How to make chewing tobacco juicy and saliva-inducing

[MikeHaggarSSBM]

Hello, I wish to make an american style loose leaf chewing tobacco in the style off Red Man, Levi Garrett etc. I want it to create a lot off juice and spit like those brands
Since I don't grow my own and the american brands are not sold here (sweden) I bought a few Samuel Gawith brown #4 twists, which I beleive is dark fired kentucky, dark fired virginia and cigar leaf. They have traditionally been used as chew by coal miners in the UK, so I thought they'd be good for making into an american style chew.
I roll up the twists and cut up the leaves and dried them in the oven at 100 °C.
Then I a made sauce out off apple juice that I cooked into a syrup, maple syrup, molasses, cinnamon, licorice extract, calvados aged with roasted oak sawdust, salt and glycerine and poured it on.
Put it all in a glass jar and let it sit at room temperature for about a week.

The flavour ended up being quite good (it's like green apples, with some spice & smokiness added) but the flavour doesn't last for very long and it kind off dries up and loses most off it's flavour after about 10-15 minutes and doesnt produce alot off spit. Very inferior to the "real" products in this regard.

Is it something special about the recipes in these chews that I didn't include, or is it perhaps the type off tobacco?

Any input from anyone who has sucessfully made good chewing tobacco in the american style is appreciated!

 

[Jitterbugdude]

I actually go out of my way to make chew that does NOT cause me to spit. Try adding more salt to stimulate your salivary glads. As for the flavor not lasting too long, try adding some vegetable glycerine. It adds just a touch of sweetness but it also helps retain the flavors longer. Another option would be to change the pH up or down.

 

[2Baccy]

I’ve never made chew but will also be trying this winter. I plan to use air cured Virginia leaf that’s been kilned for a month or so as well as air cured black mammoth that’s been kilned and may try flue cured Virginia to see if it adds sweetness. Then coating both sides of the dried leaf in a mixture much the same as yours. I dissected a bag of red man and noticed the leaves to be way bigger when unfolded then I would assume. Some pieces as big as 3x3 inches or so. I wonder if the flavouring being folded under many layers of leaf helps to retain flavour longer term.
I also can’t say I taste a smokey taste from red man or Levi which makes me wonder if they even use a fire cured tobacco at all ?
Another thought of mine was to dehydrate the finished product totally to concentrate flavours then rehydrate with another go of apple juice or something. Maybe repeat?
The 1 ingredient I can clearly taste in red man is apple juice so I will be using that as a starting point.
All my ideas are based on a major lack of real world experience.

 

[greenmonster714]

I agree with JB. Salt helps in the spit production department. It looks like you followed some of the videos on YouTube to make your chew. I've seen many with similar ingredients. Yours sounds a little more exotic but basically similar to the others. I make loose snus and salt is a major ingredient. In a 300gram (dry weight) batch I used 1/3cup of kosher salt in the wet mix. May seem like a lot but it works well. I've found dark air and Burleys make great loose snus.

A step I would consider in making chew like red man or there is the cooking process used in snus making. If you check out squeezysjohns post on snus you'll find what I'm taking about. Only difference between chew n snus is the size of the cut really.
I need to ask how well you liked the flavor of the wet mix you made? Is it close to what you were looking for?

 

[MikeHaggarSSBM]

The apple juice syrup, calvados combined with molasses created a very fruity green apple taste.
The licorice, cinnamon and smokiness (i had some hickory liquid smoke in it) creates some spicyness and excitement to the flavour.
For my palate, anyway. I love black licorice and anything thats smokey in general.

I will definitively add more salt to the second round off sauce I'll be adding. Maybe I'll put some soda into it to make it alkaline like snus. Do you guys know how much PH levels will affect the salivating aspect?

 

[greenmonster714]

It's my understanding that a higher pH helps the nicotine release. Not sure what it does for the spit. Most use sodium carbonate but ya gotta be careful ya don't get to much. It will sometimes cause a bitterness.
That recipe sounds tasty.

 

[deluxestogie]

Higher pH (more alkaline) increases nicotine absorption from the mouth and pharynx.

Bob