Hello everybody, Here I will discuss my first experience with finely ground snuff, being used to coarsely ground snuff. First, the snuffs I’m used to are from a brazillian brand called “Guarany”, which is the name of the main linguistic family spoken by the pre-colombian inhabitants of Brazil, and they used to smoke tobacco and snuff it - or rather have the snuff blown to their noses by a fellow using a tube. I haven’t snuffed these original snuffs, but Guarany Snuff is a very dark and coarse (particle size avg. 0,2mm with great variation) powder and was with it that I started snuffing and developed my technique that I call “swallowing dust”, and consists of forming a pea-sized or smaller clump of snuff in the back of my hand, approaching my nose and giving one quick, short but strong sniff produced by closing the throat airway like I’m swallowing, creating a small negative pressure and then opening it suddenly the back of the throat. This makes my Guarany snuff go up just enough to land inside the nostril. Then I received yesterday by mail my order from Toque, but decided to snuff it just today because yesterday I was snusing Grov and wouldn’t feel the flavours and nicotine from snuff, since my neurons were very upregulated. So today I took a small portion of the 25g Toque Original can to the workplace and decided to give it a sniff at 10 a.m. with my very same technique. First try:; and the result on the left nostril was a strong burning all the way up my sinuses, and then my left eye filled with tears. On the right nostril I decided to do it right: I went slower and just “inhaled naturally as you breath” as I’ve seen on the forums; the result it that a lot of powder ended up in my throat (and possibly lungs?) giving my a coughing fit and, burning on my sinuses and of course, tears on the right eye. Second try: I decided to take pinch on my index finger and rub it inside the nostrils; no irritation or burning here but everytime I take a breath through the nostrils I feel a bit of the powder going in and landing on my throat and, possibly, lungs where it will lay, possibly forever. I found this way very easy and not irritating at all; the only downside is the lack of the satisfaction of snuffing and having to clean my fingers afterwards. Third try: half-pea sized pinch on the back of the hand and then a very, very gentle sniff with the left nostril; so slow as to feel the grains actually entering the nose. A bit ended up the throat, a larger ammout on the sinuses. Bad, but this was nowhere near the irritation of the first attempt. On the right nostril I missed the point again and ended up coughing but with no burning and tears at least. Now I’m going for lunch and will return later with more snuffing. P.S.: By the way I’m very pleased by the flavour of Toque Original and impressed with its fine grounding; I need to adapt my technique to this snuff; I’ll be happy to receive any tips on snuffing such a fine snuff. Happy snuffing for you!
Kepler I enjoyed your account. I should also like to try some Guarany, if I can get it. These finer snuffs (and the Toque as you probably know is by no means the finest) burn less form the ‘pinch’ than on the back of the hand. I find scotches and toasts, even some coarser SPs on the back of the hand (‘anatomical snuff box’), a ‘blast’, care and attention must be given to snuffing this way, there’s often a burn. They can be taken in a more carefully regulated way from the pinch in the fingers. I’d be delighted to read more about your experiments and anything you can tell us about the Guarany snuffs.
There a review of the guarany snuff here: http://www.top25snuff.com/en/snuffs/Snuffs/snuffs/guarani\\_c61\\_m68/ It is very traditional. I’ll post some images to give people here the perspective on the difference between Guarany and these “fine” snuffs ; and perhaps write a review. Guarany is not readily available on the european/american market, but I can mail it in exchange it for other cans and opinions. By the way I just had a pinch, as you suggested with moderate success.
I did enjoy the Guarani snuffs I tried last year, thanks to AP, another Snuff House member, also from Brazil.
I started out with a relatively fine snuff and still enjoy fine snuffs. It does take some time to get the technique right though.
Mr. ermtony, I guess it’s your review that I posted ! I’ll be more than glad to ship this Guarany snuff to fellow snuffers.
Yes, that was one of mine. I’m sure others would love to do a trade with you. Me, I won’t be greedy!
Yeah, I’ll happily trade with you. By the way yesterday I spent much of my afternoon besides an open Toque Original can, snuffing away with moderate success and today I fell ill (too bad); tough these events are probabbly unrelated. I’m treating myself with some Rapé Guarany Imburana, which decreases inflammation on the sinuses.
Here’s a comparison on the aspect of the snuffs I’ve been taking.
I too was very impressed with these snuffs.
Did you try them?
Yes I have had several of them, my favorite was the Rape Imbruana. Very good snuff, unique flavor. I am interested in all the Brazilian snuffs. I love the tins.
Nice! Imburana contains Cumarin, which is an interesting substance with many effects. I have a cold and I’m treating my stuffy nose with it. If you find it hard to obtain these snuffs, drop me a letter and we can trade; there’s a lot and they’re cheap (about 1 EUR) where I live.
I’d be glad to be the commercial representative, so, let’s lobby! Cumarin is found in many plants, like Imburana, that flavours this snuff in particular.
I wish they’d spell it ‘rappee’ like in the old days, I don’t think I’d want a tin with ‘Rape Africa’ embossed on it.
@doctorbeat LOL@“Rape Africa”! The original name is french “râpé” in portuguese we use “rapé”, “rappee” is also pretty good. I don’t have a clue how did someone come with the idea of using the word “snuff”.
The tin doesn’t say “Africa” it says “Araca” which means “Arrack” which is fermented dates.
If it is “Rapé Araçá”, with the cedilla and acute accent, it is then the name of a fruit from the guava family. Guava itself is called “Araçá-Mirim” down here.
@mr.snuff: I live in Brazil and will do some research. PM me and I can export some.
I like where this thread is going
@Kepler: thanks for the clarification. I only did a google search for “araca” and came up with arrack. I suppose I was closer than Africa.
At your disposal, gentlemen. I’m affraid, though, that Mr. @doctorbeat wanted to create an hypothetical example.