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Snus Fan Here from Central Florida

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justintempler

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I was a smoker for 38 years and gave it up by switching to Swedish snus a little over 3 years ago. I quit just in time before the taxes started piling up. When I quit smoking you could still get a carton of Marlboro Reds for $25.00. So I timed it just right. (talk about timing :))

I'm still getting my nicotine, I just get it without the smoke. I went one step further. I learned how to make my own snus. (http://www.snuson.com/forum/showthread.php?14771-Crockpot-Snus-Oven-Snusugn) I'm the guy with the crockpot snus oven over at SnusOn that whalen linked to. I've modified my recipe a little to make it almost as good as the real stuff. I can actually survive on my homemade snus without feeling like I miss the store bought stuff.

I also grew my first crop of tobacco last year, ( http://www.snuson.com/forum/showthread.php?15914-JT-s-P-A-C-T-Garden ) I took this year off but I'll be growing again next year. I grew DelGold last year (which turned to be the wrong kind for snus) but I can still use it for blending, between that and some Stokers raw leaf I bought, I'm covered well past next fall when I hope to have a crop of the right tobacco.

I just pulled over 24 hours straight working a project, so I'm about ready to crash and recover. I'll start contributing some info and join in on the conversation later this week. I've also saved up a shitload of DelGold seeds that I can share but first I need to see if they'll germinate. Anywho, HI :)
 

FmGrowit

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Welcome and Thanks for joining the forum.

Snus is one of the few (if not the only) tobacco products that is actually increasing in usage. Not only is it important to use the right variety, but it's equally or even more important to use the proper curing method(s) to make snus.

My Fire Cured supplier is one of the suppliers to American Snuff Co. I'll see if he can lend some help with blending. I'm pretty sure there are types other than fire cured used in the blend.
 

SmokesAhoy

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Very cool, this is what I am most interested in atm. Also curious what variety is the right one
 

Whalen

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Hey thanks for coming over to share your hard earned snus making tips. I have followed your posts for quite some time and have learned enough about it to steer people to your posts about the process. I am contemplating a batch since I have a kilo of tobacco from GN tobacco all ready ground and ready to go.

If you are inclined to try a good burley or Virginia for a snus batch, this is a great place to look. I am sure that the Dark air cured in somebody's barn might be perfect. I will let them chime in if they want. I only have hesitated to make snus because I have a boatload in the freezer from my Pact act stash, and i am not using much Los at this time. Most of my efforts have been making snuff.
 

justintempler

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The correct snus tobacco is any one of the Kentucky/Tennessee/Virginia dark tobaccos (or any of the Virginia Sun Cured tobaccos if they still exist). In the olden days almost all of it was fire cured but the move has been to switch to air curing to eliminate/lower the TSNAs and then supplement the recipe with liquid smoke flavoring to retain the old fire cured taste.

The recent trend to make high(er) nicotine snus is accomplished by including some nicotiana rustica stem and lamina in their blend.

The basic snus recipe contains a ratio of 55% lamina and 45% stem tobacco, (so you cigar lovers can stop throwing away the leftovers when you strip your tobacco and save it for making a batch of snus.)
http://www.tobacco.ncsu.edu/strp/CORESTA CRP1 Composition.pdf

Here's the current "2011 Dark Tobacco Variety Guide" from the Univ. KY http://ces.ca.uky.edu/darktobacco-files/DarkTobacco/2011 Dark Tobacco Variety Guide-01-19-11.pdf

You'll see that the highest quality tobaccos are also some of the older common varieties; Little Crittenden, Narrow Leaf Madole, KY 160, which makes it easy for even internet novices to get the right seed, the only downside is the older tobaccos have no disease resistance.

The current recipe that I'm using consists of 65% Stokers DAC lamina/stem and 35% DelGold stem.
 

BigBonner

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Whalen

I have a barn full of Dark fire / air tobacco . I didn't smoke cure it ,some say they want somked and some say they don't . I just didn't have the time to fire the tobacco with trying to get my Burley, havana , Ct Broadleaf , Bright leaf , and my hay crop harvested .

That Dark Air tobacco has long wide sticky , heavy leaves on it .
 

Whalen

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BigBonner - You were kind enough to provide me with a sample, and this is exactly what I would use for snus and snuff making. I just wanted to check with you before pointing it out on the forum. The reality is I am looking forward to acquiring it, My thoughts were that I would let it age a bit in your barn, since I don't happen to have one handy. I am still fully preoccupied with that lovely burley. I used the red tips and made two pounds of snuff, it has undergone fermentation and has developed nicely. I just stopped the fermentation and am aging it over the winter.

I consider this practice for the Dark air cured. I am saving my pennies up as we speak.
 

SmokesAhoy

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I went to order some soon to expire snus, the tax on a roll was more than the snus, f that I gotta make it.
 

justintempler

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It's out of control, wait until they forbid you to place an order! That is my situation.

Although I'm not too worried about that happening here in Florida, what pisses me off is the amount of taxes we are required to pay.

Although not in today's dollars, I can still remember back around 1970 when I first started smoking, cigarettes sold for $.35 cents a pack. (To give it some kind of perspective, a can of Pepsi from a vending machine was $.15 cents). Now that tobacco use is no longer in style and we've become a minority of the population, we've become a favorite target for tax revenues anytime our out of control local, state, or federal government needs to raise additional revenue. Even the do-gooders (with the best of intentions) who want to use that money to help fund addiction and treatment programs to help people quit are getting shafted. Last week I read an article somewhere that said the states had reduced the amount of money for those purposes, (if I remember correctly) the percentage of money spent on health and addiction from those funds is only about 1-2%. We've become like cattle on the government tax farm.

I love the idea of being self sufficient and being able to free myself from government taxation. It has given me a hobby that has developed into a real appreciation for the amount of work and even artisanship that goes into producing a quality tobacco product.
 

Whalen

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"I love the idea of being self sufficient and being able to free myself from government taxation. It has given me a hobby that has developed into a real appreciation for the amount of work and even artisanship that goes into producing a quality tobacco product."

Amen Brother! Amen!
 
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