I find this TAS R. Madras snuff to be amazing, and ridiculously addictive. Everything about it is perfect to me. Its burn, its aroma, the whole feel of it. It gives you a nice nicotine lift too, doesn’t take too much. I am surprised there’s not much mention of it here. Anyone else think or feel the same of it? Or is it just me?

I like it just fine. Its not really easy to get, nor well known, so perhaps most members here have not had it. I would not have ever tried it except for tom502 finding it locally a few months ago. Nice and spicy. There was some chatter back then about it.

I suppose I am fortunate then that Brookline News and Gift Store, right next to Boston, sells it. It’s the only snuff I’ve tried quite like it. It’s not an Indian shop, but I wonder if it is a common product in Indian Shops. It is unfortunate that more of the folks here haven’t had experience with it… I hope that changes at some point. It is most definitely spicy. I find it hard to describe exactly what it smells of. It has a very potent tobacco smell to it, and something odd that makes me think of Indian incense( but subtle), and soil. I really wish I could identify it. I know that you and tom have tried, and I think some others also tried it. I wonder if anyone knows what it is that makes up its scent…

You are indeed lucky to have found it then. The Indian markets near me that I have tried so far only have Indian chewing tobacco. Your shop may carry some other exotic brands if they carry that. I’d be curious to know. You could also find yourself having some good trading material. I took a pinch just now to remind myself and give some descriptions. It reminds me mostly of Indian spiced tea, so cardamom and a touch of clove perhaps is in it.

I am not surprised, since to date so far, this shop has more variety in tobacco than any I’ve been in. They do claim to be New England’s largest tobacco selection, maybe there is truth in. They are dedicated to pipe tobacco(with an awesome selection) but they also sell just about any other type of tobacco as well as a bunch of other awesome manly stuff(canes, wet shaving equipment, etc…). They have some common snuffs as well as snuffs which I don’t really hear about. Some of them look very old. I wouldn’t be surprised if some tins are 20+ years old, since I know that pipe tobacco tins that old have been found there. My friend bought an unused peterson pipe there from the 70s I believe, that had been just sitting there for years. He only paid about 60usd for it and it’s an excellent smoke. Any of you who are from Boston, or if you ever happen to be in the area, I strongly suggest visiting there. The shop even attracted a visit from Bill Clinton back in the day.

Sorry for the overly long response that almost seems like an ad. I am not sure what cardamom single handly smells/tastes like, but as for cloves, perhaps that is part of what makes up the scent. It seems to be some blend of various spices, but to me it is a bit hard to pinpoint exactly what. It reminds me of Indian incense in the background, but darker.

I think it must be somewhat popular, as I saw it listed on an online Indian grocery in NY.

Brookline News and Gift! Good lord, that’s where it all started for me back in the '60’s. There was a fellow there named Mike, I believe. He would let me, a teenager at the time, peruse their humidor and after agonizing for half an hour buy one or two cigars, pipe or cigarettes tobaccos. If I’m thinking of the same place, it was on Harvard St, near Coolidge Corner. I hope it’s the same place and glad to think they are still in business.

I got mine from Tom502 as well. It’s a very nice snuff and probably the only Indain snuff that I like. I know this is weird but to me it smells like a veterinarian’s office but I like it. The scent is very crisp, the burn is good, and it lasts in my nose a long time but that might be due to my sensitivity of the scent(s). I’ve got to check out this shop in Brookline now…the curiosity is going to kill me otherwise.

@Stitch. Yeah it’s the same place, unfortunately Mike sold the place a year ago to an Indian man(though the new owner is friendly). When I was first getting into pipes I learned alot going there. It use to be a hangout for me and I would just smoke my pipe with Mike and his employee and socialize. He didn’t care that you need permission to allow smoking in businesses(in Mass). He was very old school. It still good these days, just not the same because you don’t have Mike around anymore. It is still the best tobacco store I know around. @Wickedkitchen I def recommend you visit Brookline News&Gifts. You’d be missing out on alot. Stitch is right, Brookline News&Gifts is by Coolridge Corner. It’s on a corner between Harvard St. and Babcock St. @Snuffgrinder What is ghee? And what kind of scent does ghee and lime give tobacco? How would you describe it?

Ghee is a special clarified butter that is important in ayurveda(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarified\\_butter) my mother cooks with it some times. Scent i have no idea

Won’t that go rancid?

That is really interesting. I never knew I was putting butter in my nose haha. Perhaps the lime would keep the butter from going rancid?

Protein solids are removed with clarification.

That would make sense.

@Xander: I *think* that since it is clarified butter, it has a much loooooonger shelf life.

Well I suspect that the lime would prob prevent it from going rancid, plus the fact that these snuffs are pretty dry. I could be wrong of course but just a thought.

I just got some of this today! WOW this is pretty good snuff! Thanks Tom502!

You’re welcome. Most people have really liked this. I really like the Rose one. I like the Himalaya a lot too, though I got some newer plastic cans from NicRush, as I got a rusted can before, from the Indian shop. But they are cheap.

Oh yes the Rose one is also great! I have not opened my Himalaya yet as I still have some ordered from Nicotine Rush but it is also one of my favorites. I do believe that for me the Indian snuffs seem to be my favorites. I used to use mostly Molens snuff (which I still love) but since trying many of the Indian ones they have replaced Molens as my number one go to snuffs

Thanks to Tom502 posts I started to look around locally and was able to find some T.A.S. Madras and Sugandhsrgar rose at a local indian grocery store. I just opened the madras snuff now and took a pinch, boy does this have a very nice long lasting sting and a very good vitamin N hit! (got a buzz for sure) It also has a very natural tobacco scent. I like it! I will soon be tempted to try out the rose next

I think India is the snuff making capital of the world, yet they can be hard to find outside of India.

I got a say that India does make some fine snuff. I couldn’t wait so I just tried the rose snuff its very nice. it came in a plastic tin with the snuff in a bag on the inside has a slight menthol to it, no nose burn. smells like a mix of rose and some other floral’s sweet and musky has a good dose of vitamin N the caused a nice jolt that seemed to make my vision feel brighter and clearer. I like them both and will buy some more of each.

Was these the only 2 kinds the store had?

@Tom502 I was only able to get those 2 kinds, Hopefully next time I go Snuff Hunting I will find other types. I got to get together a list of all the Indian brands so next time I know what to ask for.

Can I call this plain? cause I like plain. Thank you tom502 for letting me get this.

Ok, now that a few more of you have had it, does anyone else get a slight taste of cardamom, or is it still just me?

I am not sure what cardamon is suppose to smell like so I really cannot say for sure. To me the snuff is peppery. I do not get any citrus in it.

My Madras snuff: I cant see the year on either of mine (on both of them the end of the expiry date is hidden behind the crease where the paper starts again) so all I can see is “Oct 20”(the rest if its there is hidden). Mine unfortunately were/are not like other people are describing and I was really looking forward to. I did open them shortly after getting them and the first thing I noticed was there was no big overflow of snuff like I was expecting, but I paid that no mind, took a few sniffs and got a lot of burn and no joy. Then I noticed that just shortly under the surface the snuff is pretty encrusted sort’ve like a rock to the tins. Its the same way with both tins (no joy, all burn, and rock formations) so I can pretty well figure this is my first real clear-cut case of having snuff that needs rehydrated and its been my first experiment in rehydrating. I first tried having one open little tin of madras in the bathroom with me while getting a shower in. Unfortunately since I have help to get this done I wasn’t completely in control of this and it happened to be the day I got a nearly cold shower additionally with the bathroom door left wide open (no steam joy to be had there), so I next found a little sort of ceramic pudding cup thing I have, put the entire opened can of Madras in it, put this in a larger thing (a picnic big round thermos thing I have) microwaved a glass of water for 4 minutes (to get right around boiling, poured the water in the thermos thing, then placed the pudding cup with the madras tin in it and waited several hours. This helped a very little bit with the very top of the madras (I think) as it was less burn and I could smell a little of the sort of chocolately smell the snuff has when just smelling over it, when I sniffed it, but still needs more work (I also think I managed to hydrate more of the paper label than the snuff itself), so this time I am trying maybe 5 - 8 grams of it, scraped into an old Toque 10g tin, same process (tin set in the pudding cup set in the wide shaped thermos, microwaved water) and I’ll see if I can make this better. I just think I got bum tins of it and I still want to really work with this snuff, maybe another time try for better luck with fresher tins. When I try to click for it on the Pattel Bros website to see more about it or purchase I get ‘this webpage cannnot be displayed’

If I recall, mine was like a rock as well. And I was not overjoyed with it, as some have expressed. It’s been a while since I opened mine, but… now that I recall, they sold an older version, with a different label design, and that’s the one I had, then they got these newer ones with the more bright label, which is the ones I sent out. Some may have gotten the older version when I 1st did this, but those are no longer there. I traded off my older one a while back, and got a new one, but haven’t opened it. I found it more on the plain side. I scraped the snuff off, which was not hard, and came off as powder. All the cans on the shelf were the same, with the same stamps, so they should all be the same. But what I had, of the older can, I guess it was OK, but I was not as impressed as others where. Some here have both cans, I don’t know if they were different in any way.

I was in Michigan over the weekend visiting an Uncle, and after searching three local Indian shops, I came upon this snuff. The first shop said they had no snuff, the second one said it had been ‘outlawed’, and the third shop, I did not ask, but just began looking around. Possibly, owners are a bit nervous when a person enters a store and asks only for a tobacco product and sticks out like a sore thumb, haha! 50 g for $2.99 was good enough for me…I’ve had this before and it is really the only Indian snuff so far I REALLY enjoy. To me , it has the Ghee,cardamom, and cigar tobacco scent…pretty tasty and recommended!

Bart, where in Michigan did you acquire this? I would like to try it.

I was in Canton, but I guess any Indian store owned by fellers called Patel Brothers (sp?) seemed to have it. Garden City specifically, outside of Canton.

Yep, Patel Bros also used to sell Swastik snuff.

Has anybody tried N C Arya Madras Snuff? Can you describe the scent or flavor?

The special Madras I believe is the t.a.s. has more of a citrus scent than floral ,very pleasent has a fairly good burn and a great nicotine hit.I believe these are simular,but can’t say for sure. well worth the price of admission…You don’t like it unload it on the market thread.

I will let you know, @basement_shaman I’ll soon have just over a pound of it…

Well it is quite plain. No menthal or toastiness. No killer burn or rose. But it does have an ear ringing nicotine punch. A great find to lay in for the zombie apocalypse

I just purchased a tin of this in San Antonio Texas of all places. Great stuff!

hookah1 has the T.A.S. Madras, 10x50gr tins for $29.00