Hi I ordered 600g (and now another 600g =1200g) of this and have been having an amazing experience with it which I’d like to share/discuss. I received the Fine ground rustica yesterday. I ‘partied’ with it all evening and by the end of the evening my brain felt like it had been kicked by a seriously pissed off mule. This stuff is STRONG. The strongest tobacco product I’ve consumed. I can suck on Oden’s Extreme Loose snus all day and not get kicked like this rustica hits me. At first I thought it would make an amazing ‘advanced’ snuffers snuff just scented alone, and emailed Roderick to tell him so. This morning I emailed him to retract this idea. This stuff is too strong on its own. So today I decided to try blending it and got experimenting. First, I made a rustica SP using Tom Buck, then a McCs Supermint rustica, and then an L260 rustica, all using 4 parts rustica, 1 part ‘flavouring’. I also made an o&g mix, 1/3 rustica 2/3 o&g. ALL of these were still ridiculously far too strong. Remember, I have no problem with Oden’s extreme snus! So I continued experimenting blending and this is my conclusion. To ‘weaponise’ *any* snuff to STRONG N level, you only need 1/5 amount rustica. 1/4 if you want to be silly. 1/3 for strong menthols if you’re really masochistic! I’ve weaponised with 1/5 rustica: WoS raspberry Toque Original WoS iHT22 Toque Raspberry Menthol SG SP Scotch Just adding 1/5 rustica does not change in any significant way the original snuff BUT it does increase the N hit by two or threefold!!! One question I have for experienced people, Inc Roiderick - with such a very powerful tobacco, why isn’t this being grown everywhere? Why isn’t it readily available? Why is it scarce, hard to get hold of and so expensive? It’s an AMAZING product. I’ve bought 1200g. I’m seriously considering buying 1800g if Roderick will let me. To the mods: I hope you don’t mind me posting this. I made an arse of myself posting drunk last time I was here which is why I’ve been absent. If I’m banned, please delete this and I won’t return again. If you get the chance to buy rustica, BUY IT. It’s incredible.
There are a couple of strains of tobacco that have higher nicotine levels than Rustica. BUT the tobacco companies and farmers agreed not to grow it simply because it is too much nicotine. That and the anti’s would have figuratively, maybe literally crucified any company desiring to use tobacco with that much nicotine. Nicotine can be/is toxic. Most people don’t have the tolerance to withstand the super high nic levels safely. I smoked some of Roderick’s whole leaf Rustica back a couple of years…it was intense.
I’ve heard speculation that some of the white snuffs might contain some rustica, I guess lots of villagers and whatnot grow their own rustica in India so it wouldn’t be totally out of left field for it to find its way into commercial snuff. Not having tried confirmed rustica myself though I can only speculate.
For me, one part Rustica fine, four parts Quit seems to work quite well. I figured that if the sole goal was to make a really high-nic snuff, you could add a bit more. But I don’t really need it, even at that 1:4 level, it’s an occasional snuff, one that I take out when I’m watching films in the evening with nothing more to do for the day, sometimes accompanied by a strong gin and tonic.
Thanks for the nice comment @lunecat :-). Not sure if I’m coming back although I have been reading the site regularly. @horus92 this rustica is far stronger than Bruton, any of the Whites, or any other tobacco I’ve had for that matter. I’ve not had any so far today. In fact, I think I’m a bit afraid of it 
@JakartaBoy yes, that’s exactly the proportions I think work best to weaponise any snuff with this rustica. 1 part rustica, 4 parts other, so as I said 1/5 rustica and that seems to put all the snuffs I’ve blended so far on the ‘very strong’ scale. Like up there with Bruton+ strength. You can get the force of a very powerful nicotine kick without the pain of sniffing very fine scotches or whites. Well, stronger actually. I think of rustica like the 70-75% proof absinthe of the alcohol world. If you’ve had real absinthe (illegal in some countries) you’ll know what I mean!
I haven’t notice any strong effects. could be my nic intake has made a higher tolerance level I may need to levee. I do like the natural flavor on it’s own. As for absinthe I will never try, I don’t drink alcohol. Tobacco is the only vice I abuse :-B
That’s a good thing, @basement_shaman. Alcohol is evil and the bane of my life. Currently under control but I never know for how long.
Nicotiana rustica is not exactly tobacco and it is not just nicotine that it is providing. Other alkaloids in rustica effect the results of nicotine uptake.
Care to elaborate?
Nicotiana tabacum is tobacco. The other nicotiana species get called tobacco because of similarities. Some are very similar and do get used in a similar manor. All of the nicotiana family of plants have very different levels of alkaloids, some even with no nicotine at all. Although rustica has high levels of nicotine it is the harmine and harmiline alkaloid levels that are causing the effects that you are experiencing. Both of those alkaloids are strong MAOI’s which certainly affects nicotine uptake as well as other things in your brain…
Interesting discussion. I too am liking my rustica, but I don’t notice any hi-nic effects. Maybe I’m doing it wrong.
I get a very fast nicotine rush with the rustica fine ground. It makes my nose run a lot, but I really like it and am going to order more. I like to pinch about 3 per nostril, wait a few minutes, then follow it with something scented, today it was Super Chetak. I like the pure rustica scent, very mild and earthy.
I was reading about rustica on a psychoactive drug, hippy type site. It said the alkaloids in this species are responsible for giving South American shamans a trip like experience when mixed with ayahuasca and then blasted into the nose via a bamboo tube. I have no desire to do that. However, I have been finding that when taken alone, with no mixers, it gives me a weird sort of increased sharper focus, mentally and visually. In fact, I’ve found it interesting enough to order two more bags from Roderick. As another poster mentioned, it is not “regualr” tobacco, and has a different chemical profile. I don’t know what the various components are, but I find it overall quite nice. And as I said above, it goes well with Cheetah, either before or after. I’d be very interested to read what others have experienced with this unique stuff. In, fact, I ordered some seeds from a Hopi variety and will plant them here on the farm next April to do a little of my own production and curing.
Don’t ask me how I know this, but the psychedelic component of the shaman’s drug is probably DMT, from another plant. Harmaline is found in rustica and activates or adds to the effect of DMT. It may or may not gave psychoactive effects of it’s own effect. It also makes DMT active if its swallowed, rather than smoked or snuffed. Probably something I heard at a party decades ago.
Personally, I’m not crazy about rustica snuff. I’m glad I’ve got some in my cupboard and I’ll take the odd pinch mixed 1:4 with Quit, but the level in the plastic snuff box filled with that blend certainly isn’t going down too fast. It’s not that I think it’s crazy heavy with nicotine, I just think it tastes a bit like spinach. I’ve got nothing against spinach as a vegetable, but I don’t like it up my nose. My passive snuff taking friend says it stinks on me, too. Don’t feel bad, @Roderick, she positively approves of Violet and Spanish Gem. Having said all that, I look forward with breathless anticipation to the new Abraxas product, to see what he’s down with it in a blend, in the St Casura. I ordered 175 grams of it, just on the grounds that I’ve never met an Abraxas product that I didn’t wish I’d ordered more of. Except Cevise, but I’ll save that for another time.
I love the rustica but it definitely feels different to other tobaccos. A different buzz entirely. Glad I bought 1200g of it. Great for when I need extra focus.
I’m going to try to grow some rustica in 2014. JL Hudson seedsman has several varieties of tobacum as well as some wonderfully scented blooming types. One kind, ‘small stalk black mammoth’ is even mentioned as being good for snuff making.
I don’t think small stalk black mammoth is a rustica. I’ve grown about 10 different rusticas for native American prisoners’ religious practice in the past; they’re all quite different. Easy to grow, just make sure you add plenty of wood ash to the soil. Made the mistake once of smoking some freshly dried but not aged and it really hit me hard, a mistake I don’t care to repeat. My favorites are ‘Tara Humara’ and ‘San Juan Pueblo’.
I enjoy it straight but have mixed it with Quit and almond toast. To Quote Roderick “Please don’t abuse Rustica. It can also be dangerous if taken in the high quantities the shaman take”
Yeah, you are right small stalk black mammoth is a tobacum variety that mentions that it has been used for snuff making. Sorry to wander off topic there.