Snus from Silver River

[squeezyjohn]

I've just made my first batch of snus from the Silver River I grew this year and I am in love with the taste already!

As a test of it's flavour potential I made this batch simply from 100g tobacco flour (lamina only - no stems) - 8g salt, 120ml water and potassium carbonate by my normal method of cooking at 85˚C for 2 days.

It comes out with no bitterness and a very bright balanced flavour with a lovely incense-like resin aroma ... almost like it is flavoured with essential oils (none were added at all) - I think this is the same thing about the tobacco which makes people smoking it suggest it is menthol flavoured. The taste for me is very similar to a kind of snus from Northern Sweden I used to be able to get called Gellivare. It is really very nice indeed! The nicotine strength of this snus is not too strong, just regular.

The surprising thing is that this snus did not need very much ageing at all to taste very nice ... often you have to leave the snus to rest for 3 weeks to let the flavour develop, but this one tastes great within days.

So the verdict on Silver River is a massive thumbs up from me ... easy to grow, huge yields, magnificent looking plants, nice snus ... I couldn't wish for more. If blended with a darker tasting variety of tobacco for a richer snus I imagine it would also be great.

 

[Jitterbugdude]

Interesting observations. I made some snus last winter with Silver River. I used your method of cooking. I do not recall if mine had any smell or not but as a rule I automatically let mine rest for a week before trying it.. because it usually stinks right out of the pot.

 

[POGreen]

I agree with JBD , very interesting observations.Intend to grow some myself next year and this makes one really inspired to do so.
Would you be interested in making a flourswap ( 100 grams ) John , Silver River for Rustica ?

 

[squeezyjohn]

I also thought the results were very interesting! The resin-like aroma is not strong or overpowering - but it is there along with a quite aromatic tobacco flavour almost like an oriental.

Of course PO - I will send you some snus flour to try with.

Cheers!

 

[Jitterbugdude]

That POGreen guy is pretty slick. He found someone to unload that nasty Rustica ....
good job!

 

[squeezyjohn]

I like rustica

 

[POGreen]

You think 100 grams is a good weight to send John ?
Or should we go higher......?
250

 

[POGreen]

That POGreen guy is pretty slick. He found someone to unload that nasty Rustica ....
good job!

I got plenty JBD , 11 kilos and reckon I'll sell ready made snus in 2 kilo batches to 1 guy and 1 kilo to another , I'll keep some for myself but try to unload the major part of it.
Every kilo of flour ends up being 2,5 kilos of snus the way I make it . 11 x 2,5 = 27,5 kilos of snus , it will take a while to sell that

 

[squeezyjohn]

I managed to get 3kg of flour from 18 Silver River plants! I had to get rid of the stems because they were beginning to mould so that weight is lamina only! Very productive!

Yeah - lets do 250g ... rustica is a nice additive to make the snus stronger - and the Silver River is a lovely taste.

 

[Knucklehead]

Yeah - lets do 250g ... rustica is a nice additive to make the snus stronger - and the Silver River is a lovely taste.

Do the stems contain nicotine? I'm wondering what Rustica stems blended with the Silver River flour would do with the taste/nicotine?

 

[POGreen]

I think the whole plant contains nicotine but most of it is on the top leaves , not so much in the stalk and stems.
Have no info to back this theory up , its just what I figure.

I've stored this Rustica snus for over a month now and its just getting better and better , it just has a different sort of taste than snus made from tabacums.
squeezyjohn , I'll prepare to send you 250 grams of Rusticaflour and will probably have it away this week.
By the way , thats a pretty good yield there , 166.66 grams of flour per plant.
My flour contains stems , but I can try to leave it out as much as I can if you want.

 

[deluxestogie]

Stems do contain nicotine, but at a lower level than the lamina. I've actually smoked a pipe bowl of minced, well dried stems. It burns well, and is relatively mild, but it was a little troublesome to keep tamped, since stem sections tend to dramatically expand as they begin to burn.

Bob

 

[squeezyjohn]

It is normal I think for making snus to use the whole leaf - stems and all (but not the stalk) ... I tend to use lamina only in my recipes as I like a strong snus and a smooth grind - but some varieties I grind the stems too. Stems absorb more moisture and give the snus a nice texture.

Yes the yield is higher than I first thought - the plants grew very big even without much extra feeding and watering by me throughout the season. They had a spacing of about 80cm between plants in a staggered grid and although they ended up touching each other, the leaves got enough sunlight that there was a good nicotine level from the middle leaves up.

I managed to save some of the Silver River seeds despite the mice trying to eat all of them! They have just been dried out thoroughly for storage ... I'll send you some with the snus flour PO. I am in the middle of a germination test to make sure they are OK and I'll let you know if they fail ... but I'm hoping they'll be good.

 

[POGreen]

I have heard that before , mice eating tobaccoseeds , happened to a guy who started a tobaccogrowing thread a site here in Sweden.
I'm sure you're seeds will be just fine John !
Cheers

 

[Markw]

Hi Squeezy.
Good to hear that it makes good Snus, I have never tried the snus it will be good to see how it goes with the rustica, please keep us up-dated.

 

[squeezyjohn]

Hi Markw ... and thanks for your SR seed donation last winter ... it's been a really fun growing season because of those little beauties!

I am really looking forward to using PO's famous giant leaved rustica! I have grown rustica before and used it as a blender in snus recipes - but there's a bit of a difference in flavour between the varieties.

 

[POGreen]

You're most welcome John !
I'll send a pack of that 1000 year old tobacco seeds along aswell.

 

[Frozenthunderbolt]

Hey Squeezy - could you please post a link to your snus method for me here?
I've not tried them, or tried making them before, but that incense is irresistible to me!
Assuming my Izmir grows ok this year I might have a go with that and some rustica I have.

 

[RyanM22]

What have you guys found to be the best way to grind stems?

 

[POGreen]

I've tried a blender but that one couldn't grind the stems , so I use this meatgrinder that I've remade in a way , instead of doing the work by hand I work it with a driller.
Just made a simple cone out of an empty paperbag containing flour , drilled the shaft and made a bigger hole where the screw that holds the handle is and made a new thread ( 10 mm ) in that.
Took a bolt/screw and joined that with the grinder and sawed of its head which becomes the new shaft.
I've learned how to make it work just fine , don't feed it as much as I might have done before , its been broken a couple of times.......