Curing tobacco for snus

[ekul]

Does tobacco used for snus need the extended ageing that is required for cigarette tobacco? Or can it just be dried to brown and then processed into snus?

 

[Jitterbugdude]

The big commercial snus makers process the leaf as soon as it turns brown. By subjecting the leaf to high temperatures right away they can kill/stop the enzymatic/bacterial action that converts the alkaloids in to the cancer causing Tobacco Specific Nitrose Amines (TSNAs).

 

[ekul]

cool, so making snus should actually be a lot easier than making cigarettes?

 

[SmokesAhoy]

I learned that from jbd last year but haven't had fresh leaf yet to try it, I know it makes a difference with snuff but if snus can be cooked directly after brown and taste as good as it does that will just be plain amazing. No kilning. Wow.

I've also read that industry standard was to use 2 year old air cured.

But the sooner you can cook the better and the leaf possibly will be naturally sweeter and more potent. So with multiple contradicting things I'm going to follow jbd's advice and get a cook off right after brown. I'll also experiment a few leaves with yellow color cured. Why not?

 

[greenmonster714]

I'm gonna have to keep an eye on this thread. I too plan on making some snuff.

 

[Hasse SWE]

cool, so making snus should actually be a lot easier than making cigarettes?

Yes "snus" is pretty much easier to make then smoking tobacco. My experience is that you can mix brown cured tobacco with some green cured tobacco with out problem, but if you only have green cured tobacco it will taste different (and I don't like it). Yellow cured tobacco taste less than brown (or green) cured tobacco. But also it can be a psychological thing. I have found myself like some variants better than other but in blind test have they turned place with each other.. Perhaps I should do the same thing with green and yellow mixes, so far I have only done a single batch of each and decided to not do it again. But thinking of it now perhaps I should make a blind check of each..

 

[deluxestogie]

A word of caution here, from someone who does not make or use smokeless tobacco. White-stem burleys turn brown before they have finished "color-curing." That is to say, the pigments change faster in white-stem burleys than do their other constituents that also need curing (albuminous proteins and carbohydrates). So if you plan to process white-stem burley leaf immediately after color-curing, I would suggest waiting several additional weeks for the rest of the curing process to run to completion.

Bob

 

[greenmonster714]

A word of caution here, from someone who does not make or use smokeless tobacco. White-stem burleys turn brown before they have finished "color-curing." That is to say, the pigments change faster in white-stem burleys than do their other constituents that also need curing (albuminous proteins and carbohydrates). So if you plan to process white-stem burley leaf immediately after color-curing, I would suggest waiting several additional weeks for the rest of the curing process to run to completion.

Bob

Good to know. Luckily I do not have that strain growing this year but some may. I plan on using maybe some Bolivian Black, Indian Black, and some Burley's I've got going to make the snuff.