Part of the impetus behind my buying a lot of American snuffs in the last few months, apart from basic insanity, was this sense I have that such a seemingly archaic product can’t survive much longer. There will certainly be at least a handful who will survive the next 10-25 years, but it’s hard to imagine how even the mighty American market can sustain so many individual brands. Before the package arrived yesterday I had tried Rooster, W.E. Garrett, Honeybee, Starr, Bruton, Three Thistle Sweet, Carhart’s, Checkerberry and Maccoboy. I love Bruton for the strength, Honeybee for the sweets, Starr for being apparently the only scotch without hickory smoke flavouring, and Checkerberry and Maccoboy for being different and interesting. Most of my favourites tend to get dipped, though I use them all nasally as well. I received another box of scotches yesterday: Three Thistle Strong, Standard, Tube Rose, Society, Buttercup, Red Seal, Tops Mild and Dental Mild. Red Seal and Society both stand out as excellent sweets, and TT Strong is good enough to become a mainstay in my rotation. In general, though, I find the rest are fairly interchangeable. Dental, Standard and Tops all smell identical to W.E. Garrett. Tube Rose is nearly identical with Carhart’s, and I imagine W.E. Garrett sweet is much the same. I haven’t ventured into the “plains” yet–Navy and RR Mills. Maybe they offer something different, maybe they don’t. I also haven’t bought the fruit-flavoured ones yet–peach, wild cherry and the miscellaneous fruit of Dixie. Those are all on their way, along with the wonderful black-and-white packaging of Lorillard Sweet… No doubt non-smokers would have a better nose than I do–maybe they would be able to revel in the slight differences between Tops Mild and Dental Mild. It would be interesting to have some blind sniff tests to see how distinguishable these brands really are. The sense I’m getting, though, is that at least half and perhaps three-quarters of the American scotches and sweets could be discontinued and the full palette of flavours would still be widely available. I won’t mourn quite as hard for Tops Mild now that I know it’s pretty much the same thing as Dental.
Well, I agree with about half of that but only half. Its a good overview though. I must say that Tube Rose and Carhart’s are pretty far removed from one another. In a blind test, I can tell you wich company made the snuff, but not neccesarily the individual snuff. Maccoboy and Checkerberry are easy as they are not scotches. Of the rest I intend to keep in my permanent rotation depending on availability: Non sweets: W.E. Garrett Dental or Tops (yes, I agreee they are similar but I’d prefer Tops) Rooster or Standard also maybe both (also similar. Rooster is a bit sharper) Starr Square Three Thistle Superior Stoker’s Plain Well, that’s nearly all of them. RR Mills and Navy I find the least interesting and Bruton too harsh, so I think those are the only ones I’m leaving out. The others are all different enough from each other to keep me interested. Using these as dip was fine for experimentation, but now seems wasteful. On sweets: Tube Rose, Red Seal, Three Thistle, Stokers I will keep on hand, but would not go out of my way for again. The rest I would not get again and this part of the market I agree is saturated. We did lose DeVoe this year, and I predict a few more will drop off withn a few years time. I’ve used these as dip to use them faster and free up space in my snuff drawer(s). They are slightly more orally appealing than the plains, but there are better alternatives for oral fixations.
@ Xander: you’re probably right. I just tried going back and forth between Tube Rose and Carhart’s. They smell the same up top. Carhart’s is paler in colour and burns the nose more; Tube Rose has the same scent but is smoother when used nasally. I doubt I could distinguish them in my mouth. I wish I had heard of Stoker’s a bit sooner–it sounds quite different from other scotches.
Stokers is a little different. Each American company kind of has a signature to it. So in the Big Three, in a blind test you can tell a USST from a Swisher from an ASC. Stokers is the fourth one so its difference is in the “signature.” In flavor its between Navy and Superior I would think. Its very high quality, though.
When I was down in South Carolina earlier this year, I stocked up due to PACT looming and, well, just because you don’t see scotches on the shelf very often in Michigan. I agree that I can somewhat distinguish snuffs by their company but not by individual brand; my nose is not as well-trained as Xander’s on that. I like scotches better than sweets but stocked up on both; as anybody here can attest you’ll fall in love with THIS SNUFF for a week, and then suddenly you’ll jump off in a completely different direction for a month. I got a sample of Stoker’s Plain earlier this year and really liked it. Of course then Stoker’s goes away so I never got to order any, but maybe that’s just as well. Not sure I’d EVER get through 2 lbs of the stuff but it was tempting just to say I have a massive tub of it! But a good balance of smokiness and nutty tobacco flavor, just the right nic kick, and my favorite part was its excellent grind. Fine, but not so powder-fine that clouds of the stuff would go flying 'round. Very pinchable stuff…
Indeed very pinchable. I love pinching from my massive tub!
Who doesn’t love pinching a massive tub occasionally? Hehehe…
“What about you, Bernard–have you ever been with someone with a nice [posterior]?” “Yes. Well, I don’t know if it was nice, but it was…huge. So there was this tremendous sense of value.” -from “Black Books”, a British tv show