What’s in a Name? Fribourg & Treyer v Taddy & Co

[PhilipS2]

Snuff historians may find this series of comparisons quite interesting.

Five of the Fribourg & Treyer snuffs were made under the same names by Taddy & Co. but they differ greatly in content. The most obvious difference with Old Paris, Bordeaux and French Carotte is that the older Taddy versions rely almost entirely on unscented mixtures for pungency and flavour with just a hint of Arrack. However, they are all described in the notes as ‘Fancy Rappees’ and mixed by the ‘cellar-men’. Unless otherwise indicated numbers refer to Trays, each Tray = 0.8 pints.

Anyway, here are five well-known names with comparisons. (Other than Princes the F&T versions are generally much more floral in character).

F&T Princes - Zimbabwe Dark Fired Leaf/Tonquin Essence, Musk, Geranium Bourbon

Taddy & Co Princes – 200 trays Fine Grain Brown (a Primary Rappee) flavoured with 8oz Otto Rose, 60 drops of Cinnamon, 2oz Rhodium oil and 6oz Jessamine

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F&T Old Paris - Made from Zimbabwe Flue Cured Stem, Dark Fired & Sun Cured Leaf with the natural flavours of Arrack Flavour (Fermented and Distilled Dates)

Taddy & Co’s (Old) Paris - 80 Single P Fine Dutch, 80 Cuba Fine, 120 FGB (Fine Grain Brown), 26 Bay Salt liquor, 1 Liquid ammonia

Like French Carotte it is a mixture of three primary rapees. Out of the fourteen primary rappees only one, Cuba (fine or coarse) is flavoured at source – in this case with ‘fine old arrack’. The notes caution against using rum as a substitute for arrack (presumably when arrack is unavailable). The use of rum produces an inferior version of Cuba.

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F&T French Carotte - Zimbabwe Flue Cured Leaf, Dark Cured Leaf & Flue Cured Stem tobaccos with natural flavors of Sandalwood Oil & French Carotte Essence.

Taddy & Co French Carotte - differs greatly in colour, grind and flavour from the Fribourg & Treyer version now made by Sharrow. It would have been a rappee, very black and coarse as suggested by Carotte – with just a hint of arrack derived from the Cuba component. All the mixtures such as this one cross-reference the Primary Rappees, the recipes of which are not included here - but there is much use of Dutch strip’d leaf and ‘black, oily, sweet-smelling Virginia leaf’. It is a very straight forward and easy mixture of three primaries made up by the ‘cellar men’. There is also a Dutch Carotte.

Taddy & Co. French Carotte comprises of 80 Best Common Rappee. 60 Black Amersfoort, 60 Cuba Coarse, 26 Bay Salt liquor, 1 Liquid ammonia

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F&T Bordeaux - Zimbabwe Dark Fired & Flue Cured Stem. The flavours are: Violets, Geranium bourbon, Lemon May Blossom, Tonquin Essence, and Musk

Taddy & Co Bordeaux – 3 parts of John Bull to 1 part Old Paris. This is a mixture of mixtures. John Bull consists of 100 trays of Single P (a Primary Rappee) with 20 trays of Bay Salt liquor and 1 tray of liquid ammonia. Old Paris is described above.

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F&T Macouba - Made from Zimbabwe Flue Stem, Dark Fired & Sun Cured Leaf with the natural flavours of Sandalwood Oil, Rose, Musk, Geranium Bourbon & Tonquin

Taddy & Co Macouba – 100 trays Black Rappee flavoured with 6oz Otto Rose and 4oz Jessamine. Best Common or Black Rappee is a Primary Rappee the recipe for which I uploaded to this site a while back. It consists of 3024lb Strip’d Virginia Leaf and 560lb of Shag Smalls liquored with Pearl Ash, Lime, Copperas and Common Salt.

[PhilipS2]

Here are the pages for the mixtures alluded to above which make for interesting browsing. Note that Black Amersfoort is also known as Negro Head.

Having the Taddy recipes for snuff is quite educational. On page.65, Mark Chaytor in his 1962 book was stumped by the ‘lost’ meaning of LA snuff and BA snuff, both very early products by Joseph Wilson at Sharrow. The Taddy notes reveal that LA stands for Light Amersfoort and BA is Black Amersfoort. Both use what is described as rich oily Dutch tobacco. Sharrow gave up attempting to make rappee snuff (never successful) before the 19th century. Instead they bought rappee snuff from London and sold it on.

Some observers will see that there are other snuffs listed here which were also made by Fribourg & Treyer but which were discontinued after the business folded in 1981 (See ‘Behind the Bow Windows’).

There are fourteen ‘Primary-Rappee’ snuffs and six ‘Primary-Scotch’ snuffs which come with formal recipes and detailed notes for industrial-scale manufacture. Some, such as Violet Brown Scotch are very intensive, both in time and labour and I doubt it could (or would) be made today. Only the London Houses of Sales & Pollard and Taddy & Co had the resources and expertise to make it. Making up the many mixtures, by contrast, comprise the simple part of production. Indeed, if parts were available then even I could mix them. Some, like Grand Cairo are mixtures of mixtures that involve a chain of cross-referencing.

Note the mixture made especially for an individual (or shop) in Dartford.

[PhilipS2]

[PhilipS2]

I’m not sure why those snuffs on page 70 are not priced. The most expensive snuffs are Latakia, Martinique and Grand Cairo each retailing at 5/6 per pound. The most expensive mixture (as far as I can see) is Macouba at an eye-watering 9/- per pound. Can anyone explain why this is so expensive?