I decided to try and make some snuff a while back using a coffee grinder and some black cherry pipe tobacco. It turned out ok but i didn’t grind it quite as fine as I would have liked to. Well Today, I took some Gambler Rolling Tobacco and ground it up for say 4 or 5 minutes letting my coffee grinder rest halfway through. This produced a fairly fine, fine enough to use, Snuff. Then I added a few pinches of ground up Columbian Coffee and dumped it all in a camel snus container. I’ve gone to this a few times and it’s pretty damn cool.
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I suspect one of the problems with making snuff from pipe tobacco is that many pipe blends, especially aromatic cavendishes, contain a lot of Propylene Glycol. That could make it harder to pulverize, since the PG will make it gummy and clumpy. The intractable moisture is the issue. For snuffs, best to pulverize first, and add moisture after, so RYO cig tobacco is a better bet. Also, the cig tobacco tends to have very similar base components that go into commercial snuffs, ie Virginia and Burley. As you’ve been experimenting with making snuffs, I’ll make a suggestion for further interesting possibilities. Get a cigar and add that to your blend, as they are made from different tobacco varieties and can contribute richer flavor notes. Also, a wee pinch of salt or slaked lime (calcium hydroxide) may improve nicotine uptake. As regards Coffee, using instant coffee crystals (Nescafe for example) might reduce the chance of ending up with the “stale” note that many coffee snuffs are prone to.
I did the coffee grinder thing with American Spirit Perique, and a little bit of baking soda. I chose the AS because of it’s lack of additives, particularly PG.Strong Virginia flavor, really cool gold color, but it’s not easy to use. Need to experiment with moisture, baking soda amount, and grind. I’m new to snuff, so I don’t have much to compare it too. I like cpmcdill’s idea about cigars.Maybe start with a +/- $4.00 stick, as the thought of dissecting something like a Padron or Cohiba - even for the sake of a great snuff - makes me cringe a little.
Please share any other successful recipes!
If you’re a regular smoker of cigars, one way to build up a quantity of tobacco without sacrificing an entire good cigar is, on those occasions when you have, say, a toro or churchill, but only have time for a robusto worth of smoking, you snip off an inch or two from the foot before lighting. Save them up in a jar until you’ve got the amount you want, then grind them up.
snuffhouse.com/discussion/6032/snuff-making-101Some things that might help: get some mesh sieves around 200 micron for a finer grind, up to 400 micron for a coarser grind. This will make the grind uniform and easier to snuff. Use sodium carbonate instead of baking soda. Apparently you can make carbonate from soda by baking at a low temperature for awhile. Lots of info in this thread:
Excellent idea!
The snipped ends, plus shortening a 6.5-7.5 inch stick (which I rarely have time to enjoy) should yield a fair amount of guilt-free raw material. Stoked!
I’ve made some with D&R Three Sails and a coffee grinder. Turned out great buts burns a bit and causes a drip. Good Vitamin N though
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@cpmcdill excellent advice!
@crullers also excellent advice…screening is essential to uniform snuff. After sieving you can blend coarse with fine in proper proportions to add a few extra layers of scent to the finished product.
Cigar leaf is available but very expensive. Amputating the feet of good sticks is an excellent idea!
http://chemistry.about.com/od/makechemicalsyourself/a/Sodium-Carbonate-From-Baking-Soda.htm
easy way to make sodium carbonate from baking soda
when I make my snuff with a coffee grinder I will only use the powdered tobacco that sticks to the top of the grinder lid its usually extremely fine its time consuming but works good
I did use ryo and pipe tobacco to make snuff. But the quality isn’t too well imo. Glycerin and other chemicals are added to keep it moist. I only trust homemade snuff made from cigars.
Very interested but ultimately worried about the end results. Knowing me I’ll purchase sub par tobacco and end up sniffing a solid stem or something, hahaha
Rather than use commercial pipe blends with unknown additives, you might try this vendor for a source of tobacco leaves for various DIY projects:
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@spyder I do a lot of business with them. Great outfit.
That is a great link… Mark
I don’t make snuff for the same reason I don’t make pipes: the world does not need another lousy snuff made by Matt. I am grateful there are some talented snuff artisans like Chef Daniel’s Old Mill and Sir Walter Scott.
Well I just scored 15 Lbs of… probably vintage Prince Albert and Velvet… for $10! They are sealed pretty good. I have not cracked it open but if push comes to shove… I have read about people using cigars with fine results. I will say its gonna be your taste preference. While I feel there are some things you can not make, some recipes have been around for 200 years. There are probably some things you could make at home and enjoy quite well.
I have made some interesting “natural” snuffs with C&D Dark Burley, Burley Ribbon, and Newminster 701 Va in various combinations. I’ll be doing business with LeafOnly in the near future, but I may experiment with some ropes in the meantime–the Gawith ones; I don’t dare put Cotton Boll up my nose yet. There’s some of about 1.5kgs of Dark Flake Unscented that wants to give itself to my nose, too. I don’t often wear pantyhose (not that there’s anything wrong with that), so where can I find proper sieves?
@TerrapinFlyer: I got my mesh screening on eBay. There are several vendors selling it and it is inexpensive.
Thanks, @crullers. I’ll check there.