Where I am at this moment it is 8:20 a.m., I have a nice warm mug of Tea with honey and milk, and a generous boxcar in each nostril of Railroad Mills plain Scotch Dry Snuff. All in all it is a nice morning to do nothing except enjoy the past week (it is Sunday ) and I have spent the last hour or so trying to read as many threads as possible. FWIW I already have found this site to be quite informative, well natured and respectful for an Internet forum, and I enjoy it. Good morning to you all . That said, I am in a bit of confusion. As I have relayed in other posts up to now, I am but a young babe in the world of nasal snuff. Sure, it is as common in the stores here in the South ( USA) as milk and bread - but with the exception of one friend who dips it, I had not seen anyone buy, sniff, dip or in anyway make use of dry snuff since i was a child, let’s say, around 1985. Honesty requires that I tell you that until just 10 or so days ago i had not knowledge that such an array of choices even existed! So many scents / flavors, textures, etc et.al… I thought snuff was one of two choices - the dry snuff that the old ladies of my Grandma’s generation dipped with apple twigs, or Copenhagen style moist snuff. I am sure you can understand my gobsmacked amazement at just how damn much i have learned in the last 10 days. SO - to the point ( TL/DR - start here 
) It seems, as I wait for multiple orders to cross miles and seawater, that the snuffs I am accustomed to and have now tried and love - the American Dry Scoth Snuff - are among a class that many deem “difficult” to master / enjoy. I do not say this as presumption - that is a vibe played in many places in threads / reviews. That taken to effect, now after a week that I can pinch, boxcar, knife up a nice snuff about the side of two water melon seeds, should I expect that the moister European styles to present zero difficulty to enjoy? Thanks for your past contributions to this forum as well as in advance for your comments going forward. Have a good day - The HP
Sure. If you have started with American Scotches, you have run the road in the opposite way that most snuffers do. Mastering Scotches means mastering any fine or mid fine european snuff. The only drawback I figure out about it is that if you get much used to sniff gently, maybe you´re going to find annoying to take gross moist snuffs like Rapees or German Schmalzlers, because it may imply an extra effort for you, as you mostly have to shove them up your nose… #:-S
I also started with fine, dry snuffs, like Dholakia White and Sparrow. But I have trouble with the coarse snuffs – getting them to stay up my nose! I find you have to snuff with much greater force, possibly covering the other nostril with a finger and then pinching my nose for a few seconds before inhaling forcefully again. And if you’re used to the fine dries, then the coarse snuffs can seem to be a bit lacking in bite, until you get used to them. Honestly, I think they are so different that they should be considered almost as two entirely separate tobacco products.
@ The HP, I am in the same boat as you living in the South of the US, All they have is Scotch. I bought on Mr. Snuff Altbayrisher schmalzer, The two things I noticed about the difference is that the German snuff you have to snuff harder and that the Schmalzler tends to clog my nose more, because out of a tap box it sometimes comes out a little clumpy.
@JakartaBoy: In a book I’ve found someplace on the net ( @snuffvillian will surely know more about this than me), which contained the Spanish legislation on different tobacco products, Spanish-type snuff (Tabaco polvo, “dust tobacco”, including English imitations, that spawned most of the fine and dry snuff we use today), snuff made from Brazilian mangotes (as Schmalzler nowadays) and French-type Rapée (like SG Black Rappee and F&T Santo Domingo) were considered quite different entities and were subject to different laws, much like cigars, cigarettes and pipe tobacco are usually considered quite different today (though I believe the reasons for such distinction were most likely linked to a certain economic protectionism, but that’s open for discussion). Most of the Spanish tobacco factories whose history survived received a major update by way of the installation of Rapée making mills, quite different to those used to make dry snuff, because of the wild increase in popularity of French snuff blends (most likely due to the Napoleonic expansion). This difference in manufacture could also play a role on the legal distinction between different types. Anyway, History seems to agree with you! For me, both Schmalzler and Rapée types are difficult to take. When I take them, I usually do it by way of great pinches that need a good blow afterwards. Still, dry English types like HDT are my workhorse, everyday snuff. @The_HP: And for one neophyte I offered snuff to, believe it or not, medium grind and moisture menthols were far more difficult to take than the ultra fine, dreaded Dholakia White! So thread carefully… >:)
Thank you all for the comments so far and I find it interesting that in some cases one is more difficult, and for others, otherwise. II am looking forward to my packages arriving - I have become an absolute Scotch fiend… now … i need a proper gentlemen’s snuff box …
@The_HP Look for Starr Scotch by Swisher in your local Food Lion. Hard to find and damn close to a high toast; very little smoky note and good tobacco. If you can’t find it let me know and I’ll remedy that. Cheers
I am thinking I will be going to JR Outlet one day this week ( Do you guys have them in your parts of the Country? It’s like a WalMart on meth ) - Gonna grab one of every thing that they have that I dont, lol .
@The_HP I love JR. Some of my favorite cigars are their line of upscale Dominican double maduro double coronas, and a few of the others. Have fun. I’m jealous.
I’m very new to schmalzer snuffs. And interestingly I tap it out of the box in to the palm of my hand and pinch as much as I can out so it dosent go to waste. And I have no problem shooting it up. Acctully for some reason I feel that it since its not so sharp like the red bull or menthols it could be I don’t hold back as much. I have a tendency to snuff it all in at once. So I could free up my hands.
@The_HP I started the same way. My first snuff was a Swisher sweet scotch. It was rough for the first week but got easier everyday. I got my first order from Mr. Snuff about 2 weeks later. And all of it (including toasts) was very easy to take. I didn’t seem to have to adjust for the coarser snuff. I’m glad I got the hard stuff out of the way first. But I live in the NE US. So snuff of any kind is very hard to come by. I found one shop in a tri-county area that carried one kind. They have since expanded their stock for me and say it is selling well.
Well, I think my fear / prediction was a bit unfounded. I have had no issue with moiter snuffs- if anything I have become quite the little fiend… I have been almost chain snuffing all day long today like a boss…
I,too am from the southern part is US and like HP was only familiar with the moist dipping snuff and the powdered scotch snuff I’d seen used. Not at all familiar with snuff one sniffs. Here my choices are extremely limited. Where do I start?
I was the same. Placed an order and then couldn’t wait and bought a tub of Garrett. Smelled like history.
I,too am from the southern part is US and like HP was only familiar with the moist dipping snuff and the powdered scotch snuff I’d seen used. Not at all familiar with snuff one sniffs. Here my choices are extremely limited. Where do I start?
Where to start?.. Pick up two or three varieties to start. While at first some may seem very similar in flavor/scent, your schnoz will start to pick up the nuisances of each. Continue to pick up a new one as you come across them and soon enough you’ll find your champion. Keep sampling ones you’ve previously dismissed from time to time as you may find a new found appreciation for one you didn’t have before. I love my Scotches, really do enjoy the dry and fine consistencies, and because of such; all other grinds and moisture contents seem easy peasy to me. Hmmm, think it is time for a pinch.
@The_HP, On a different note to your posting: I was on my first hunt for some local snuffs. I didn’t have any luck until I went to a Winn-Dixie and they had two Scotch snuffs. One had the world “Railroad” on it and I can’t remember what the other said now. Perhaps the word “woods” was in it? I didn’t have a clue so I picked the one that said Railroad on it 'cause I like trains. Now I’m glad I picked that one since you mention it here. But could you enlighten me at all as the scotches? I must add I haven’t done a search on here yet so please don’t go to any trouble if you aren’t inclined, and or you know I’ll find it once I do a search. I did find one other Scotch in a head-shop, my first stop on my trip but, the top of the tin was rusted so I passed thinking I’d find plenty others. 
Now I kind of wish I had bought it. It had a red and white ribbon in an “X” across the front of the tin. One other thing I noticed is the Winn Dixie Scotches were in plastic containers where-as the head-shop Scotch was in real tin. Oh well, I can always go back or ask them to order it as they said they sell quite a bit of it. If that is true they should be able to get more. ps: I started with the finer grinds and I find them easier to take. But I’m determined to get the hang of the courser blends. Practice, practice, practice!
@Valiant - I am hardly an expert on the full line of available scotches, but I will list what I have found / ordered / traded for , and if others want to add to the list I think that would be a decent resource. Tops Mild Tops Dry Ralph’s Dry Three Thistles Dry Sweet Three Thistles Dry Strong Carhart’s Choice Sweet Superior Railroad Mills Plain Railroad Mills Sweet Railroad Mills Maccoboy Checkerberry Square Society Tube Rose Honey Bee Sweet as a Peach Strawberry Sweet Wild Cherry Sweet Navy Dental Mild Dental Sweet Bruton Lolillard Aware of but I do not have an am looking to find: Dixie Any Garrett
Whoa! I had no idea there were so many! 
Navy was the other one I was looking at when I chose Railroad. Now I realize I should have bought them both. Ah, well. I’m out that way once a month so I will go back for it. I now realize I have to convince some store around here to carry more of at least the Scotch snuffs. There’s one cigar lounge nearby but they are not at all into snuffs or suns. Perhaps I could work on that. 
Is there some way for this list to be what’s called a “Sticky” so that it could easily be found again and used as reference? Thank you, @The_HP.
@Valiant you can see most of those I listed on the left and at the upper edge of this photo 
@The_HP Just finished watching a review for Navy by @Uncle_Squinty. He gave Navy 5 for 5. Also, I have the Railroad Sweet, not plain. I still don’t know which Scotch has the red and white crossed ribbon on it. Do you have that one? Please don’t bother looking for it if you don’t know off hand. So which is your favorite or favorite Scotches? I too had no idea snuff even existed 2 months ago! And Snuffhouse is such a wealth of information. I searched “Scotch” and then somehow got sidetracked on a coffee snuff thread. This is “worse” than when I first found out about the world-wide-web and spent too many hours late into the night surfing the Net. :))