The only toast I’ve tried so far is F&T HDT and it has become my favorite snuff out of everything I’ve tried. Based on this, I’m trying to preplan my next order and was wondering if it would be good to try the other offerings. 50 grams each of… Toque Natural Toast Wilson’s Irish High Toast 22 Samuel Gawith Irish D Light I was wondering if all the toasts are pretty much the same? If I should just order a couple hundred grams of HDT and be done with it. I’m curious what the other companies have to bring to the table in the toast department.
Order a 25g tin (or two) of Frederick Tranter No. 22. I love me some F&T, and these provides some nice variety for me.
Sam Gawith Irish D Original is the best toast around.
50g seems a lot for a trial. They are all a little bit different from each other. I’ve not yet had Samuel Gawith Irish D Original, but I have had the Light. Its significantly different from F&T HDT. Its worth reading reviews on snuffreviews.com. Gawith Hoggarth Irish D is not one that gets the attention it should. It stands apart from the other toasts markedly. Personally I’m not in love with F&T HDT. I much prefer WoS #22.
It’s rather sad that Irish snuff now has to be bought exclusively from England - rather like buying Champagne from Scotland or whiskey from France. To the best of my knowledge not a single pinch has been manufactured in Ireland since the 1980s. Nevertheless, having sampled many of the unscented traditional Irish snuffs by Grants, Gallaher, P.J Carroll & Co (all once made in Ireland and now only memories) I can testify that both WOS Irish High Toast #22 and Sam Gawith Irish ‘D’ Light are genuine enough. Irish, ’D’ Light, the lightest of all Irish dry snuffs, is very similar to Irish ‘D’ Snuff by J.P Carroll & Co, and was the snuff much favoured by Professor Phillips Griffiths. Fribourg & Treyer, Gawith Hogarth Tranters and Toque all offer their interpretations and you would be advised to try them all. Experimenting with mixtures is also advised. PS - If you acquire a taste for unscented snuff then you might also like to sample the excellent rappee snuffs from Samuel Gawith. Some are mixtures and others are single base, but all are fermented in brine using a technique in the trade called the Paris method. It produces very dark or black moist snuff. London Brown has the colour of molasses, is very messy, takes a little perseverance, but is well worth the effort and is my favourite. The natural sweet-smoky tobacco taste is so much better than the confectionary/tart’s boudoir varieties. Don’t, however, buy anything from a tap-box as both flavour and moisture is lost.
It is also lamentable that there are no rappees made in France anymore.
@Xander You’re right 50 grams is a bit too much too commit, I’ll most likely do 25 each, and do probably 100 on my beloved HDT lol. Oh and I visit snuffreviews.com often… You do some great reviews on there and I trust your opinion. @PhilipS Intereting about the Irish toasts, too bad I got into the hobby too late to try them. I’m glad that the Wilson’s and Gawith are geniune. Now the rappee’s sound definetely interesting, I’ll have to add a tin… That reminds me I need to try some shmalzers too. A little off topic I do enjoy the American scotches I’ve tried so far, Garrett, tube rose, rooster… But my first experience with a toast… HDT it’s like lightyears better. That’s why I want to further my experiences with them.
I’m no expert, but I think you’ll be surprised by Toque Natural Toast: to my nose, it smells a lot more “herbal” than HDT. More precisely, it smells a lot like lavender does, if you take away the smell of lavender and only smell the plant. Since it’s kind of there also in Toque Raspberry (counting very much towards the wonderful “whole plant experience”) I suppose it’s really only the tobacco quality (more than the toasting process), but it’s very nice nonetheless.
"Now the rappee’s sound definetely interesting, I’ll have to add a tin… " @Eric - Whereas Irish is dry, fine and light biscuit, rappee is moist, coarse and dark. Both snuffs inhabit the poles of the snuff world, and both may require a personal expedition of discovery for full appreciation. Just make sure you only buy the vacuum-sealed tin for rappee and don‘t stray into the path of tap-box temptation. The evil tap-box is to snuff what Jack the Ripper was to women. Both commit murder most foul and should be avoided at all costs.
“It is also lamentable that there are no rappees made in France anymore.” I loved French snuff. Dido, lamenting at the departing sails of Aeneas, couldn’t have grieved more. The steam-powered snuffs mills of France, one by one, slowly passed into oblivion as surely as a sail finally disappears into the horizon. The only consolation is that the great Royal Factory is preserved by the Morlaix Chamber of Commerce.
I wish there was a hearty coarse ground Toast. I love the toast smell/flavor, but it’s very fine grind, I Schmalzler type grind but with the toast aroma would be great, I think.
"I wish there was a hearty coarse ground Toast. I love the toast smell/flavor, but it’s very fine grind, I Schmalzler type grind but with the toast aroma would be great, I think. " High Toast by Grant’s was a medium-coarse toast, which not so long ago was available from practically every tobacconist in Ireland. Consistency was similar to modern-day Old Paris. I recall reading in an old issue of Tobacco that Grant’s was supposed to relocate to Northern Ireland. Instead it disappeared as quickly at Banquo’s ghost at daybreak, and nothing more was heard of their snuffs again.
I have just ordered a tin of Irish D light, which I am told has a slightly more course grind than other toasts, though not as course as the Grant’s High Toast has been reported to be. If the Grants was available again I would be very interested. Hopefully one of the existing manufacturers will acquire Grants at some point.
If you are ordering toasts I think you should get some Toque Whiskey and Honey. The little bit of sweetness and flavour make it special.
@Nachman I love the whisky and honey I have a tin from my toque sampler. I ended up ordering 100 grams of hdt, 50 of grunt, and 25 of D White. When I get my tax refund in Jan/Feb going to order new toasts to try and also some shmalzers and rappee’s also the molens etc everything I want to try out. I just did a sure thing order this time with Dave so no bad suprises lol. The 100 of HDT may of been a little overboard but it’s my daily. Got others already to keep my senses happy. Toque’s, McChrystals, Garretts, Wilsons etc etc. I’m set for a couple months. Going to put some aside to for some white elephant. Some good stuff there better than D White.