Mr. Premise
The Living Force
Just finished hanging up the last of the leaves. Approximately 1200 leaves total from 50 plants. The experts were right when they said the curing phase is the hardest. I lost over 100 leaves because I left the garage windows and doors open for the first batch. That sent the humidity too high during the night, especially during some rainy days. The Virginia Bright Leaf variety seemed susceptible to mildew, probably because it is supposed to be flue cured (4 days of increasingly high heat) not air cured, so I had to throw out 100 leaves or so. So I bought a utility heater and two fans to create more air movement and closed up the garage. That seems to have worked.
Next step: build a kiln to complete the aging.
Next step: build a kiln to complete the aging.
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Psalehesost
The Living Force
There is still no dedicated snus thread, so I'll put this in here.
I bought, some time ago, a snus-making kit. The idea is to follow the instructions using the ingredients, which were:
[list type=decimal]
[*]Very fine-ground - basically pulverized - tobacco.
[*]Sodium chloride (ie. plain salt).
[*]Sodium carbonate. (Potassium carbonate would have worked equally well.)
[*]Propylene glycol to keep it moist long-term.
[/list]
The result is 1 kg of snus for a bit less than a fifth of the price of that you find pre-made in stores here in Sweden. It is also better, I must say.
This kit gave the basic idea (far from new, but it was new to me) of a snus recipe:
[list type=decimal]
[*]Mix pulverized tobacco (exact amount unknown) with water (1 liter) and salt (exact amount unknown).
[*]Run it in the oven in an airtight container at 90 C for 24 hours.
[*]Take it out and add water (1/2 liter) and sodium carbonate (exact amount unknown).
[*]Run in the oven at 90 C again, for 12 hours.
[*]Take out, let it cool, add propylene glycol (exact amount unknown; some nicer substance could probably be found that would give the same effect, though propylene glycol is apparently nowadays standard for Swedish snus).
[*]It can be used right away, though in order to "mature" fully it should be stored in the refrigerator for a week.
[*]It is ready. For longer-term preservation, I additionally freeze it; this can take away some flavor, but I don't care.
[/list]
Snus is turning out to be of great benefit for me - it has a different effect than smoking, and for me they are complementary. Smoking seems (for me) to be good when it's time to shift mental gears, while snus is good when getting into and sticking to a task. Both at once make for a good mental refresher; the boost in mental energy and in clarity is considerable.
I also find that snus stimulates memory in some way and helps, in contemplating, to consolidate what I've learned and experienced in general, making understanding more unified, knowledge less fragmented.
I bought, some time ago, a snus-making kit. The idea is to follow the instructions using the ingredients, which were:
[list type=decimal]
[*]Very fine-ground - basically pulverized - tobacco.
[*]Sodium chloride (ie. plain salt).
[*]Sodium carbonate. (Potassium carbonate would have worked equally well.)
[*]Propylene glycol to keep it moist long-term.
[/list]
The result is 1 kg of snus for a bit less than a fifth of the price of that you find pre-made in stores here in Sweden. It is also better, I must say.
This kit gave the basic idea (far from new, but it was new to me) of a snus recipe:
[list type=decimal]
[*]Mix pulverized tobacco (exact amount unknown) with water (1 liter) and salt (exact amount unknown).
[*]Run it in the oven in an airtight container at 90 C for 24 hours.
[*]Take it out and add water (1/2 liter) and sodium carbonate (exact amount unknown).
[*]Run in the oven at 90 C again, for 12 hours.
[*]Take out, let it cool, add propylene glycol (exact amount unknown; some nicer substance could probably be found that would give the same effect, though propylene glycol is apparently nowadays standard for Swedish snus).
[*]It can be used right away, though in order to "mature" fully it should be stored in the refrigerator for a week.
[*]It is ready. For longer-term preservation, I additionally freeze it; this can take away some flavor, but I don't care.
[/list]
Snus is turning out to be of great benefit for me - it has a different effect than smoking, and for me they are complementary. Smoking seems (for me) to be good when it's time to shift mental gears, while snus is good when getting into and sticking to a task. Both at once make for a good mental refresher; the boost in mental energy and in clarity is considerable.
I also find that snus stimulates memory in some way and helps, in contemplating, to consolidate what I've learned and experienced in general, making understanding more unified, knowledge less fragmented.
Psalehesost said:
Thanks, this was interesting!
A few questions, if you don't mind.
So, basically you take some (organic) tobacco and ground it in a grinder as fine as you can get it?
Where did you get the propylene glycol - do they sell it in drug stores?
Psalehesost
The Living Force
Aragorn said:
Everything was already included in the snus-making kit in the right proportions - I guess that's the point of getting one. No idea about getting propylene glycol on your own, not having looked into it.
Mr. Premise
The Living Force
If you don't have a Snus kit I've read on tobacco forums that you can use bicarbonate of soda (baking) soda instead of sodium carbonate, which is more expensive and harder to find. Just use a little more.
Mr. Premise
The Living Force
Mr. Premise said:
Also, if you want it sweeter you can use xylitol (the guy on the tobacco forum does).
Mr. Premise
The Living Force
Aragorn said:
I would think you could just mist a small amount with water before using. The reason commercial producers use propylene glycol is that they don't want people opening a package of dry material and if they moistened it with water it could develop mold. That said, I think propylene glycol is pretty safe. You probably could also use glycerin which would be easier to buy.
Psalehesost
The Living Force
Mr. Premise said:
From my experience, re-moistening dried-out snus doesn't quite make it the same as it was before. That and convenience (being able to keep some snus with/on you wherever you go for some time without it going too dry) are good reasons, I think, for using some additive to preserve moisture.
Glycerin/glycerol is indeed also used in snus, and should work as an alternative.
As for the sodium carbonate vs sodium bicarbonate, another option is potassium carbonate - it should be relatively easy to find as potash. I've seen several references to people using such potash for snus, apparently with good results - and it seems to be a classic way of making snus. Probably more palatable in larger amounts than baking soda, too.
I just got ready with my first home made snus. The final product seems great, even better than what they sell. :)
I followed the recipe on this site:
_http://borediam.com/2012/06/how-make-homemade-snus/
There's a video clip too: _http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQB6R-f77xg
The Sodium Carbonate was surprisingly easy to find; they sell it in the super market under the name "crystal soda" which is originally for cleaning. The crystals are quite big so you have to grind them. Cheap it was, too, a 500g bag for just a few euros.
I got the glycerol from the drug store. For tobacco I used three pouches of pipe tobacco (á 35g), making a total of 105grams. First I tried to grind it in my old coffee grinder, but that got me nowhere. Finally I got the idea of using our old kitchen machine with those rolling blades. That worked pretty well!
Then, I put in the salt and mixed. Then I put it in a canning jar (with the lid on) and into the oven, 80-90C for 24hours. After that, I took it out, mixed in the sodium carbonate. Then back into the oven for 12hours. After that, I mixed in the Glycerol and put it in the fridge.
Pretty easy, but it takes some time.
I followed the recipe on this site:
_http://borediam.com/2012/06/how-make-homemade-snus/
There's a video clip too: _http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQB6R-f77xg
The Sodium Carbonate was surprisingly easy to find; they sell it in the super market under the name "crystal soda" which is originally for cleaning. The crystals are quite big so you have to grind them. Cheap it was, too, a 500g bag for just a few euros.
I got the glycerol from the drug store. For tobacco I used three pouches of pipe tobacco (á 35g), making a total of 105grams. First I tried to grind it in my old coffee grinder, but that got me nowhere. Finally I got the idea of using our old kitchen machine with those rolling blades. That worked pretty well!
Then, I put in the salt and mixed. Then I put it in a canning jar (with the lid on) and into the oven, 80-90C for 24hours. After that, I took it out, mixed in the sodium carbonate. Then back into the oven for 12hours. After that, I mixed in the Glycerol and put it in the fridge.
Pretty easy, but it takes some time.
Nice work, Mr. Premise ...
No such luck for us in Australia, as GROWING your own tobacco is ILLEGAL, with fines up to 25'000 AUD and up to 5 years in prison. Go figure, nanny state!
Also not much luck with organic tobacco as far as I have been able to tell. So the best thing that I can find is cuban cigarillos/ mini-cigarillos, which are very expensive!
I also looked at importing from overseas, which is possible, but again very expensive due to very high import duty (400 - 500 AUD/ kg).
So if anyone here in Oz has a good idea, you are most welcome to share ....
No such luck for us in Australia, as GROWING your own tobacco is ILLEGAL, with fines up to 25'000 AUD and up to 5 years in prison. Go figure, nanny state!
Also not much luck with organic tobacco as far as I have been able to tell. So the best thing that I can find is cuban cigarillos/ mini-cigarillos, which are very expensive!
I also looked at importing from overseas, which is possible, but again very expensive due to very high import duty (400 - 500 AUD/ kg).
So if anyone here in Oz has a good idea, you are most welcome to share ....
I was reading _http://www.ryomagazine.com/tobacco.htm and they were talking about the Philippines:
I found two sources of this Philippino brand:
_http://www.ajcigarettes.com/
_http://tobaccotrain.com/6000/
It seems - from reading quite a few reviews online - these are good sources for non-FSC cigarettes at a reasonable price ($30-ish for a carton including delivery)
I found two sources of this Philippino brand:
_http://www.ajcigarettes.com/
_http://tobaccotrain.com/6000/
It seems - from reading quite a few reviews online - these are good sources for non-FSC cigarettes at a reasonable price ($30-ish for a carton including delivery)