Why isn’t nasal snuff air-cured or is it?
Do you mean the tobacco before processing into snuff?
yes
Most of it is air cured.
oh is it… ok i thought it was cured like tobacco for cigarettes
Does anyone know of a video showing the complete snuff-making process from start to finish? A snuff documentary would be nice. Somebody call Ken Burns and get him on it.
Why isn’t it or is it? lol sorry but funny question
Check this page and see that it takes all types. http://www.sheffieldexchange.com/nasal.htm notice the F&T mentioning stem or leaf and W.O.S not mentioning this at all.
Here’s a bit from my understanding: Curing is the process of drying fresh leaf into a form suitable for storage. Uncured leaf would mold or rot. Air cured is done in open air barns with fresh air, sometimes in sunlight. Flue cured is done is closed air barns with furnace hot air. Fire cured is done is closed air barns with wood (or other?) fires and tobacco in direct contact with smoke. Flue cured tobacco is common is because it speeds the curing process allowing more tobacco to be cured in the same amount of time. Fire cured is to my knowledge used to give a spicy, smokey, peppery taste to the tobacco which absorbs smoke during the process. Curing is often done at the farm where the tobacco is grown. I think that it’s common that by the time a manufacturer gets a tobacco shipment it’s already been cured.
xapken is spot on as to the different types of curing. The only thing I would add is that different varietals of tobacco respond better to different types of curing and the type of curing will greatly dictate the future of the tobacco leaf. Virginia tobacco is frequently flue cured as this preserves more of the natural sugars present in the leaf. Burley is usually air-cured as this mellows out the sharp bitter taste often associated with the leaf. Kentucky, another member of the Burley family is often fire-cured to enhance its spiciness. Orientals are sun-cured to allow the unique flavors to develop or fire-cured over special woods and spices to transform it into Latakia. Of course these are generalizations and many tobacco manufactures will use a variety of methods to coax out different properties from the leaf for use in blends. Returning to the original question from this thread, almost all snuffs will contain at least some portion of air-cured tobacco as this is the primary method for Burley. Burley is one of the stronger varietals as far a nicotine is concerned and is therefore likely to find its way into a lot of tobacco products. I am not a Snuff manufacturer however so anyone from from WoS, Sam Gawith, Gawith & Hoggarth, Toque, et. al. can feel free to contradict me.
@Mr.Nose Do you know which (Va or Burley) is more common in snuffs?
@xapken Not being a manufacturer I can’t say with any genuine authority. My nose would lead me to suggest however that most are probably predominately Burley. I can’t imagine that snuff could deliver a sufficient nicotine hit, given the small average dose, without Burley being the lion’s share of the blend. Though I know there are snuffs that contain Virginias and have the sweetness usually associated with them.
@ xapken and Mr. Nose: As far as De Kralingse is concerned we use mainly flue cured and dark air cured Virginia from all over the world and dark fired (Kentuky). In the future we will experiment with Burley, as this type of tobacco is not mentioned in the historical recipes we use. Jaap Bes.
And we use mainly Virginian flue cured, Burley air cured, Zimbabwean flue cured, and occasionally Polish air dried Oriental, Pakistani sun dried Rustica and a couple of others for experiments. I don’t know how long the Zimbabwean will be used as most of the farms are bankrupt or burnt out.
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Wow, great info. Interesting stuff.
Burley is a relatively new varietal, which would account for its absence in historical recipes. If memory serves, it originated as a mutant strain of Virginia, and was not established as a separate cultivar until the 1860’s or thereabouts.
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Malawi grows a lot of tobacco. It might be close to Zimbabwean since the climate is essentially the same.
@PipenSnusnSnuff: Thanks for the information, in due time we’ll try it in a karotten experiment instead of the original Virginia
Thanks so much for the information.
Jaap, if I were you, I wouldn’t try an all-Burley carotte, at least not without a sweetening agent added to the Burley. A 50/50 blend of Burley and Virginia would likely work better. Burley will increase nicotine strength, and add a nutty flavor, but too much unsweetened Burley may produce a very bitter aftertaste. Best of luck with your experiments. If you need test subjects to sample your experimental creations, I’ll be happy to volunteer.