In my very young snuff career, I’ve definitely alighted on SPs as one of my favourite things and would love to know the different aspects of each variety. @TomStrasbourg in another thread started to explain to me the individual components (other than bergamot and tobacco in several) and I thought I’d start a new thread. If anyone has any clues to scents it may help tune my nose. I currently have: WoS Best SP (my favourite, the perfect balance for me with a strong natural tobacco scent below it) WoS Gold Label WoS Tom Buck WoS SP 100 J&H SP No.1 McChrystal’s S’nuff and then ones I see as variants on SP such as: WoS Grand Cairo WoS Rose? McChrystal’s Stammheimer Hopfen (which is obviously hops, and yum) There are lots more so I’d like to know: (1) if anyone knows what is in each variety (2) which wonderful SP varieties I am missing!
@Polly you need to get some Toque SP Extra. A load of Bergamot and fantastic grind and tobacco base. It’s a staple in my collection.
http://www.sheffieldexchange.com/nasal.htm As far as SPs go, this only mentions two of the WoS variety, but it is interesting to learn about the components of the snuffs on the list.
Oh, and some Samuel Gawith Scotch SP
Citrus (usually bergamot and/or lemon) and floral notes like rosé and lavender are pretty common. I know grand Cairo shares the Virginia base of Gold Label, but it varies from batch to batch as far as scent. I know there’s lemon and some bergamot and lavender, but I think cinnamon is another part of it along with who knows what else.
OK some of these you have, but this is my quick description of all the ones I know. I’ll probably miss a few clear-cut ones, but SP is a variable definition (more on that below). WoS Best SP is primarily Bergamot but with Lavender, Rose and Lemon as side notes. Gold Label is exactly the same but with Virginia tobacco. The whole WoS family of SPs are variations on this sometimes with a change in the grind. Queens Extra Strong is exactly the same as Tom Buck, which is basically Best SP with more Bergamot. SP Silver is Best SP with a finer grind. SS, SP 2 and SP 100 are also variations on Best SP, most being somewhat less flavored and usually just with bergamot and some have finer grinds. Frederick Tranter and Mullins and Westley also have SPs but as far as I can tell these are rebranded WoS ones. JH Wilson has two, SP No. 1 and Top Mill No. 1. Top Mill is much plainer, but maybe a bit sweeter. Gawith Hoggarth has one, “SP” its pretty good, but often overlooked. Toque has Original and SP Extra (Extra has more nicotine and more bergamot). Possibly their Natural and Quit could be counted as SPs. Both are plain, with Quit being high nicotine. McChrystal’s has two, both often overlooked, SP and S’nuff. S’nuff is marketed as a quit smoking aid, but I don’t get any more nicotine out of it, although Its got a very high bergamot level, like Wilson’s Tom Buck. Samuel Gawith has a few and not all are easy to find. SP No.1 High Mill is their main one. SP Scotch is pretty unique, its rather rich and robust. Also they have a hidden gem, that seems to only be available here: https://www.thebackyshop.co.uk/products/samuel-gawith-sp-no1-top-mill-no1-substitute Its called SP No.1 but custom made to substitute for the lack of J&H Wilsons Top Mll No. 1 in airtight containers. SG and WoS call a lot of their other snuffs “SP’s” but its hard to pinpoint exactly what the definition of an SP is. I think of it as semi-fine mill with light citrus scenting, or even strong bergamot scenting, or even no scenting. WoS Grand Cairo seems far too fragrant to me to be called an SP, but yet its basically bergamot and lavender, maybe some lemon. Same for Wos Strasbourg which is citron and cinnamon and maybe bergamot. Most companies have a lemon or orange or other citrus, its all open for debate. I could see lemon, but orange seems a stretch. SG also has the Crest series: Red, Yellow and Blue. All three come in scented and unscented versions. Red seems to be too coarse to be considered an SP, but Blue and Yellow Crest arguably fit the variable definition. Those are the basic ones though, and even some with an expanded definition, though some expand it further. I’m still not sure there is a good SP defintion out there; its been a topic of conversation here as long as I can remember.
Also worth reading (besides the countless threads on this site about SPs) is Ermtony’s Classifcation of Snuffs: http://ermtony.pbworks.com/w/page/14871698/Snuff%20Types with a note about what makes a snuff an SP near the bottom.
I will be releasing a toasted SP type later this year; St Casura. I think an SP has to feature a citrus note somewhere, apart from that it’s a very broad canvas and mine will be very aromatic with a good nicotine kick. It will be priced as a regular SP and I’m aiming for November for on sale, 25g size. The name just comes from playing around with the words ‘cased, ultra slow toasted’, which basically describes how I’m making it. Cheers Snuffhouse, Nigel.
oooh, im so excited for that, seriously, never have i been this excited about a new snuff. i love SP scents, i like toasted snuffs, and its abraxas- well.
Thanks all for the fascinating information. I think I may be becoming a scent geek because I find dissecting the components so interesting! Thanks particularly to @Xander for the wall of text with so much information, and others for the fantastic links. Also, apologies for people who recommended Toque Original and SP Extra because I have them already 
I’ve only ordered 3 times and yes I have rather a lot of SPs. I’m finding that I’m still returning to WoS Best SP most of all, because some of the others are a little overpowered with citrus to me, so I most get lemon and little tobacco which gives it that earthy scent. Strangely enough I find McChrystal’s S’Nuff which isn’t as celebrated nearly as good and very close in yumminess. I did wonder if Toque Natural is also a very mild SP in terms of bergamot. I enjoy it a lot and seeing as I am an SP fan, I was wondering if it has a very light SPness in it as well as the earthy tobacco scent. At some point I’ll lay out all my SPs and have a comparison, the only problem being my very low tolerance for nicotine even in small doses of snuff! I may not be able to try them all in one sitting, and smelling isn’t the same as snuffing! I bought SP Blue Crest because I heard it might be SP, and was horribly disappointed: of course that means as an initiate I bought it in a tap box. It has practically no scent and is basically milled cardboard and put me off SG considerably! Am I likely to be able to revive it? I also didn’t know they came in scented and unscented… I’m guessing mine isn’t SP then anyway. I never had a Scotch! And I’m in Scotland. What characterises the Scotch definition and scent?
scotch is an american style of snuff. its typically quite fine, dry and smoky, often high nic supposedly, but ive never been knocked over by it. sweet varieties came about because it can be used to rub on gums too i believe.
Thanks @Firestarter0 - given that I am not so far a fan of toasts am I likely not going to be a fan of Scotches? Toast fans will hate me but I’ve tried WoS Irish High Toast 22, Lemon Toast and Toque Toast and Marmalade and that strong smoky rubbery scent is definitely not my thing (so far).
i have only had F&T HDT as a plain toast, and find it quite buttery, im not sure how it compares to the other toasts. the swisher superior scotch i have is a lot smokier and smells a bit like actual burnt wood to me, i dont have enough experience with either type of snuff to give much more info though, sorry.
SG Scotch SP is nothing like the dusty American Scotches. As Xander said, it is robust. Good reddish-brown medium-fine grind, medium moisture (don’t buy it in tap boxes), fairly pronounced bergamot scent. The SG web site lists it as medium-brown, varied scents.
@lunecat do you know if they call it “scotch” because the snuff has been rendered more palatable from heating (one archaic use of the word to scotch) or because “to scotch” is similar in sound of “to scorch” and we Americans just misheard it? or is it some other reason?
Brought to America by Scottish emigrants, so the scorching sound-a-like theory seems unlikely, though plausible. It is a cousin to Irish toasts (Lundyfoot), but I’m not convinced that it was created in Ireland first. Many of the fun stories we share here are not necessarily historically accurate, and may have been retold in old books from one to another without verifcation . The Irish and Scots shared many things back and forth, and developed many similar styles of things, all before both countries became Anglicized, so its hard to pinpoint an origin. Also snufftaking was common in both countries about a century before it was common in England. The Scots probably (at least the aristocracy) learned snuff from the French (The Auld Alliance), to which Sir Walter Scott’s snuff makes homage. Most of the books we know of with the early references to either toast, scotch or lundyfoot are in the library, but to my knowlege no one has really tried to formally document the origin of this style. Some good reading from Prof. Griffith’s site: including toasts: http://www.snuffbox.org.uk/vars.htm scotches in the USA: http://www.snuffbox.org.uk/abr.htm#us
By the way the USA section is a bit incomplete and out of date. For instance after the breakup of the tobacco monopoly, the snuff side was not just American Snuff Company, but ASC and George Helme and USTC. US Tobacco Company eventually renamed themselves US Smokeless Tobacco. Helme was absorbed by Swisher International in the 1980s. ASC did change its name to Conwood, but returned to the name “American Snuff Company” in 2010. Between these three nearly all snuff in the later 20th century was produced. Almost all of it scotches.
By the way the USA section is a bit incomplete and out of date. For instance after the breakup of the tobacco monopoly, the snuff side was not just American Snuff Company, but ASC and George Helme and USTC. US Tobacco Company eventually renamed themselves US Smokeless Tobacco. Helme was absorbed by Swisher International in the 1980s. ASC did change its name to Conwood, but returned to the name “American Snuff Company” in 2010. Between these three nearly all snuff in the later 20th century was produced. Almost all of it scotches.
I was wondering why my HoneyBee by Swisher said Helme on the top of the can, and now I know.
@ zaratzu totally cool. I still think of them as Helme snuffs and that’s ok. Helme built a stong reputation in their time. Swisher is still a cigar company in my mindset, but they have the capital. As long as they do justice to the heritage, I’m not overly concerned with who owns it. Could it be better? Yeah, but they still produce the majority of all snuffs and my favorite US snuffs. but as long as they keep producing, I can call them my favorite US snuff maker.