On their own, they smell and taste wonderful. I imagine they’ll make a nice rappee, but I am wondering if anyone has tips on what to avoid doing.

For example, should I just use the basic snuff recipe from the snuffmaking 101 thread? Or perhaps there is a better recipe out there? My searches yielded nothing very useful, sadly.

If they don’t mind, I’d like to call on @volunge and @snuffmiller for advice! Of course, all are welcome to comment, I just know that those two have much experience. Thanks!

Basic recipe won’t give a black English rappee we are familiar with. It would be drier than we are used to, colour brown and lacking in alkalis.

Expressed by ingredients mass fraction (mass %), basic snuff recipe would look as follows:

Tobacco 65.7%
Water 21.7%
Salt 11.6%
Sodium carbonate 1%

Such small amount of alkali would not render pH 9-9.5, typical for a modern rappee. So, you need to dial up water and alkalizer and respectively reduce the excessive amount of salt.

My reply to the query on r/nasalsnuff (if someone else is interested in a prescription for a strong dark/black rappee) Reddit - Dive into anything.

P. S. The genuine recipe - Prescription for Hannover Snuff (kindly provided by @snuffmiller Jaap Bes) - which the aforementioned basic 101 snuff recipe was derived from by @Juxtaposer, is more intricant (although not a rappee either). It calls for even smaller amount of alkalizer (or… was it a cream of tartar or wine lees originally, @snuffmiller?) and water, yet incorporates ammonium chloride and is more balanced out on salt:

“For 500 grams of powdered tobacco, take 10 grams of fine cut yellow sweet clover, mix with 40 ml boiling water and let it to cool down. Filter the infusion and add to the filtrate 50 ml tap water, 10 grams Ammonium chloride and 5 grams Potash. Mix well with the tobacco and leave in a warm place to ferment. After convenient fermentation cool down with 50 grams of kitchen salt.”

Hannover snuff formula in mass %:

Tobacco 75%
Water 13.5% (6% for melilotus infusion + 7.5% for salmiak and potash)
Salt 7.5%
Yellow sweet clover (Melilotus officinalis) 1.6%
Ammonium chloride 1.6%
Potassium carbonate 0.8%

Absolutely fascinating, @volunge! Thanks for the full recipe. Both you and @snuffmiller should write books sharing your knowledge of this rather niche art.

I’m really interested in trying some other recipes that incorporate herbal infusions, too. Do you know if the clover is just the flower, or the leaves and stems of the plant, or what?

@Volunge: I have three recipes for Hannover tabak: Erster Sorte 100 kg Tabakpulver with a sauce of 18 kg Riverwater; 2 kg Salmiak; 12 kg Kitchen salt and 1 kg Potash. Zweiter Sorte 100 kg Tabakpulver with a sauce of 3 kg Potash; 10 kg Kitchensalt; 28 kg Riverwater. Dritte Sorte 100 kg Tabakpulver with a sauce of 4 kg Potash; 10 kg Kitchensalt; 25 kg Riverwater. These are the basics I didn’t mention the special flavors added.

@volunge, I started the process based on the proportions listed in your reddit post. It seems far too moist. The percentages you gave were %total weight, right?

In any case, I tried a bit after it cooled, and it seems unduly sweet. I used 22 grams of flue-cured Virginia and 22 grams of dark fire-cured (cultivar unknown). Do you think the addition of the Virginia is to blame for the sweet aroma, or is it a result of the Maillard reaction (or, perhaps, caramelization of any sugars present in the leaves, given that the two processes are distinct reactions)?

In case that was a grave mistake and you’re wondering what I was thinking, it was that the dark fire-cured tobacco was just too smoky…even though, yes, that is what I am after. I thought I’d cut it to see if it had enough smokiness to go on, which it did prior to cooking. Anyway, I’ll stop rambling now and ask for your thoughts on the matter. @snuffmiller, your input is obviously welcome too! I’d gratefully accept the advice and opinions of either of you seasoned snuffmakers.

Hello Tom,
I will let you know how I made my own snuff.( my recipe)
You need a coffee grinder.
2 pouches of rolling tobacco with no additives + 1 cigar
As you have good fire cured tobacco, use more or less 100 grs
Tonka bean grated and macerated in Rum, wishkey or Brandy
1 and half tea spoon of baking soda and a pinch of sea salt.
Start to grind and when medium coarse add the Rum ( 10/12 drops)and soda+salt
Continue grinding until the snuff is fine.
Then let to stay for 5 to 7 days in a bottle or jar( well closed)
At present I am making a blend with clove macerated in Rum.
Hope I helped you.
Best wishes

I appreciate you sharing your recipe, Pedro! I hope to give it a try sometime soon. I don’t have the beans handy, so it might be a while. Regardless, I appreciate your generous and friendly spirit in sharing a recipe you’ve found success with!

It would be nice if they wrote a book, I’d buy it! At the very least a pdf guide would be cool too. I’ve got the posts saved but it would be helpful to have as a guide.

Maillard. Caramelization happens at way higher temperature. Percentages were of total weight, and yes, cooked Virginia gives you a candy.

Moisture might seem excessive at 40%, but some snuffs score close to 50%. If it’s too moist for your liking, sieving it through a coarse mesh would air some water out.

The flavour will develop in a week or two - I hope you will find it enjoyable.