Wilson’s Top Mills Number 1 is one of my all-time favourites, however I can’t put my finger on exactly what it is that gives it its’ distinctive aroma. Perhaps some of the more experienced noses could shed some light on this, as I am once again to be in a remote locale and reduced to grinding my own.

Bergamot, matero it is used in most SP’s. Where are you this time? Turkmenistan lol? I’d love to do as much travelling as you, what do you do for work? Stefan

I thought so (bergamot). I bought some oil and have been playing with it, but it’s just never the same. Best Dark was much clearer a bergamot to my nose. Work? I’m just a vagabond.

Lololol fair enough, just stock up before you go. Stefan

@Matero: Personally, I think the difference lies in all of the small ingredients in a snuff. These are the ingredients that ad the complexity to a snuff and rounds it out. That is the reason why my home experiments have never come out to be worth anything.

I can confirm that bergamot was not used in the Top Mill No 1 blend, at least it wasn’t in the 80’s, I don’t recall this on the recipe mixing cards …it is a plain snuff. Flavours such as bergamot would be used in the florally brands I think I recall bergamot having a lemony fragrance. Though having said that reviews of TM No.1 are stating the citrus aroma so I may be wrong…

Interesting information, gillybean129. Its nice to have some first hand info from someone involved in the process. Cool !

Thats interesting. Care to divulge any more info? Please, please, please!

Yes, gillybean, I need those recipes, as I will be living in a snuffless land once again and have to resort to making my own. Teach us!!

Who would not be absolutely fascinated to see those mixing cards! They are history really.

Yeah @gillybean129 … you can’t just tease and dodge!

this was in my order which arrived today but unfortunatly they put the SP No.1 in the package instead of the Top Mills i had on my list. well, fair enought, the SP No.1 is some fine SP and very welcome but on the other hand, it sucks all time when you get stuff you didnt ordered. that´s life i guess.

Hi, I am sorry but I cannot divulge the recipe’s which are long gone I’m afraid, I think J & H Wilson’s Top Mill is still made in the UK but whether they follow the traditional one we followed I’m unsure, I would doubt it. As for replicating it at home, well I honestly doubt you could do this, flour was produced in huge machinery. For example to make a base snuff (to which ingredients, water and flavours are added) maybe 4 or 5 different types of tobacco leaf would be used from around the world. Different flours were produced daily and then they would be made up into different brands…Mixing cards, how I wished I had kept some for posterity! Any other questions?

Thanks for that, I know that we will not be privy to an actual working recipe, or that you could divulge one. But for some of us here the actual process details would be incredibly interesting, we live snuff here. These techniques and the knowledge will be, and have been lost. Trade secrets are the norm, and well guarded, But I for one am fascinated at the Art of snuff making and blending. Thanks for being here.

Gillybean129. We are all really quite excited to see you here. I have another question. You mention using a variety of leaves. What then is the basic tobacco variety of the standard brown and feisty SP sorts?

It makes me laugh how people can get so excited about snuff, I don’t think I appreciated working at the mill when I was (much) younger! Your question about leaf is one that’s hard to answer…I didn’t work in the mill, I was the accounts/payroll clerk but part of my job just before the mill closed was working with the production process, ordering leaf, preparing mixing cards, and mainly checking factory output and filling and lidding measurements. I also prepared the throughput accounts at the end of each month which meant starting off with the leaf process working through balancing all the sheets to the finished product on the shelves and the monthly stock take making sure it all balanced in preparation for the profit and loss balance sheet. Though through the course of my work I did spend a lot of time in there. I also calculated mill staff wages and bought flavours packing materials etc, not forgetting the book keeping and banking of cheques from our customers and answering queries on the phone etc. So back to the leaves, I think we used around 8 types, some came from Malawi. We bought from Liverpool and it came to us in huge bales where it was first put into the chopping machines initially. I always found it interesting that the leaf stock take would show huge losses in weight, this transpired to be the water evaporating as it rested in stock, some types more than others…SP No 1 and Top Mill No 1 are the base snuffs (but you already know this I expect) and using base flours other (secret!) ingredients are added along with water etc. Each recipe had a concoction of flavours blended into the flours. Top Mill had more flavouring added to it than SP and the Medicated 99 recipe was similar to Finest Menthol. I’ll stop now as I’m waffling…

My EXACT question @petersuki ! I’ve been wondering that myself. They say natural so I wanna know!

whoa- nevermind @gillybean192 responded already! *edit* Whoa man don’t worry about any waffling- I and everyone else here I’M SURE are EATING this up! I’m so interested in all of this. Wish I could see it on video or something. The whole process is neat. I find snuff so lovely and enjoy trying different kinds. I’ve just always wondered about these things myself… You’ll get about a thousand more questions here soon I’m sure! if you don’t mind… the others will be here soon lol thanks though- this is really cool!

waffling is good!

I am finding this really funny!!!

Waffling is encouraged! Yeah we have snuff questions…

@gillybean129- We spend a lot of time trying to figure out exactly what is in any given snuff, I mean it is part of the experience. Have you been here: http://snuffreviews.com/index.php

gillybean, you are very welcome here and obviously your experience is unique.You may find it ddd that people are so interested because to you your memories are just part of you but to us very fascinating. Personally, I would love to see you set your recollections down a bit more formally; maybe a short auto-biog. If you do, post it as a seperate thread and it will just stay in our ongoing archive of threads.

I have been asked to write for the STE so I am recalling my memories and hopefully letting others know about this specialised area through their magazine, I still find it hard that people find it interesting what I have to say!

Well Gilly much better to be on that end of the how interesting your stories actualy are compared to how they seem to you then to be on the other (which would be no one cares about your stories but you think everyone must find them interesting).

@gillybean129 Why? lol It’s like telling a bunch of chess geeks you hung out with Bobby Fischer while he was alive…!

If you are going to write this for the STE, enough said!

@gilly don’t mind waffling it’s like finding golden nuggets for us, it must have been great to work there. Stefan

I doubt it was great working there, it sounds like gillybean had several too many jobs there. His experience is definitely one that should be recounted as fully as possible for the record. Maybe snuff will make a major comeback or just slide on out into history.

At the time I didn’t appreciate it but given todays standards KPI’s and the targets I have in my job now it was more relaxed. I’m not saying I found work at Wilson’s easy as the accounting side was difficult until I had learned it but the atmosphere was different. Things did get more pressured towards the end, the job I had and people I worked with had changed over the years. I remember we used to take all afternoon to trim the office at Christmas, these days we are ‘allowed’ 30 minutes in our lunch break that’s how times have changed. It was very much a family firm and many family members worked together and the turnover there was very small, especially in the office where I was. I only got promoted if someone left, in my case it was the girl above me left on maternity leave then the cashier retired and I slotted into her role. These days that would not happen, it would have to be externally advertised. We noticed home sales dropping as the years went by, exports were our mainstay hence the introduction of Kensington to appeal to the ‘younger generation’. Sadly it didn’t work. I personally don’t know anyone who takes snuff of my generation so in my opinion (not that I know much!) it’s something that will disappear soon.

Not in MY lifetime! ahaa!

No. I’m spending my way out of this recession…on Snuff (Economy will grow).

@petersuki LOL. Yea, I’m surprised we’re not out of this recession with all I have spent on TAD, in the last 6 months! I’ve spent more on tobacco in these last few months, then I ever did with cigs!! I do have almost a lifetime supply already, but I always want to try more. I’m learning to pace myself a bit better now.

Well, I quit spending so much on snuff and the recession happened! Now that’s TAD!