Ha! I see what you did there. Also, has anyone else found that homemade snuffs make your nose run more? My latest batch seems to make my nose run like the dickins and I want to know if this is normal.
No, homemade snuff should not necessarily make your nose run more. Assuming that you have dealt with the over alkalization I would ask how well did you do your grind? A gros grind will create somewhat more thin mucus as well as a grind that includes harder vein pieces. Did you sieve your flour?
Aie, I took care of that issue by adding extra flour to the batch. It’s as fine as I was able to get it, I used a combination of mortar & pestle and coffee grinder and then sieved it through a stocking. The strange thing is that when I compare it side by side with a commercial snuff, the grains are the same size. Think it could just be that my nose needs to adjust to the lower quality tobacco?
You are changing the Nicotine from some sort of acid, to a base. Like… theres this one thing I heard about where instead of DRUG HCL you turn it into DRUG Carbonate. This changes the solubility,boiling point, temperature of decay, and other properties of the drug in question… (there was one that became famous in the 80s for this exact process.but I digress).
Anyhow, remember the discussion on Bruttons having the highest level of free Nicotine?, this is a combination of nicotine content, and alkilization. So… because I dont recall any additives used in curing cigar tobacco, or cigarette tobacco, I am assuming this is just like chewing on coca leaves with lime in your mouth.
In other words, add it at the end. Tobacco fermentation should not need any additives, you do all your doping at the end. You can let it “rest” or “age” once its finished and you added your salt and base, but I would wait until all of the preparatory steps are complete.
Reitteration from another post :
Also, about the pH issue. from what ive read Baking soda can only produce a pH extreme of 9. Household bleach is 12-12.6 pH so at 9 you’d be 3 orders of magnitude less or better.
I wouldnt be as worried about the pH being too high as I would be worried about snuff dilution.
Here, more definitive: " formulations prepared should not vary significantly from physiological pH, which is about 7.4. In certain cases however, acidic or alkaline solutions may be needed to solubilize drugs. The acceptable pH range is 3- 10.5 for IV ** preparations and_ 4-9 for other routes_**."
from www.extemp.ie/pdfs/sterile_preperations.pdf
Some cigarette companies do use chemical cures for their tobacco, that I know. I have also heard of casings to help fermentation. It’s definitely worth researching. Doping after fermenting and/or aging is a great option, yes. Color cured unfermented tobacco makes a wonderful powerful snuff that makes for a very good reason to grind your own. It certainly is not the same after a few months. It does seem like changing the PH of tobacco helps it to ferment especially if left unsalted. I was never sure of this type of fermentation before this recipe was introduced and I am still not totally convinced it is actually fermentation that is taking place but the cues are there such as the release of ammonia and color darkening.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1259266/?page=6
By definition, this is not fermentation. It does not involve a metabolic process. I will however use the term as it is the parlance.
It looks like the vast majority of “fermentation” is for the degradation of nicotine. The paper above is measuring nitrogen release as evidence of nicotine decomposition. Ammonia, is a nitrogen carrier and here it is being created as a volatile byproduct of the nicotine decomposition. Nicotine is an irritant, as well as a very deadly stimulant as far as LD50. Its pretty obvious that moisture is necessary for the decomposition of nicotine as rapid drying arrests the process.
The other proteolytic steps breakdown organic chromaphores into ionones, damascones and damascenones which are aromatic.
To take home, the less nicotine, the less irritating it is for smoking/snuffing etc. The sweetness comes from the breakdown of the plants coloring. If you want snuff to kick your face in, pick it fresh and bake it in the oven. To get a “refined” tobacco with more character, ferment it as long as you can. The tricky part is keeping it moist but not to the point of growing mold.
I don’t think you need to add any chemicals as the enzymatic process seems to work just fine on its own.
I am aware that nicotine is the addictive part of the equation, however drinking ever clear isnt the most pleasant way to get drunk.
Proteolysis ! That is it! I will start using that term now. Anaerobic proteolysis is what happens with our pipe tobacco while we are storing it in our jars (there, I used it). The PH is very important to this enzymatic process. Yes, you can (and I do) let your tobacco age for years and we know these results are fantastic. You can also alter the temperature, oxygen, and moisture levels as well as the PH to achieve levels of proteolytic processing. As far as nicotine being irritating in _snuff. _I do not find it so. The freshly color cured leaf that I have used was harsh and unsmokeable but as snuff was wonderfully invigorating. I hope one day to make that fresh picked, flash dried snuff you mention. My biggest concern will be the strong smelling chlorophyl.
Any body else getting a headache here? 1925 was a good year but…
Anaerobic Proteolysis is what we should be concentrating on here, the initial PH is just a means to aid in the process. At least that is the one issue associated with “developing” a snuff. This gives the tobacco character and depth, a lot of this was originally through natural processes taking place in large bales (hogsheads) of tobacco, over time.
The final PH of a snuff is easy to manipulate, and a very good way to screw up all the goodness developed through “Anaerobic Proteolysis”.
Does salt help balance the ph in snuff? Very interesting thread. I know its old, but if anyone checks this out and can answer me, I’d be obliged. Also, does anyone know where to get rose petals? I guess I’ll Google it and find out myself.
@mrmanos Salt doesn’t alter pH. There are several alkaline “salts” that do; carbonates mostly. Sodium, potassium, ammonium, etc. Each has their positive and negative impact on snuff. The only plus I find is they make nicotine more available to be absorbed into whatever mucous membranes are being targeted. Salt, sodium chloride, is the best flavor enhancer available, and it does enhance aromas as well. Added incrementally it also controls fermentation.
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786 Is there a logical reason why I can’t read the recipe? It’s just a field of white. I mean, I can tell that there are words under there, and occasionally I can pick one out; but after a third of a century of wearing eyeglasses my eyes aren’t exactly spring chickens anymore.
this thread is pretty fascinating. maybe one day I’ll have time to try some of these things, barely have enough time to play with the kids and play guitar ;-(
thanks to all who share this info!
@slobandtom: Place your mouse pointer at the beginning of the unreadable white text. Hold down the left button and move the pointer toward the end of the text. This will highlight and make it easy to read. To save you can press the Ctrl and C keys at the same time to copy the highlighted text. Then open Notepad, Word or similar program and press Ctrl and V keys to paste.
786 @spyder, Thank You, it works! And not one, but two recipes! I am in your debt Sir (I really hate all things technological, despite the fact that the internet has revolutionized my existence).
@slobandtom: Good luck with your experiments.
Jaap Bes.
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