Hi there - as you know I have been experimenting with home-grown tobacco in order to protect myself from the worst case scenario that snus becomes all but unavailable here in the UK.
Anyway - snus comes in 2 types - lös and portions ... I've been experimenting with making lös with quite a bit of success and have some of the Prillan empty snus pouches to make my own portions for the times that lös is just not acceptable. Unfortunately my supply was Snus2.se and they no longer sell anything to the UK so I only have what I already have - also at 39 Krona for 200 (about £3.50 or $5.90) they are too expensive to really consider as a long term solution.
So my third way is to make tobacco bites so as to be less messy than lös (yes I know you can buy them in the EU - but none of them are like snus - piccanell are the closest). So I've just been having a go at rolling up a twist tobacco using my colour cured rustica leaves.
Of course at this stage these just taste like raw (and not completely cured) rustica leaf - it's just the shape I've been learning how to get right. I will say that these little bites currently taste very fresh and tea/grass like, slightly sour with a little bitterness - and my God they pack a nicotine punch like double-barrelling Skruf Xtra Stark! Only the nicotine lasts far far longer (about 2-3 hours) - they frankly last too long for my tolerance.
However - the plan is to take several whole twists (like in the middle picture) - and cook them exactly as if they are snus. That is to say use salt and water and cook at 80 degrees C for a couple of days and then add a sodium carbonate solution and some flavourings and glycerine to stop it drying out completely. Then hang it up until needed.
What I hope to end up with is a twist/snus hybrid type of thing and I'll let you know how it goes!
Cheers
Squeezy
Anyway - snus comes in 2 types - lös and portions ... I've been experimenting with making lös with quite a bit of success and have some of the Prillan empty snus pouches to make my own portions for the times that lös is just not acceptable. Unfortunately my supply was Snus2.se and they no longer sell anything to the UK so I only have what I already have - also at 39 Krona for 200 (about £3.50 or $5.90) they are too expensive to really consider as a long term solution.
So my third way is to make tobacco bites so as to be less messy than lös (yes I know you can buy them in the EU - but none of them are like snus - piccanell are the closest). So I've just been having a go at rolling up a twist tobacco using my colour cured rustica leaves.
Now Rustica leaves are smaller than most other types of tobacco - here's a picture of an average sized one
When the midrib is removed and 3 leaves are carefully overlapped and twisted up - you get one of these:
Photo on 08-10-2012 at 6.40PM.jpg
this is definitely my neatest one! If the leaves have any holes in then you get raggedy bits - also they can get unwieldy if you try to roll one too long.
Then when you cut them up the bites look like this:
Photo on 08-10-2012 at 7.02PM.jpg
It's bigger than an Oliver Twist - about the size of a mini-portion although you can cut them longer.
When the midrib is removed and 3 leaves are carefully overlapped and twisted up - you get one of these:
Photo on 08-10-2012 at 6.40PM.jpg
this is definitely my neatest one! If the leaves have any holes in then you get raggedy bits - also they can get unwieldy if you try to roll one too long.
Then when you cut them up the bites look like this:
Photo on 08-10-2012 at 7.02PM.jpg
It's bigger than an Oliver Twist - about the size of a mini-portion although you can cut them longer.
Of course at this stage these just taste like raw (and not completely cured) rustica leaf - it's just the shape I've been learning how to get right. I will say that these little bites currently taste very fresh and tea/grass like, slightly sour with a little bitterness - and my God they pack a nicotine punch like double-barrelling Skruf Xtra Stark! Only the nicotine lasts far far longer (about 2-3 hours) - they frankly last too long for my tolerance.
However - the plan is to take several whole twists (like in the middle picture) - and cook them exactly as if they are snus. That is to say use salt and water and cook at 80 degrees C for a couple of days and then add a sodium carbonate solution and some flavourings and glycerine to stop it drying out completely. Then hang it up until needed.
What I hope to end up with is a twist/snus hybrid type of thing and I'll let you know how it goes!
Cheers
Squeezy
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