When I was playing Chess, I told one detractor who called me arrogant, that not only do I have talent, I practice. Work at it. As required as a board and pieces, Chess players must have faith in themselves. (Perhaps my greatest talent was my willingness, obsession, to work at it.) This is true in all games, including life. It’s also very helpful to surround yourself with people who believe in your ability too. You have that here, and I for one, wish you, and believe in, your success. In that belief, I share it. In all walks of life, there are people who want to bring you down, to remove your faith in your ability. Their mission is to waste your time and energy questioning the verity of their charges. An element of success is being able to edit BS ‘haters’ out. The best to you. Sincerely,
@ herzel chess is very much a game of dedication and observation. Some games are about cleverness once you get the basic how clever you are is how well you’ll do. Chess isn’t like that it’s about how much work you put into it. I guess I’am saying you should be proud of your chess abilities since you obviously earned them. bs haters are awesome too. They tell you how well you are doing,though I wish they could learn to shut the f up.
How is it going guys?
Sorry for the delay in updates! Had a setback in the experiment, started over again, fermenting some batches now. It really hurts to put so much effort in to the snuff, then have troubles. Since I heard that Pieter nailed the flavor and taste, I seem to have lost interest. I really believe that proper leaf selection is crucial, I have some new leaf from South America that is promising. There is a fundamental element to the Jewels kick, I have beat myself on it, just taking a step away to contemplate. The sudden call for producing amounts for sell or trade were intimidating, this is a hobby, now an obsession, but some what of an unhealthy one. My frustration has turned a bit towards depression. I have tried a lot of tricks, There is really a lot to learn, and it’s not like you can ring up the snuff masters and ask them to give up the trade secrets. I will bounce back, I think the sudden realization that I just spent another $60 dollars on Rustica when I have not had a job in over a year might be a bit of a wake up call! Especially when I have no intention of selling it, thought it would be great for trading. I all ready have a lifetime supply of snuff. Just venting a little! No way I am putting cheese in there though!
Send me your address and I will send you 100 grams of rustica I bought from Roderik. Please don’t get discouraged. There are ppl wanting your snuff but we will all be patient. Just continue working on it at your leisure and when you think you have it down pat let us know. I have great faith in both you and Pieter. It seems that Whalen has the nic kick figured out and Pieter has the flavor nailed, maybe you both should put your methods together and see how close it really comes to the original. Just a suggestion. RODERIK!!! Please send Whalen and Pieter some rustica leaves to experiment with. Come on… please do it as a “professional courtesy”. We will ALL appreciate it and it will help to bring Pieters and Whalens spirits up.
Hey I appreciate the thoughts! I have Rustica coming out of my ears right now. I got a Kilo of Mapacho just 2 days ago. I almost have the Nic kick figured out, I mean the Folly has a great nic hit, but to be the Jewel you need it to overwhelm. The Jewel has a flush of nic available, it just gets in your system so fast. @Premium Parrots, that is a great gesture! What I need is to quit thinking about this damn snuff night and day. What I really need is about an acre of ripe Rustica, so as to cherry pick the damn leaf. I just took a large pinch of the jewel, what a burn! What a hit! What a stink! Oh, what have I done??? Is this the snuff of a mere mortal? Actually, I have been hoarding the last gram of the Jewel, it was a big pleasure to actually take a big hit! Really does burn and the drip is off the charts. I feel a heck of a lot better now. I guess I am just feeling the curse of jewel. Whoa, the burn just does not stop!
I have that curse of the Jewel. I have a taste and now it is what I am craving. Whalen, I am really impressed with your snuff making prowess. Getting Kilos of leaf…wow. I agree with Premium Parrots…anything I can donate…Snuff, leaf, money…let’s talk.
From macalpe: “This morning he told me the secret of this snuff is the type of seed or plant, the local weather and curation time ( two months inside a room with air and no sun at all)… Also he told me he only used the best parts of leaves(no stems and no nervs at all).” The Jewel is a pure tobacco snuff without any additives whatsoever. Obviously, you can’t recreate the curing method with already cured leaf and there does seem to be a part of the process that’s still missing. Pieter, you may recall that I sent you two samples of snuff made from the same sort of cigar tobacco, one scented and one toasted. You were kind enough to say that the scented one reminded you of Spanish Jewel. Excepting the scent, the only real difference between the snuffs was the degree of heat used to dry the tobacco before grinding. Heat treatment of snuff tobacco used to be quite an art. In some cases, you could get the same snuff low dried, high dried, or toasted. I strongly suspect, based on my own experiments, that the Jewel is a “high dried” snuff, dried at around 200-225oF until the leaf is crisp, ground right away and put into a sealed container for at least three weeks to mature.
If anyone is going to play with alkaline additives to snuff; measure by weight, not by volume, unless you like chemically incinerating your nasal passages.
Ladies and Gentlemen, brothers and sisters of this congregation, I want to apologise to Kevin for interfering with his thread by posting my SJ results here. I’ve really been vain by doing so. Please forgive me, all of you!
no need pieter. it’s cool. I’am sure he’d say so to.
@Pieter- There is absolutely no reason for an apology, how could there be, all you have done is encourage me! I am quite happy that you have accomplished solving the taste/smell riddle, I just have not had the same luck yet with the kick. I have a mountain of snuff here that will not be going out for Christmas! I do believe that is what is bothering me, this stuff could bring a lot of joy! I will be really sad if you do not continue this thread/ journey with me. I have no desire to quit this project, I just am having trouble coping with all this grinding and experimenting. I really hope to solve this riddle and make this snuff available, and after grinding my fingers to the bone, hope to pass my knowledge on to some one who can fulfill the demand. I had no doubt that with you working on the taste and smell, and myself on the kick, that together we would get pretty darn close. I still do. There is a small matter of trying to justify what truly has become a Folly. I kind of feel like I sit down with a new light bulb filament every day and watch as it fails to work, only in this case, I have no desire to sell light bulbs.
There were two varieties of Spanish Jewel. After consulting with Roderick, it looks like there could’ve been some blending of both of these. This could the result of storing the plain snuff in the same jars as the flavoured one. This may have been intentionally done to give the plain snuff a completely unique flavour. The old snuff makers were notorious for having little secrets like this. The high drying that I mentioned should help with the nicotine release. It can be done with the finished snuff, but that’s a little tricky. I’d recommend starting at a lower temperature (165oF) for 2-4 hours.
Pieter, instead of apologizing, you ought to be congratulating yourself. If it weren’t for you, no one would still be working on this. It looks like the pieces keep falling into place albeit very slowly
@snuffgrinder - Thanks for the input. I still have some still moist leaf and of course finished snuff. I will give it some thought and try the heat tonight. Would like to figure this out, one of the few things I have not tried. I do appreciate you taking pity on me, the history of the Jewel is special, and the snuff making process is fascinating, thanks.
Snuffgrinder, don’t know who you are but I offer you a whole hearted thank you and sincerely appreciate your input for Pieter and Whalen. These two seem to have taken it upon themselves to do their best to replacate the original SJ. It takes lots of time for trial and error and I’m sure you have helped them save alot alot in this regard. It also takes some knowledge for one to even begin the process. I don’t have any knowledge of snuff production whatsoever. So I’m not even going to try when there are fellows like Whalen and Pieter working on it. However, I’m am here for whatever support I can offer these guys if and when they need it. I wouldn’t be suprized if they come up with a snuff that might be even better than the original. But those are big shoes to fill. Anyway, Snuffgrinder, thank you for all the help. And Whalen and Pieter please let me know if there is anything I can do to help. A notice to the people that still have some original SJ in their stash…Please don’t use it all up. I assume that when Whalen and Pieter get what they think is a perfect match that they will need people to sample and compare their product to the original. When the time comes, the more people that still have the original to compare it with the better. IMO. PP
@Premium Parrots- That is one of the reasons I haven’t delved into my SJ yet. We have some very patient people on this board that are trying to recreate this snuff, and it would be a terrible loss if, by the time they have it down pat, no one was able to compare the original and theirs. Good luck to both of you. I check this thread every hour or so to see how it progresses. I am very excited at this concept and, as others have done, I offer you any help I can give. Be it leaf or whatever you need.
exactly, Snuffy. [call me PP, if you want]
I do believe I will call you that from now on, PP. Just know…if we were children I would make fun of that name. Heh.
so…ummm…you are NOT a child?!? Ok then “SNUFFY”. 