I love the toasts.  Toque’s Toast and Marmalade, WoS #22, F&T’s version, too.  They each have their own wonderful scent, be it buttery, nutty, leathery, or some combination of those.  But I have not been able to figure out how to take them in any normal way.  When I pinch, I seem to get it too far back.  When it’s on the back of the hand, it seems to clump up or even stick to the skin; same thing if I pinch then open the fingers so that it’s just one finger holding some snuff (maybe I’m just too sweaty?)

I really do enjoy it once the bloody stuff is in the nostrils, but getting it there in any sort of reasonable manner is driving me nuts.  Hoping you good people can help me out with suggestions, anecdotes, anything really.  And my confession: I’ve read other threads on the topic, and either I’m hopeless or those tips just won’t fix my issue.  Either way, I’m not coming in without having done my homework first!

Thanks in advance for helping me to enjoy this little hobby even more.

I’ll second Alberich: I have an assortment of toasts of which I’m keen to further explore… but I just can’t get it up the old hooter without either a) coughing and spluttering (no matter how gentle the entry) or b) having it all fall out of my nose. Suggestions from those versed in Toasts would be much appreciated!

@Alberich @Nulliverse have you tried the Boxcar method yet? At first, load enough for one nostril at a time in your boxcar, and start from further away than you would for something coarser, until you get your feel for it. That’s how I started, and now I can take them in healthy pinches without problems. Be patient, toasts are totally worth the acclamation.

One thing I find that helps when pinching fine snuffs is to block the opposite nostril either partially or entirely. There is a video floating around here somewhere of a guy using his thumb and middle finger and blocking the opposite nostril with a free finger while taking a pinch. What I do is scrunch my face a bit while taking a pinch so that airflow is greatly reduced in the opposite nostril. It’s sort of hard to explain but the general idea is to restrict the airflow. I probably look a bit silly but I don’t care, it gets the snuff where it belongs. Sometimes I still get a bit careless and overshoot, especially with the white snuffs and occasionally F&T HDT catches me. I very seldom have a problem with TNT or WoS #22 any more.

@Horsemen & @crullers Cheers for your input… I’d never considered either approach, particularly increasing the distance between nostril and toast. Will continue to work at it - as am determined to explore these enticing drys properly.

Box car or a spoon both are clean delivery systems.

Another tip/trick I read on another thread here is to keep the mouth open while holding the boxcar away from the nose while gently sniffing until that sweet spot is found between boxcar and nose, allowing the toast to go where it is supposed to at the rate that is comfortable. Over time, the distance between boxcar and nose decreases and can be done with the mouth closed. It’s hard to describe exactly what is going on, but keeping the mouth open sort of creates a vacuum effect that controls the inhalation through the nose. It seems a little funny at first, but definitely worked for me with the boxcar, which allows for better control compared to a pinch or from the back of the hand or spoon, even though the amount of snuff in a boxcar is generally greater which isn’t necessarily intuitive, in the beginning anyway. As mentioned, finding and practicing whatever technique works for you is totally worth it, because toasts take the enjoyment of snuff to even greater levels. It takes time, but keep at it. You’ll be glad you did…and then you will know how to take each snuff in the best way for you.

Update… I have nailed it! Thankyou all for your input (including @Trackerdex). I took a few steps back, and began trying the above mentioned techniques with more newbie friendly snuff, such as Toque Almond Toast, moving onto Torque Natural Toast. Today, I’ve ventured onto F&T HDT… and yeah, wow! A higher level of enjoyment has certainly been obtained! Thanks again.

Like Nulliverse, I took seem to have the knack of this now. Wonderful! Thanks to all for the advice, especially @Trackerdex, whose tip seemed to get me over the hump.

I am improving my toast taking technique with the hints @Trackerdex gave and so far it is working very good.

Thanks for the advice!\\m/

Taking in a small amount of air thru the mouth before inhalation should keep it from going down the back of your throat.

For the sake of ease, would thou-in-the-know either link to or briefly explain the boxcar thing?  

Great suggestions.  The IHT 22 I have as well as Irish D Light are very powdery.  Regulating air flow with the mouth helped a lot, even eliminated me needing to plug a nostril.

Snuff is trickier than just snorting powdered tobacco.  Now that I have an assortment of chunky, moist snuff and powdery, drier snuff, there’s a technique involved for sure.

Now if I can only perfect my snuffing while driving 80MPH, knees on the steering wheel and not dumping it all in my lap in a cloud of tobacco and curse words.  

In order to boxcar, you close your thumb up against the index finger side of the hand, and then wrap the index finger around the end of your thumb.  This creates a little “box” with your thumb nail as the bottom of the box and your index finger forming the walls of the box.

You can then put one nostril’s worth or two nostril’s worth on your thumbnail.  If you do one nostril’s worth, you have to do this twice obviously in order service both nostrils.  If you put two nostril’s worth on your thumbnail, you pull half of it in one nostril and the rest up the second nostril.  Getting that even between the two nostrils takes a little practice, but once you have it down, using the boxcar to hit both nostrils is very quick.

For some unexplainable reason, you can put a lot more snuff comfortably up your nose than you can with a pinch, spoon, or off the back of your hand.  For whatever reason, it just works well for large amounts of snuff.

Mark

I’ve discovered two methods which have been working well for me on the finer snuff grinds thus far. 

I scoop or tap out a small qty on the back of my hand.  I then flatten out the pile - normally the size of a watermelon seed.   This helps to initially warm the sample.   I then pinch a portion and bring up to one nostril.   While breathing in to the nose slowly, I gently rub the pinch between my fingers while loosening the grip.   If I start to feel it going too deep I decrease my breathing.

For those really powdery snuffs, I just exhale on to my index finger to get a touch of moisture on the end   I then put my fingertip into the pile or tin to get a coating of snuff.  Then put my finger just inside my nostril and tap or wipe the snuff onto the inside surface.   Breathe in gently and repeat as needed.

Thanks for @crullers for the tip (if I understood it correctly). It really helps to turn my nose on the side. I found it best not to ex-/inhale through the mouth right after pinching a toast. Doing this seems to produce somekind of flow which draws the snuff from nose to the throat.

Though it may sound trivial, this evening I reached a new level of ability - mastering White chasers. And now, I can feel the appeal… :-bd