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Copy of General Snus

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SmokesAhoy

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I'm sure I'm missing some ingredients but it tastes really close to me.
Flour is
1/3 silver river from bigbonner
2/3 dark air from wlt
Anyway follow squeezyjohns directions for the cook.
After cooking add bergamot, black pepper, ginger.

Season to taste as they say.
 

SmokesAhoy

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This ended up being so good I'm making a little under 2 pounds (incl water) of this today. Flour is a mix of red tip burley, dark air from bigb and gc1 rustica and vuelta abajo that I grew.

I'm looking forward to this!
 

squeezyjohn

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What kind of proportions are you adding the bergamot, black pepper and ginger ... and are they all as essential oils, or are you using whole spices for the pepper and ginger?
 

SmokesAhoy

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Pepper has been too faint so I'm trying to add it during the cook this time. For a 100 gram flour recipe I'm adding about 1/4 gram pepper, a slight sprinkle of ginger after cook (I'm not going to break out a reloading scale, but just a dusting on the surface). Bergamot 3 drops. But maybe it could use more, or less they're all different. I lack that hint of sweet aftertaste of general so I'm using the wrong bergamot or missing a flavor, not adding enough or too much. I dunno.

I also use VG which I forgot to add to the op.

It's good. It's similar and you'll get that right out of the gate but it's not a copy of course.
 

squeezyjohn

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The sweetness often comes from the tobacco blend ... if it's missing liquorice is your friend ... I add it right at the beginning of the mix by beating some liquorice root with a meat tenderizer and then boiling the water for the recipe with it and straining it out. It's very natural ... and I know that the General Extra Strong has some liquorice root in it.
 

SmokesAhoy

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That's probably exactly what it is, I'll have to look into that. The cook is done now, will age a couple weeks before I add the VG so I'll look into an extract to add then. I've never seen liquorice root before.
 

greenmonster714

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I would like to make some snuff later this year and have read squeezyjohns guide and it is a very easy recipe to follow. A great thread for the beginner. I like the standard flavors available in the commercial blends and would like to start there first before experimenting with other spices/essential oils ect. Do you guys know where one can buy a good wintergreen flavoring? I'm not having much success searching. Thanks
 

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Anise extracts are used instead of actual licorice in nearly all candies, in a deliberate effort to eliminate the potentially toxic effects of chronic licorice ingestion.

webmd.com said:
Licorice is LIKELY SAFE for most people when taken by mouth in amounts found in foods. Licorice is POSSIBLY SAFE when taken by mouth in larger amounts for medicinal purposes and when applied to the skin for a short amount of time. However, it is POSSIBLY UNSAFE when taken by mouth in large amounts for more than 4 weeks or in smaller amounts long-term. Consuming licorice daily for several weeks or longer can cause severe side effects including high blood pressure, low potassium levels, weakness, paralysis, and occasionally brain damage in otherwise healthy people. In people who eat a lot of salt or have heart disease, kidney disease, or high blood pressure, as little as 5 grams per day can cause these problems.

Other side effects of licorice use include tiredness, absence of a menstrual period in women, headache, water and sodium retention, and decreased sexual interest and function in men.

People who chew tobacco flavored with licorice might develop high blood pressure and other serious side effects.

Special Precautions & Warnings:

Heart disease: Licorice can cause the body to store water, and this can make congestive heart failure worse. Licorice can also increase the risk of irregular heartbeat. Don't consume licorice if you have heart disease.

High blood pressure: Licorice can raise blood pressure. Don't consume large amounts of it if you have high blood pressure.

Low potassium levels in the blood (hypokalemia): Licorice can lower potassium in the blood. If your potassium is already low, licorice might make it too low. Don't use licorice if you have this condition.

Kidney disease: Overuse of licorice could make kidney disease worse. Don't use it.

Sexual problems in men: Licorice can lower a man's interest in sex and also worsen erectile dysfunction (ED) by lowering levels of a hormone called testosterone.

http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-supplements/ingredientmono-881-licorice.aspx?activeingredientid=881
I don't mean to discourage our snus makers, but you should just be aware of the issue.

Bob
 

Hasse SWE

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Bob I have a questionDoes USA make different between Japanese star anise (Illicium anisatum).Chinese star anise (Illicium verum), I known that Europe have really hard control to not handle with the Japanese variant..
 

squeezyjohn

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Liquorice has been used as a sweetener for centuries and centuries over here - and it tastes nothing like anise - the confusion comes because almost all old fashioned liquorice candies use anise as the main flavouring!

I have seen those health warnings before - but the amounts being discussed are far larger than those used in my snus recipes ... the amount of root I would infuse for a 100g batch would be at most 2 inches long and the majority of the active ingredients would stay in the root anyway ... Some chewing tobacco, especially german chewing tobacco uses crazy amounts of liquorice to make a cloyingly sweet product and I expect that's what the medical website is talking about.
 

deluxestogie

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squeezyjohn,
The data on Licorice is pretty fuzzy. There is no doubt that it inhibits the natural breakdown of adrenal cortisol, effectively causing an increase in the action of the hormone.

My only concern would be daily consumption of small quantities of licorice. But what "small" means is poorly understood. If the health risks were dramatic, there would be better data.

If you are young and healthy, I wouldn't give it another thought. If you currently have health issues, then moderation in use of licorice might be reasonable.

Bob
 

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SmokesAhoy

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Good info. I monitor my blood pressure frequently and will be sure to use small amounts. I bought some powdered root on Amazon and as I'm between batches when it arrived I sprinkled about 1/4 gram on 30 grams finished snus and mixed in. It's nice, fresh mixed so flavor disappeared quick. It doesn't taste like anise at all, I guess I was expecting it to a bit. Tastes like sweet ginseng to me.

Thanks for the warnings though, I won't make it a standard ingredient addition.
 

SmokesAhoy

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Just cracked open a sealed 24 oz jar, added half tbs licorice and glycerin, not going to add any other flavoring yet, this batch came out so good. I kind of thought eventually the gassing would release the seal from when it was pressure canned but nope.

I don't know if I mentioned the flour blend yet, dark air, burley, vuelta abajo, rustica. Wonder if this would be extra stark,. Probably. First taste test is going great.
 

SmokesAhoy

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My second jar was aging for 2+ months or so, it was stored in the basement and was pressure sealed. I had wondered if the gasses would break the seal in a previous post and they did not. Aging sealed did nothing for the product, it still required airing out to get the flavor to express itself. JBD? (I think?) had said in a previous post that greater than a week aging did not improve the end product more than a week and after this test I agree totally. At least in an airtight environment.

It had almost a fizzy taste? That totally covered up the really awesome snus I've been making lately. Another week with it being opened periodically to refill my can brought the rich flavors back out.

Just wanted to post that in case anyone else had wondered about the subject.

When I make big batches now I break the seal on the cap and just lightly thread it so it can breathe.
 

RyanM22

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My second jar was aging for 2+ months or so, it was stored in the basement and was pressure sealed. I had wondered if the gasses would break the seal in a previous post and they did not. Aging sealed did nothing for the product, it still required airing out to get the flavor to express itself. JBD? (I think?) had said in a previous post that greater than a week aging did not improve the end product more than a week and after this test I agree totally. At least in an airtight environment.

It had almost a fizzy taste? That totally covered up the really awesome snus I've been making lately. Another week with it being opened periodically to refill my can brought the rich flavors back out.

Just wanted to post that in case anyone else had wondered about the subject.

When I make big batches now I break the seal on the cap and just lightly thread it so it can breathe.

Sounds like it had fermented.
 

SmokesAhoy

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No it wasn't fermentation by any stretch of the imagination, if you smell freshly alkalized snus and can imagine that smell getting pushed back into the tobacco in the hermetically sealed container and then expressing it's smell as a taste. I also do a 5 hour pressure cook in lieu of multi day ferments so chances of any life remaining should be basically zero.

But yeah the flavor does not improve under those conditions until it breathes in my experience.
 

squeezyjohn

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Yeah ... you've got to let the snus breathe otherwise it keeps the funky taste that you get when its freshly mixed with the alkali. I'd say between 2 weeks and 4 weeks with the lid on, but not airtight in a refridgerator is ideal.
 
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