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Big Kick chewing tobacco

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garthpool

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Does anybody know how they made Big Kick chewing tobacco, by Scotten-Dillon? I liked it, but the company went out of business long ago, early 80's I believe, family squabble. They were very big in Detroit for many years starting around the Civil War, but their last plant was in Gallipolis, Ohio. That factory building is now a tire store. The tire dealer said that when he took possession, the rafters and ledges were covered in tobacco dust. I wasn't able to find anyone in the town who could tell me anything about the Scotten-Dillon operation or Big Kick. I will try again some day.

Big Kick was very dry, which is why I liked it, but it had some additives for flavor. The tobacco was tan, light-colored, no dark leaf as I recall. I have tried flue-cured Virginia lemon from Whole Leaf Tobacco, also the all natural grown Burley, just the straight leaf for both. Pretty good. They are mild and don't leave a bad aftertaste. I didn't like the flu-cured Virginia Red or flue-cured Virginia Bright or the dark air cured for chewing. Too strong when taken straight, with a bad aftertaste.

I hope someone can comment on Big Kick. Best stuff ever made.
 

garthpool

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Thanks for all the comments. Wrapper, too bad that tin was empty. Maybe you could have figured out what kind of leaf they used. That is my main question. Might have been a mixture. I would like try to duplicate it.

Jitterbug, I would say the flavor was just slightly sweet, kind of peppery. The tobacco was almost as dry as the natural leaf, no heavy syrup like in most chews. Maybe they also used something without any taste, to keep it from getting too dry. Havana Blossom is the only chew that comes even close to it today, but I find that brand too harsh, and it is getting hard to find anyway. I guess most people want the heavy syrup.

Although it is not much like Big Kick, I like the Amish Plain by Domestic Tobacco Co., Lancaster PA. The leaf is darker than Big Kick but it is a mild, dry chew that leaves no bad aftereffects.
 

SmokesAhoy

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Since finding the recipe is next to impossible you might try just trying to recreate the flavors you liked with some whole leaf. There are a bunch of recipes here, maybe you can find one that seems close and tweak it a little bit at a time, might find something you even like more. A lot of chews used byproducts of other industries, so leaf might be a mix of dark, light, fire and cigar types. A good chew can be made from nothing more then various leaves sprayed with a dilute mixture of sweetener, salt etc then pressed in a cake in an airtight container and aged in the frig for a week or so.

Strength would be modified by your selection of leaf and pH.
 

ArizonaDave

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Thanks for all the comments. Wrapper, too bad that tin was empty. Maybe you could have figured out what kind of leaf they used. That is my main question. Might have been a mixture. I would like try to duplicate it.

Jitterbug, I would say the flavor was just slightly sweet, kind of peppery. The tobacco was almost as dry as the natural leaf, no heavy syrup like in most chews. Maybe they also used something without any taste, to keep it from getting too dry. Havana Blossom is the only chew that comes even close to it today, but I find that brand too harsh, and it is getting hard to find anyway. I guess most people want the heavy syrup.

Although it is not much like Big Kick, I like the Amish Plain by Domestic Tobacco Co., Lancaster PA. The leaf is darker than Big Kick but it is a mild, dry chew that leaves no bad aftereffects.

Propylene glycol is what most use to keep moist, easy to find on amazon. I personally never tried that one. I make a low chew, no spit snuff out of Piloto Cubano Liguero, with just a bit of Rum/Vanilla flavoring, and let the alcohol evaporate. I make them into very long coronas, rolled like a cigar, then cut them into sections I can take with me anywhere. Brazilian Mata Fina was the best to do this way, but is no longer in stock.

Experiment like SmokesAhoy said, you'll find it.
 

Hasse SWE

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Garthpool: Have you tried to roast some of your tobacco? I mean that just as you can have in some tobacco with the flavor of smoke, you can burn the tobacco little, and let it give the chewing tobacco a different taste.
It will take time to find a good tobacco mix but If you check what different thing do to your tobacco you suddenly found a way..
 

garthpool

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Hasse, that never occurred to me, worth a try.

Smokes Ahoy and others recommending experimentation, I agree, only difficulty is the expense. I now have $50 worth of natural leaf tobacco I can't use for chewing if taken straight, too strong and bad aftertaste. Might take up the pipe again for that stuff.

Will have another look for recipes on this forum, but Big Kick was dry, no syrup. Probably had some propylene glcol as said, maybe some salt which I never thought of. If it had anything else it must have been a powder, not anything wet. But this is only what I remember from thirty-five years ago.

The most important part is what leaf they used. Thanks for the suggestions, Arizona Dave and Smokes Ahoy.
 

SmokesAhoy

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One of the things that makes smokeless tobacco recipes of yesteryear hard to duplicate is their use of aged tobaccos. Some came from the middle of the hogshead aged for over 5 years. Then they'd get blended with other things, cased in a secret blend of herbs and spices etc... And while ingredient lists can be found for some, the process is top secret.

Just an overwhelming number of variables to think we can duplicate something, especially on a budget. Everyone eventually finds something they like but it's not what they started out to find.

If it's too strong tasting try sweetening slightly to balance out the bitter, if it's too strong in nicotine try flue cured tobacco and avoid burley/dark air/fire cured, or wash the leaves/leech with water, if it's too strong too fast that's the unprotenated nicotine, adjust pH to be slightly less than 7. It'll slow down absorption but your saliva will work to neutralize the acid and begin freeing up the nicotine again but it'll be a slower less intense process than if you had started with a pH of 9 or 10 or something really highly alkaline.

You can do small experiments, just be really diligent with note taking.

Another thing of note in regards to a flavorfull but dry product might be soaking the leaf in a bath of your seasoning sauce, take the leaf out after a week or so, press it, twist it and leave it to dry out inside an old t shirt, once it's to the right moisture level bag it and refrigerate it.

Each of these twist experiments can be done off a leaf or 2.

But yeah I feel your pain man, it's hard when you just want something that is no longer made but the recipe and process was either never released or is still top secret.
. I'm pretty sure nearly every recipe is based on accidents and happenstance though so with enough experimenting you will find what you want even if it wasn't what you were originally looking for.
 

garthpool

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Smokes Ahoy, thanks for explaining many things I didn't know. I am just about resigned to the idea that Big Kick is gone for good, since I will never be able to duplicate it. I actually wrote to R.J. Reynolds about Big Kick recently. They acquired the 'goodwill' of Scotten-Dillon. I received the answer I expected. In other words, I am still waiting for it.

Last chance is another visit to Gallipolis when warm weather returns. I'll look for some old-timers like me, sitting on the front porch, using whatever passes for chewing tobacco nowadays. Might put an ad in the local newspaper also.

As I mentioned before, Amish Plain is the best chewing tobacco I have found today. If gas stays cheap, next summer I might take a trip down south, poke around in the back country mercantiles for some local brands. I had some success at that thirty years ago.
 
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