Adventures with snuff

[SmokesAhoy]

I bought like 8 pounds of the first supply of the va red leaf back when Don had it on a promotion, and not being a smoker I really didn't find many uses for it. It was damn good but a pain to process, what with everything but the combine included in the bag (I've heard that got fixed with the leaf being sold now) but I figured I'd use it somehow.

Well the day arrived, I sorted over the bag, leaf on one side, god-only-knows-what on the other. Once I had the bag all processed I put it in a baking pan on 150 in the oven for about 5 hours to dry out. The next morning I ran it all through the coffee bean grinder and filled a 1 quart bag with a fine, incredibly good smelling light reddish-brown powder.

I didn't have time to prepare snuff from it today much less age it, but I was curious how it tasted, so added an equal portion to some already done powders: 1 part prepared red tips, 1/3 prepared fire cured, 2/3rd prepared dark air and 1 part prepared criollo 98, so added 1 part of the raw va red flour and tossed it in my repurposed reagent vial and went to work.

I haven't tried the va red by itself yet, but in this mix I found nirvana! It brings something else to the party, rounding off the more robust flavors and really rocketing the whole experience up another level. It is so good! Already!

I've never tried store bought snuff, but with all these special tobaccos I'm not sure I ever will when my own experiments are turning out so incredibly good.

I think I'll continue adding recipes to this thread and use it as my personal snuff log so I don't forget the really exquisite recipes later down the road after I've forgotten how I made them, so it might be kind of boring especially if you don't use snuff.

But feel free to join in if any of this interests you!

 

[kullas]

I'm interested I will stay tuned as I have yet to find a recipe I like.

 

[SmokesAhoy]

Next up is an experiment that started off as a moist snuff.

Va red leaf was turned into flour and mixed with salt and calcium hydroxide. This was very moist, like mud. It sat at room temp for about a week possibly two, maybe three... Yeah this is why i need better notes, where it was heavily fermenting at around 70-80f. After that it was in the frig for another week. I noticed it was smelling uncannily similar to perique. Perhaps adding the lime and powdering the leaf does in less than a month what takes a year with the natural process?

I dried it out entirely in the oven at 200 degrees in a thin layer on a baking sheet before running it through the coffee grinder again.

I am not an expert in perique, as a full disclaimer, I'm probably only slightly more knowledgeable in it than a person living in new England that has never used any tobacco a day in their life.

But that being said I sniffed one bag, sniffed coffee and sniffed the other (a bag of burley perique) and with the exception of a note of va red scent still there it was undeniably similar. Wonder what a burley wet ferment to burley perique comparison would yield? Anyway this is just a side note, I wasn't trying for this it was just something that jumped out at me.

 

[SmokesAhoy]

I was just downstairs finishing up a table, decided on the way out to see how everything was coming along. I've got quite a few pure variety powders and how better to check them then take a pinch?

Va red, very aromatic, not ready by far though
Criollo 98, barnyardy, no hint of chocolate like in a cigar though, but then again it might need the lower priming's for that to come through-like with a cigar
Red tip burley, a clear favorite. Varied scents come through, great texture. Just very nice.
Aged dark air, pungent I had added anise extract on a paper towel a few weeks ago, this is before I decided to not use anything extra in the tobacco, it's good though.

Whew, little too much at a time though hehe.

Decided not to try the fire/dark cured blend, I know that one is perfect already and I wanted to smell the others without the fire sticking to all the scents.


Very pleased with how everything is going.

Kullas, what did you try that you didn't like? This seems so simple that might be why there aren't really any recipes out there. Once all the single variety powders are ready I'll try blending small amounts in set proportions, will log those recipes.

 

[kullas]

Ether to smokey or gave me heart burn. I'm not much on wintergreen or sweet. Wish I was it would make it easier for me.

 

[SmokesAhoy]

Ah, maybe try a cigarette blend, flue cured, burley and Turkish. That's actually a good idea, I have no Turkish though, maybe 50%flue cured, 40%burley and 10% perique? I love the burley like this or I'd go higher flue cured.

ETA: huh, I didn't have perique ready so I tried that wet fermented va red, with the va red and burley red.. Lot of red I guess. Anyway I put equal parts of each in the coffee grinder to mix it well. First impressions are.. Tropical fruity? Not sweet but.. Fruity. Weird, nice though. Wonder how it will blend over time.

 

[SmokesAhoy]

I'm coming to the realization that nothing matters with recipe, given time it's all good, the only reason to write anything down would be to duplicate it, but I haven't made a bad one yet, not tooting my own horn here, just saying time seems to be the only variable other than the tobacco to a good snuff. Time in an airtight container. My bagged ones aren't maturing like the ones in jars.

But yeah they are all good, and the best one do far seems to be the jar I put all the leftovers in, it's a total random mix but is amazing. With this insight I may say forget it to this log.

This tells me I also need to start jarring my cigars.

 

[deluxestogie]

Perhaps using poly-nylon bags (e.g. from WLT) would work as well as a jar.

Bob

 

[SmokesAhoy]

Just writing more praise for the va red. It's so good. I'm glad I got so much when I did

 

[Jitterbugdude]

Next up is an experiment that started off as a moist snuff.

This is snus right? or is there a form of snuff that is moistened before snuffing?

 

[SmokesAhoy]

Yeah, the one that was moist was started as a snus, minus the cook that stops fermentation, then it was fermented.

The only thing different between snus and snuff that I can tell is that nuke process that stops all activity, and the higher pH.

Saliva will attempt to bring things to 7 so they go way higher which is not nice nor necessary in the nose.

Wanna know something else nice? Big Bonner's perique in the snuff. Holy crap I didn't think my super mix of va dark, va fire, va bright, criollo 98 and burley red could get any better.. Then I added a percentage of perique and let it sit. Noooowww I don't think it can get any better. Wish I had a few pounds of this blend and not just 30 or so grams.

Thankfully I recorded it I'm going to see about making it in bulk next.

 

[Jitterbugdude]

Snuf goes up the nose, snus in the mouth. I think North Americans tend to call snus, snuf making it confusing.

 

[SmokesAhoy]

Yeah it is, doubly so when trying to find it at stores. From what I read the confusion started with snuff, everyone snuffed it, then some people started dipping it so they changed formulations to accommodate changing needs, and snus is Swedish for snuff, which was originally snuffed as well but went through the same evolution as here at home.

Still for one of the earliest ways to enjoy tobacco it's awesome in it's own right. I remember my own thoughts on snuffing powdered tobacco though prior to falling in love with it so it's understandable to me.

 

[SmokesAhoy]

I spent the week in a city down south so of course I ran out at the first opportunity to the tobacconist. Snuff is not sold up here so I was excited to find it. I bought a big selection of different ones, American and British.

My take away is that I'm not missing out on anything by making it myself. Although the companies can get it milled a whole lot finer.

Overall though, my stuff is really good, I'm proud.

Oh and to add dimension to their snuff they are just adding things like essential oils and probably sugar. Mine is a mix of grade a tobacco

 

[BigBonner]

My son has just purchased a C. S . Bell grist mill . It is supposed to be delivered in a couple of weeks .
He bought it with a cost share grant . ( Our First Grant )
It is used for grinding grains from cracked chicken feed to corn mill and adjust down to flower .

I will have to try it out with some tobacco and see how fine it will mill it .

 

[SmokesAhoy]

The companies use some kind of ball mill these days, but I've found a few minutes in a coffee grinder is just fine. Too small a grind is possible, where the snuff travels too far if you snuff too hard. But that can be nice too, just takes more technique to keep it from traveling too far.

Your red tip burley makes some great snuff BTW.

 

[bonehead]

My son has just purchased a C. S . Bell grist mill . It is supposed to be delivered in a couple of weeks .
He bought it with a cost share grant . ( Our First Grant )
It is used for grinding grains from cracked chicken feed to corn mill and adjust down to flower .

I will have to try it out with some tobacco and see how fine it will mill it .

it sounds like a good set up to grind grains for home brewing also. that mill makes me think of homemade cornbread also.

 

[Knucklehead]

it sounds like a good set up to grind grains for home brewing also. that mill makes me think of homemade cornbread also.

And Grits.

 

[SmokesAhoy]

I grew corn this year and it was my best corn year ever. I was so happy watching my family gobble down the cornbread I made and the various other corny dishes. Something primal there

I'm trying to stabilize a feed bag strain of corn, it's some massive yielding early strain with strong stalks. Dunno what it is but the kernels that actually geminated put out a few plants with beautiful cobs.

I figured selecting corn would be a lot easier than tobacco, and in a few years I'll have my own landrace.

I also grew some op corn but the feedbag stuff outperformed in every category. No lodging, double the ears that were double the size etc just every category except germination, had the feedbag corn excelling in. I was expecting bad germination though, hell most people said it wouldn't work at all, but I figured it would and knew I'd only need to harvest a few ears from plants that didn't display the inbred lines to have a ton of seed that will germ great for next year.

Nomnom, I love me some good cornbread

 

[CobGuy]

Figure I'd bump this instead of starting a new thread ... you still making snuffs @SmokesAhoy?

A buddy from another forum sent me some great samples of Toque, Garrett's and Wilson of Sharrow to sample and (hopefully) replicate.

My first run was 75% mixed cigar leaf scraps and 25% Red FCV, 1/4 Cup in total. I used 2 Tbsp DI water with 1/8 tsp sodium carbonate, 1/8 tsp sea salt and 1/8 tsp Vanilla.

After a thorough mixing, it went into a jar for 48 hours. Upon popping the jar open, I found that the snuff was still too moist and coarse.

So, it was dumped out onto a baking sheet and dried in the oven at 170 F for approximately 1 hour. After that, it went back in the grinder and turned into what I was hoping for.

Overall, the snuff is already a nice scent / flavor and I'll certainly be making more.

What are your favorite recipes and flavorings? Which "store bought" snuffs do you like? Thanks!