Smoking is... good?

[LQB]

Wow! Looks great Mr P. Just like the open barns out here in TN that fill every year with the tobacco crop - the crop looks pretty good this year - big and bushy. Unfortunately most of the growers out here use 2 different pesticides.

 

[Voyageur]

[quote author=Mr. Premise]
Harvest time! ...
[/quote]

Awesome looking leafs

Edit: spell checking error/reliance

 

[Mr. Premise]

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.

 

[Psalehesost]

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.

 

[aragorn]

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.

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]

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?

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]

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]

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.

Also, if you want it sweeter you can use xylitol (the guy on the tobacco forum does).

 

[aragorn]

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.

Tanks. Any thoughts of what to use instead of propylene glycol? I looked it up, and it's basically a stabiliser and firming agent, plus moisturiser.

 

[Mr. Premise]

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.

Tanks. Any thoughts of what to use instead of propylene glycol? I looked it up, and it's basically a stabiliser and firming agent, plus moisturiser.

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]

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.

Tanks. Any thoughts of what to use instead of propylene glycol? I looked it up, and it's basically a stabiliser and firming agent, plus moisturiser.

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.

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.

 

[aragorn]

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/

What you need:

Tobacco powder (Snuff) – This is basically tobacco that has been grinded down to flour.. For this recipe, you will need 1 kg of tobacco flour..
About 45 grams of Sodium Carbonate – This is to regulate most of the pH in the tobacco and so it can be fresh for a longer time
About 60 grams of Sodium Chloride – This is used as a preservative, so it won’t mold, get bacterias or change the chemicals when storing it
About 80 grams of Glycerol – This is used in the tobacco so the tobacco gets firm and you can make small “balls” in your hand with the tobacco.. Without it, it will only crumble up in your hands..

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.

 

[liffy]

Cool idea making you own snus, guys.

For me, however, I don't think it will be paying off (other than having learnt a new skill), due to the high prices on proper tobacco where i live.

 

[nicklebleu]

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 ....

 

[domi]

I was reading _http://www.ryomagazine.com/tobacco.htm and they were talking about the Philippines:

Fortune Tobacco, a very large cigarette producer in the Philippines, has a number of brands under its umbrella. Some represent their own labels and some are licensed from more well known international brands. Honestly, in my experience one often finds foreign made US brands can be inferior. Marlboros and others that come out of Eastern Europe, especially Russia, can be quite harsh when compared with the reconstituted tobacco laden US products. Fortune, in addition to its own brands, licenses Winston from RJR/Japan tobacco. The company provided to me without exception the most thorough tour of any cigarette plant one could ask for. I saw every process from start to finish. I expected pretty much the same experience one would find at any cigarette manufacturing plant. However, before I visited the plant, I smoked the locally produced Winston brand. I compared it to the currently more popular (there) Marlboro and found the Winston dramatically superior in every way.The difference was so significant that I had to investigate further. It was during the tour (tour does not begin to describe the amount of detail I was allowed to see at the Fortune/Winston facilities) that I discovered the reason for my unexpected enjoyment of the Fortune made Winston. They use REAL tobacco. And some of the best real tobacco I've seen. No recon, no chemical additives other than the very few flavorings like found in most great rolling tobaccos. Those that read this publication know I like a pretty light, yet flavorful smoke. I pulled some of the tobacco directly from the manufacturing line and injected it into a tube. The taste was incredible - absolutely incredible! Again the taste of real and fresh tobacco.

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)