be painless. Even then, it requires technique. Also, I have the bone spoon from Snuff Store. Its enormous. Its pretty worthless for snuff, except maybe schmalzler, or for transfer operations. You might get away with no pain snuffing from a small spoon, but never on that one.
The bowl of the spoon is only 1/2inch, and obviously I don’t take a spoonfull! Just a bit onthe tip, or sometimes I use the point of the handle. The reason I use the spoon with toasts is I find it easier to place, right at the front of my nose. With the spoon I can possition a small pile right at the tip or my nose, whereas with a pinch it tends to be more of a clump, that I find harder to control. Also, I think the SnuffStore spoon is primarily for transfering snuff rather than taking, but im not sure. The other reason I use it with F&T is so I can get to the bottom of the tin! Thats the beauty with snuff though, everyone has a different point of view, technique etc, its just what works for the individual. Great stuff 
Yes I see what you mean. I do transfer the snuffs from those deep tins into a snuff box with a spoon. The courser F&Ts I will sometimes spoon directly to my nose if I am being lazy, but I would not dare that with the toast. I can’t recommend perfecting the pinching technique enough. It does take a considerable amount of practice, but with practice, the control of airflow is much easier.
With a lot of new to snuffer’s they tend to go for the menthol snuff. This tends to make things worse, as the the wet nose swells up the small veins and then blocks the nose. With a good dry snuff it tends to help un-block the snout.
I agree with Xander, you get more control pinching. And if someone can’t handle the very dry snuff, then just dampen thumb & forefinger.
The spoon does work well for me with the HDT, doesn’t hit my throat etc, and I get a good hit off it. With other snuffs I usually pinch, sometimes spoon, occasionally take off the back of the hand (I don’t have many tap boxes though). I can pinch HDT, but I find I get more discomfort doing it that way. I’ve been taking snuff for years, so its not a question of technique, just preference really.
Taking snuff for years, you look quiet young. Must work at mill, lol!
Well I say years, by that I mean about 7 or so, im 22 now and started at 15/16 I can quite remember. The first ones I had were Lowen-Prise, so back of the hand job, and a McChrystals, I can’t remember which one, but it was a pincher. So I’ve been pinching a good 6 years or so. Obviously in the grand scheme of things thats not long, but I am pretty good at pinching, if not perfect!
I’ve got one of those Snuff Store bone spoons that I use to fill my snuffboxes, they aren’t snuff spoons they’re caviar spoons
I thought they might be n9inch, but I figured if they’re designed to not taint fish eggs they wouldn’t taint snuff…? Maybe. They work well enough though.
Shouldn’t think so, I often improvise snuff spoon like instruments from paper, card, receipts, bus tickets or whatever is to hand. All work well enough.
@ Koba22, I understand, that when young time seems to pass slower. My Farther was in wholesale and retailing, and I must have been about ten, or eleven, and as a young boy, just as you do I wanted to help out. I was helping him to unpack new stock. I came across these little tins of J&H Wilsons, Said dad what’s this? Snuff, he said. Can I have one? You wont like it you put it up your nose and it will make you sneeze. He did let me have a tin (I think his thinking was that I’ll have a few pinches, and dump the rest.) about a month later, I asked for another tin. “What did you do with that other tin?” It all went up my nose, I answered. I’ll be Seventy years of age in six months time.
A brief peak into the earliest days of snuff… lol just kiddin snuffhead your the man!
Good stuff SnuffHead, I always enjoy hearing about how people got into it. When my parents found out my Mum went mental and my Dad couldn’t understand why I’d want to do it. My Mum actually banned me from taking it (yeah that worked). However, I havent lived with them since I started uni at 18, so now I’ve just got to convince the misses (shes not too bothered) and try and keep the kids hands off my collection (thats the problem with having such good looking tins). 60 odd years of snuffing is pretty impressive. Do you smoke aswell? Or just snuff?
I find spoons are great for toasts. More even. I find with toasts that pinching can turn bad fast. Since a bunch can clump then declump turning into a throat bomb in a second. With a spoon it’s easier to make sure how loose the powder is before snuffing. It’s kind of like the same way I’d rather walk a mile on straight ice then to walk a mile with random patches of ice. I know how carefull to be for the mile of straight ice the whole time.
I pinch all my snuff. Since the 1600’s, when people started snuffing, snuff was kept in snuff boxes. The only way to get snuff from a snuff box is by pinching. So if you do your snuff any other way, it’s wrong and you must either start pinching or stop snuffing.
@Pieter thats why PC invented the Triple Tech snuffbox, the best wooden snuff boxes imho.
I agree with bob. I use the bone spoon in the Triple Tech to lay a full spoonful of toast on the back of my hand. The toasts work best with this method if you can make a fairly tight seal between your nostril and your hand before you snuff gently. If you hold your hand farther away you will need more airflow to take the snuff which will result in pain. Pinching toasts wastes a lot of snuff IMHO because it is so fine and about half of the pinch will remain on your fingers. Never take it directly from the spoon - you are asking for trouble.