I had this (that the ‘tap boxes’ are just plain evil) re-affirmed to me yet again today. my first encounters with them were with Dholakia white and Dholakia Black the white hurled itself out of there and the Black was held captive in large chunks I could hear clattering around but could not get out (once in a while it would sort of throw one out at me in a very uncontrolled way but even then not often) Today I was trying to get a bit of "Kownoer’ out of a simplar ‘tap box’ it came in and what do you know… a big gigantic pile ended up on the back of my hand… and of course no way to put it back nowhere to put it, so as to not lose this large pile of snuff I did the only thing I could, reached for the nearest thing I had, my ‘mixing tin’ (a small former McHrystal’s S’nuff tin with the label removed) and dumped it in there in order to salvage it. there was a bit of mix of dried taxi and Dholakia Black in there so now I won’t really be able to tell what the Kownoer is like and have to use this up first. who ever came up with this tap box idea should maybe ‘take it back’ Three tapboxes (I ended up plucking the Dholakia ones apart so I could safely and reliably get at and relocate to safer saner containers and I think I’m about to do the same here, this ticks me off) you can’t see the snuff coming its captive in there and it just kind of vomits random amounts out at you, they are evil.

I used to always sniff off the hand, but nowadays, I’ve been using pinches, and with tap boxes, I’ll tap it into my palm, and use the other hand to pinch it. I’ve also been using an empty prescription pill bottle, and just dropping some in my palm and pinching that. I have a few Dholakia tappers, because I’m a lite snuffer, and just didn’t want to get 25g, so I got those. I don’t know why, but it seems the tappers are popular. I wish the Dholakias were all available in 10g rounds.

I like the SG tap-out boxes but I agree the Dholakia ones are just as bad as the GH ones. I’m not a fan of the Molens ones either. I think the opening is in the wrong place on all of those. You can always use a spoon to retrieve the snuff or a pen cap. I’ve devised an air-powered snuff spoon that I use with these boxes almost all the time. There’s no loss of snuff with this device and it affords fantastic coverage w/ no congestion. I’ve gotten away from the back-of-the-hand method due to over sniffing and getting congested not to mention giving some to the angels.

I only have experience with the Poschle President, and the Bernard Schmalzler style ‘tap boxes’. But I have no problems or issues with them. Are the Dholakia significantly different ?

No, they arn’t “bad” to me, for what they are. But they seemed more designed for sniff off the back of your hand use. The design is fine.

its not just the dholakia ones, now its this green labeled Kwonoer (its difficult to make out what part of it is its actual name without digging out snuff reviews) but its now the Kwonoer tap box too and I AM trying to tap them to the back of my hand they just either hold the snuff or spit an uncontrolled huge amount and I am venting a bit about it, sick of this. Got the Kwonoer in a ‘smash box’ now where I will either take directly from the czech tool tip or use the czech tool to drop a bit on the back of my hand (I can’t quite manage pinching, yes its a ‘personal problem’) back of the hand or from the tip of the too-huge and floppy foldy czech tool (I REALLY wish I had an actual snuff spoon no idea why these are so hard to find) I will avoid tap boxes from now on and if this is the only way something comes I think I am going to just ‘do not pass go’ and pick it apart and relocate the snuff from now on, tired of these weird little spastic useless tap boxed. I wanted to sniff my snuff not wear it and have to do an emergency mix move just to not lose the snuff EDITED to add, found it, okay here is what I am trying to say: Bernard Feinster Kownoer tap boxes are also evil, its not just Dholakia ones.

i don’t think they are evil. just not suited to some snuff types. when that is the case i decant them into something else but there are times later, when i have regretted it.

I don’t use tap boxes at home, but to me they sure are handy when I am out. That is why I use SG and GH almost exclusively when I go out.

I hate em as well. I wish some of my faves didn’t apeear in this format as I’m a spoon sniffer.

whistlrr- Some small measuring spoons make a good “snuffspoon”. http://www.pastrychef.com/assets/images/large/long\\_stem\\_measuring\\_spoons\\_large.jpg

It depends on how moist the snuff is, a dry snuff will come out in a big heap without even looking at the box but a moist one will need thumping out not tapping I quite often decant some into old No99 tins as I preferr to pinch but dont forget to put a label on the old tin to tell you what’s in it now

@tom502 I have a plastic 1/8th measuring spoon and its at least 2 x, maybe about 5 to 10 x too big to be a snuff spoon (I do use it for mixing and equal measuring when I mix and relocating snuff but its too big for sniffing purposes) my metal czehc tool is maybe about half the size of the 1/8th measuring spoon and its still too big. I use the very tip of it but it’d be really nice to find a properly sized spoon. I someytimes use this one really little flat head screwdriver but it actually doesn’t have enough surface (its the only flathead screwdriver I have thats new enough, not been used as a screwdriver and banged up and cruddied up far too much to put into my nose ‘into my nose’ because thats how I do it with the screwdriver but wouldnt’ with a spoon… I use the screwdriver for some really potent snuffs to sort of insert then tip the handle down towads my chin so I am literally placing/pressing the potent little bit of snuff into the inside tip of my nose… I’m sure there’s a better method… hoping Xander gts out of his snow storm soon and can maybe send me a few of his little sot of toy or jewelry type spare spoons)

don’t pin your hopes on these little dinky spoons I have. They are better than nothing, but just barely.

I’m with Tom502. I always tap a pile into my palm and pinch from that. With SG it’s easier to just decant it into a jar, as those tap boxes do have a tendency to jam.

I don’t mind the tap boxes, except the current SG Irish D light box. The snuff is so fine it seems to jam the slider which is annoying me to no end. If I didn’t love the snuff so much I’d give up.

I generally prefer pinching, but there are times when I specifically bring along a tap box because it’s convenient and more discreet. When I am sitting in a meeting with a bunch of other folks, I feel like it looks a little more gross and obvious to grab a pinch, because I have to put both fingers that are holding the pinch up to a nostril and inhale. But, with a tap box I discreetly tap a small amount on my left thumbnail (pressed up against the forefinger) and then reach up and take a quick hit off the nail. To me this seems way less noticeable and it also doesn’t get my nose as dirty.

I love tap boxes! But Polar Prise is a bitch to get out; it always clumps! Other than that though, I love them. Now if NTSU came in one, I’d really have a beef…

With clumpy snuffs in tap-boxes, I always give’em a shake before tapping.

I don’t like tapboxes at all, except for esthetic reasons: some of them look good. Tins are more practical in every sense, not just for pincher like me. I always decant my snuff to old 5 or 10g tins.

Don’t like them at all either.

They are ok with my Bernards snuffs until I can get a proper German ceramic snuff bottle. For everything else, they are worthless (though some are more worthless than others)

Every one of the coarse snuffs I just got in the plastic dispensers needs rehydrating before I even try them. I guess the plastic dispensers are okay for dry snuffs, or snuffs which are not moistened with water, but otherwise I think I have had enough of them. Even rusty tins were more airtight! In future I will only be getting SG snuffs in bulk. That way they will be fresh and as moist as they should be. Okay, so it will limit what I have on hand, but I’d rather have a few fresh snuffs than a myriad of stale, dried out snuffs.

Dam right they are evil!! One time at band camp…I opened a tap box snuff and the dam thing jumped at my thumb and tore a hole in the end of it. Then it hung on and started sucking all the blood out of my hand and arm. It took the fire dept almost an hour to get that thing to release. Then they had to have animal control capture it, cage it and haul it off. I heard later that the dam thing almost escaped to harm another innocent soul. They finally got it into a blender and destroyed it humanly. I amost died for a lousy hit of snuff. true story

Yes they are, agreed. If you can’t pinch from them they are no use. And the thing is, if they hinged them they would make fantatsic cheap snuff boxes.

Opened a tap box today and couldn’t get anything out of there, so decided to empty the box to spare tin. And this was Bernard’s Amostrinha, somewhat sturdier than most of tap boxes. Managed to spill a lot. And this snuff is one the best to pinch!

If all the sky was paper and all the sea was ink there would not be space enough to express condemnation of these hideous plastic samplers. Even tins sealed with tape are better. Manufactures like Samuel Gawith go to extremes to control moisture in snuff so that it is perfect. Why - in heaven’s name - then package samples in containers that are not airtight? All non-paraffin-based snuffs will quickly dry out in these woeful plastic efforts. It’s tempting to think of this as classic British stupidity, but it seems that our German cousins at Bernard are equally dim. My son made me a welcome gift of SG snuff several months ago and for good measure also threw in a dozen or so of these hideous new samplers. Each in turn was opened, tested and immediately dropped into the bin, as the contents were stale. In my experience dry and dusty snuff can’t be satisfactorily re-hydrated any more than dry and used tea leaves will make a decent cuppa. But in any case, why should customers even have to contemplate re-hydration? Now, if samples are egregious then customers are not likely to make a purchase - which is unfortunate, as Samuel Gawith snuffs are wonderful when fresh by the drum.

@ Philip S: I hope Samuel Gawith read that. I wonder if they realize the blunder they have made. They must have joined with Bernard to get a combined deal on those dispensers. I’m sure it seemed like a good idea to them at the time. There seems to be a friendship between the two companies judging from their websites. Bernards at least (except for my poor dried out Kownoer) have a significantly longer shelf life. Kownoer at the least should go back to its glass bottle.

I hope so too, Alexander, although I’ve yet to receive a reply regarding my complaint last December. You may well be right concerning a combined dispenser deal. One of my gift samples duplicated a drum (London Brown). Shook out about half the contents onto paper for examination. The flour which hadn’t dried out had congealed and hardened into shotgun-pellets, which are better suited for loading a 12-bore than a nose. The contents of the Scotch Black should, in theory, be impossible to dispense from the plastic thingy. As it was the bone-dry contents poured into the bin as easily as sand falls from an hour-glass. Cob Dark, Princes Special and all the others followed suit. Other than a few 25 gram tins of Irish I buy all my snuff by the drum. Opened drums are decanted into empty F&T tins from which my snuffbox is replenished daily. There is never any issue about freshness, drying, storage, etc. I checked the cost of the new samplers and they are about £1.30 for 10 miserable grams of tobacco dust swept from the factory floor. The dozen that were gifted therefore totalled 120 grams for £15.60. One can buy 250 grams of good fresh snuff for less than that. The object lesson, in my opinion, is never waste your money on ’snuff’ from a tap box unless you happen to like fluffy paraffin based Pöschl or ground up portions of Tutankhamun. All else is sweetness wasted on the desert air

I’ve had the same experience with the dispensers, but much more rarely with the old tins. However, rather than throw them away I decided to use them for rehydration experiments. One method in particular has worked very well, though it should be noted that the snuffs weren’t totally dry but just about getting to that stage. Some were close to that “shotgun pellet” condition. I transferred the snuff to an empty 25g Toque tin and then lightly sprayed a mist of water on top of the snuff using an old glass hay fever nasal spray bottle. By removing the thin plastic tube that goes down to the bottom of the bottle, which normally enables it to be used upright, you can use it upside down. The tube just pulls out. It’s like this but in glass. With the lid of the tin back on I let it sit for a hour or so and then gave it a good shake. The snuff was pretty well back to what it should have been. Soft and fluffy and very tasty. I did this with London Brown, Black Rappee, Scotch Black, Scotch, Cob Dark and Princes Dark, all with excellent results. Much faster than any other method I have tried and it gives even results as the water goes onto the snuff as a mist.

My neglected Scotch Black will have to be rehydrated, and it came that way I might add. Love the scent, but there’s something about it that is no good…compared to baking a pack of smokes in a vehicle than trying to smoke them when they are “crispy” i suppose…its just not the same.

Once you rehydrate it, it should spruce right up.

I rehydrated both my Scotch Black and Black Rappee, using the evaporation method (takes longer than ermtony’s method- like a day or two). They were both like PhilipS’s buckshot in their boxes prior to that. Now they are nice and moist. I transferred them to empty Wilson’s tins. I think they will keep a bit longer there. They both still have a strong scent.