I own literally every American scotch Mr Snuff sells and I have most of them (except the conwoods which come in cardboord containers which have been relocated into clear screwtop 2 oz glass jars) are in their original constainers and a few similar snuffs such as a very generous sampler of Stokers plain, a couple good toasts such s F&T High Dry Toast and WoS #22 and I’m thinking to myself, especially since WE Garret et al even came in cardboard cannisters and people talk about finding this stuff sitting on shelves for years with dust on top of them etc, and I’m really talking about more of my plain fine dry snuffs like this (I DON’t mean anything moist or with flavor, I’m not talking about NTSU and I’m not talking about Toque Toast & Marmalade) maybe Grunt, Sparrow, White should be safe used this way too I might think from their own original 50g containers just the old stand by ‘should last forever’ fine dry plain snuffs… am I really endangering them that they’ll be at risk of losing flavor or strength or anything else if I am perpetually popping lids off and taking my sniffs right from their original cans (or in the case of the conwoods right from the little jars they are now in)? if I ‘decant’ them all into little jars (and even with 50 jars I really don’t think I have enough) I’ll never be able to tell them apart (even with labels what you have are a ton of identical jars with identical looking labels when their original jars are so much easier to see not to mention glass jars let light in and the original containers don’t) I really like having them all sitting about in their originals and would like to just use them this way, a sniff here and there as I go I have enough of them that they may well sit here forever while I do this (and possibly even gathering dust if I don’t make my rounds to all of them in time though that’s unlikely) am I okay to just pop and sniff as I go from the original 1.15 oz cans, the F&T littler tin, or in the case of the WoS, its 25g tin?
I have spent a little time thinking of this, and I just think that the American scotches are just too dry to worry about. Nothing really moist to lose, I mean I keep the Maccaboy sealed well, but a can of Rooster is good, I think a lot of the Scotches may be 50 years old in the can already! I just keep all the cans in a tupperware container with not much extra room, not much available air. In other words I am much more concerned about sealing a Tom Buck well, and I tape the edges of the bulk Grunt, Wilsons, and McCrystals tubs, and I just decant some into a 8.5 gram can when needed, The cans keep it fresh until they need a refill, and the cans seem to let the ammonia out well.
I wouldn’t make an issue about the American scotches. I have a couple of Conwoods still in their toilet paper tubes that I opened two years ago. They are fine. Maybe if you live in an excessively wet or humid climate leaving them in the cardboard tubes might be of some concern, but otherwise I wouldn’t worry about it. The plastic canisters used by Swisher and US Smokeless are truly excellent. Some of the best out there, in fact. They lock tight and will keep things fresh for a long time. Don’t throw out empty Swisher/US Smokeless canisters! Reuse them; they will keep moist snuff moist. When is Conwood – woops, they recently changed their name to American Snuff Company – going to get on board with this? The chintzy cardboard really needs to go. I decant everything else into glass bail closure jars.
I bought a jar of DeVoe Scotch from the 1930’s. It still smelled like a Scotch. I also purchased a can of Peach & Honey by Conwood from the 1960’s. Still smelled of honey.
Scotches can dry out, believe it or not. I’ve only noticed this is some of the vintage metal ones I’ve had where the can is not 100% airtight. So 50 years they’ll probably still be good, if kept in a good environment. @ Kjoerup: Conwood is American Snuff Co. again?
Yes, they changed the name in January 2010. [quote]In 1985, Conwood Corporation was restructured as a privately owned company pursuant to a merger which resulted in the formation of Conwood Company, L.P. In 2006, Conwood Company, L.P. was reorganized as Conwood Company, LLC. The diversification trend which extended the Company’s involvement in non-tobacco products was reversed in the eighties as Conwood altered its business strategy to focus again solely on the manufacture and distribution of smokeless tobacco products. To reflect this return to the Company’s smokeless tobacco origins, in 2010 Conwood Company, LLC was renamed American Snuff Company, LLC. [url]http://www.americansnuff.com/ourCompany.htm[/url] [/quote]
I didn’t wait for you, I was just over on their site reading the same thing.Grumble, grumble. Now I have to re-alphabetize my inventories. Its a better name anyway. Now we need to get Swisher to go back to Helme.
Now I’ve got another reason to hold onto my cardboard canisters I guess (since they all say conwood on them) I’m guessing soon they’ll be producing ones with the different name on them.
The metal lids should still say American Snuff Co. even if they were produced during the Conwood tenure.
The lids of all the empty ones I have read: QUALITY SNUFF AMERICAN SINCE 1782 Some of those are recent and some quite old, probably pre-dating the Conwood era.
Yep, that’s them. No idea why they didn’t bother to change the lid. Then again, the people working there don’t even know what they are actually making.
Tube Rose has its own lid! The Swisher all still say “Helme” @ermtony: I see you’ve already updated your site!
Oh yes! I did that an hour or so ago, as soon as I saw here that things had changed. No point in having wrong information there. I must admit it’s tricky keeping up with the changes in companies at times, thinking of the chaos that is Swedish Match or Imperial Tobacco!
Does Swedish Match produce any snuff themselves or is all through their subsidiaries?
As far as I can tell it’s all through the many and various subsidiaries. Keeps us on our toes I guess!
I’ve become a big fan of American snuffs too, in fact I guess they are my favorite type right now. I keep them all in their original containers, in a cigar humidor, with the 65% humidor beads. They seem to stay stable, and have a slightly less dusty texture, still very effective. Come to think of it, I may try putting some Dholakia white in the humi, as well. When I feel like taking some, but not putting into a snuffbox, I’ll just decant a little into the container lid, and pinch from the lid, until it’s gone, then back in the humidor it goes. Usually this results in a snuff buzz. 