Homemade Snus with Rustica Tobacco Leaf

[Ansel]

interesting thread :-)

http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/for...acco-leaf.html

[lxskllr]

I'm only on page 4 so far, but it's been interesting. My biggest problem is it seems geared towards maximizing nicotine, and not flavor. I'm a little ambivalent about using rustica as a primary snus base. I don't have experience, but it seems like that could turn out a bit bold. I can see the appeal for keeping pris sizes small for stealth use, but not as an every day thing. I think I'd target 8mg/g for snus I made, and if it deviates slightly above or below, I'd consider that satisfactory.

[Ansel]

I'm interested in los that you don't need to use much of so rustica sounds like a thing to try.

[squeezyjohn]

Well - now I've sampled my own home grown Rustica by chewing the naked cured leaf and upper lipping is:

It's just going to be too damn strong to make a snus out of exclusively. The process of cooking the snus up with NaCO3 frees up a load more nicotine than is available from simply chewing the leaf. And a piece of naked leaf the size of a mini-portion is on a par in strength with any of the full-sized Starks available!

This variety has so much nicotine in it that it quite literally hurts. I think I will only use it for blending in snus - but I suspect there's a possibility of making some kind of Piccanell type twist that is crazy strong enough to allow for a very discreet stark-type bite.

Cheers

Squeezy

[Ansel]

but I suspect there's a possibility of making some kind of Piccanell type twist that is crazy strong enough to allow for a very discreet stark-type bite.

That would be great.

[whalen]

Almost positive Extreme is Rustica. Has that tell tell drip as a snuff. You can keep the PH adjustment real low and blend with Rustica accordingly. Rustica has a great flavor for snus. Try a dark air cured rustica mix! I got a bunch of Mapacho Rustica last year for snuff making, made a good chew.

[squeezyjohn]

Well I haven't tested it for pH - but the taste & gum feel of Extreme makes me think that it's fairly alkaline.

Any chance mr. GN could let us know if that's true or not? Or is that a closely guarded trade secret?

Cheers

Squeezy

[whalen]

The alkalinity is there, the snus would suffer if not, it just does not have to be extremely high in order to freebase more nicotine.

[whalen]

squeezyjohn - Did you ever get any of the Thouc Lao from Toque when he had it? That was a great tobacco. I made great snuff from it and chewed it a bit. It seems I never get around to snus making, even though I am quite well stocked on great snus tobacco. I have just so much to use up in the freezer, I went a bit overboard when I thought we might lose access to snus. Great thing is the los is still every bit good and the brands I bought are classics.

[squeezyjohn]

No but I've had a roll of Mapacho leaves from a company over here called Spirit Ethnobotanicals in the past. I have to say that my own grown stuff shows much more promise flavour-wise.

From the two batches of snus I've made - I know I've got a very long way to go - but I'm sure it's worth it. It doesn't seem that hard to get fairly good results - and I've been working with awful tobacco and non-perfected methods. You should just get in there and do it. Flavouring wise - my batches have all been with 100g of powdered tobacco and it only takes 5 drops or so of essential oils - so balancing flavouring can be a very precise art - I think that + getting the right quality of tobacco are key to making a great flavour.

To me - Rustica tastes very mild in to tobacco stakes. The mapacho I bought was like that - and what I've grown is not fully cured but it also is a light flavour albeit a little bitter at the moment. I'm really hoping that the other Nicotiana Tabacum is going to come good to blend for taste.

Cheers

Squeezy