I ordered a sample of Toque Original and Natural, and received it in Canada in 5 days TOTAL, including weekends. That is REDICULOUSLY FAST. That was the first of many points scored by Toque. Both have the same base tobacco. Although I’m new to snuff, I’ve been an adventurous premium cigar and pipe smoker for years. The base tobacco is incredible. It is suggestive of extremely high quality, well-fermented (for the un-educated smokers, this means extreme smoothness) and very fresh, moist cigar tobacco. Quality tobacco like this is used in the finest of cigars. The freshness of the tobacco is what is truly amazing. I was going to say that Roderick is going to have to watch his back, as I hear breaking into Cuban cigar factories and stealing their best tobacco comes with a heavy penalty. However, it seems he’s in the clear, as it is obvious that he then loads the tobacco on a plane, mills and packages it on board, and makes random stops to make deliveries through the night, having it on your doorstep by morning. Roderick has already sold all of the tobacco before anyone discovers there has been a theft. Jokes aside, it must be a very tight relationship with a good supplier that allows him access to such quality tobacco with such rapid delivery times. He quite clearly handles things very well on his end as well; the texture is perfect, the milling is VERY consistent, and the moisture level is perfect. The flavour is very nice. The natural is similar to the aroma of a quality UNLIT cigar. The original is of citrus, bergamot I believe, over the tobacco background. The only (small) criticism that I do have is that I personally found that the flavour was very short lived in the nose. First, for some this may be desirable. Second, I gather from other reviews of the same flavours on this site that I may be alone in finding them short lived, as others have commented that they found the flavour lingered pleasantly. Overall, an excellent Snuff, of an obviously VERY high quality. Phaedrus
I’ve had the same good luck with shipping (I’m in B.C.) I picked up that bergamot scent, too. Natural is a bit short-lived but i find it makes a very good “palette cleaner” if you’re snuffing a few different flavours. Also, I found that leaving some Natural in a snuffbox for a month or so (usually a big no-no) seemed to mellow it and give it a bit more of a smoky flavour. Whereabouts in Canada are you? There are a few Canucks here.
I’m in Ontario, about 1 hour away from Toronto.
somehow i do not care for the natural, somehow to plain for me. i feel no edges. but the original really has grown on me. hated it in the beginning, but now that i have finished my sample, i really think i need more. somehow i might prefer this to tom buck. both have a floral hint, but the original is much more subtle. but the original reallt seems to be a “winter snuff” for me, as i find it warming me up an i do not really appreciate that in summer (hate summer).