Potassium or sodium carbonate in snus recipes

[squeezyjohn]

I'm using 50:50 dark air-cured with a virginia leaf - The salt is Maldon sea salt which I have used for my other recipes that weren't so bitter. I am also adding a little glycerin and propylene glycol.

These batches are not aged properly yet - and they may come good - but the intrinsic levels of bitterness on the tongue are so strong that I am very worried at the moment.

Cheers

Squeezy

[squeezyjohn]

I solved the problem - sort of.

The bitter tasting snus does benefit from a bit of ageing but clearly I used too much K2CO3 in the mix as it's very alkaline and it's very strong. I flavoured it with pine & bergamot and then put it in portions. It's now a perfectly passable portion stark - it doesn't taste amazing - sort of like some of the offroad flavours but it is home-made portion snus that I can happily use. I will nail the flavourings one day.

How did I make the portions then? I will put that up in another post.

Cheers

Squeezy

[tattooer601]

Looking forward to hear how the snus turns out ..wish I could share knowledge however surely you've hot more ;-)
What happened to
Justintempler that used to post?

[squeezyjohn]

Yes I don't know how long it is since JT last posted - but he was really on the case with making his own and left a huge amount of great info buried in the snuson archives for which I personally am very grateful!

I think we here in the EU are going through a similar phase of panic as the US did when the PACT act was about to be introduced. Only you can still get snus sent to you! I'm only really trying to make sure I can keep myself in supplies!

[ctee]

Great job Squeezy

[squeezyjohn]

Well - just a quick update to state that I was just too impatient for results when I posted a lot of what I said earlier in this thread. The potassium carbonate batch has now been ageing for almost two weeks and I can't over-emphasise how important that part of the process is!

I did use a large amount of the carbonate in this recipe - and as a result it is an extra stark in strength. But the smell of the plain tobacco only recipe is very close to that of Pioneer - it doesn't taste of that much in a portion and has a fairly dark and funky flavour as los. The flavoured one though is magnificent - flavoured very sparingly with pine, bergamot and tonka bean plus a very small bit of artificial sweetener - it tastes very much like snus but unlike any brand I have tried.

I'm going to be having another go with a bit more salt, a bit less carbonate and definitely flavouring the next batch in some way including some home-made liquorice extract as a natural sweetening agent. I've got some sweet flue-cured virginia bright leaf on it's way apparently so that will be an interesting thing to mix with this dark air cured that's bitter and strong for a smoother snus.

It's all a lot of fun creating this stuff ... but you have to wait so long before you get an idea what the recipe tweaks end up tasting like!

Cheers

Squeezy

[tattooer601]

Sounds a delight
Good job when life's better I'm getting some leaf of my own.

I always wondered if the earth taste of perique wold work well...
Its definitely pepper like in a briar.
Could be the pepper taste in some snus??

[squeezyjohn]

If you could get your hands on some pure perique then I think it would be nice in a blend with other types - but might be a bit odd on it's own!

[tattooer601]

Its earthy peppery and pretty strong.
All perique I've seen Squeezy is Pres ferminted in whisky barrels aged, then sold.
Fresh dry leaf....is that what would have to be had?