pipe tobacco for diy ?

[tattooer601]

Out of curiosity, and nessity I have a question.
Since 2008 ive enjoyed pipe tobacco.
Threw time ive saved tobaccos that I didn't like.
Anyhow ive been thinking would it be feasible to make
HOMEMADE SNUS from them?

I just am at wits end, i dont want to smoke cigarettes anymore, and would like to put these burley/Virginia's to a purpose, any help would be great....

[Ansel]

hmm, well the burley would be air cured wouldn't it?

[whalen]

Lot of casing on pipe tobacco. But since you already have it, go play with it, mad science time!

[Ansel]

personally, i probably wouldn't do it.

[whalen]

But throw that eye of newt pipe tobacco out.

[lxskllr]

I think nasal snuff would be more feasible.

[Ansel]

i like to think i am helping keep the snus industry going by buying cans

[squeezyjohn]

I'm certainly not going to stop buying it while I can! But there is a very distinct possibility that it may become very hard indeed to get in the UK at some point in the future!

My experimentation is simply experimental at the moment (although it gives me a great deal of pleasure) - nothing I have ever made comes close to some of the classic snuses out there. However Swedish Match who make 99% of the ones I think are classics have made it clear they don't want it to be sold here!

There are so many kinds of pipe tobaccos out there that it's a bit of a minefield as to what tobacco will be in each blend. Not all are cased - but a lot are. Many will also be fermented. None will be as safe as using pure air-dried tobacco - but then again you can buy snus that is far safer than anything you can make at home.

I have been playing with the techniques of snus making from far further back in history than the safety laws in Sweden. And those snuses really taste different ... and better. Including some fire cured and leaving it to ferment for far longer ends up with a snus that has a really rich deep (fermented) tobacco taste that I have never tasted in commercial stuff except for Gellivare.

[tattooer601]

Well....
I was thinking of using the bulk burley / Virginia blends that have little to no topping.
Doesnt sound like a good idea,thank you guys for the help/opinions...

[crezzyman]

I've used pipe tobacco for snus making before, it seemed to work pretty well.

If you're just looking to use up what you have laying around, I'd say go for it. That's how I got started on it. I had nearly a pound of "Balkan Supreme" (really smoky fire cured pipe tobacco) that I got with a pipe I bought online. It sat for a couple years, I never smoked it, never planned on smoking it, so I decided to experiment with it. It ended up making a very smoky snus, which wasn't too bad, though the smoke part was really overpowering.

Is it as low in TSNAs as commercial snus? Not at all. It's probably closer to american dip as far as TSNAs are concerned, simply because of the fire cured tobacco. Does it taste as good as commercial snus? Not even close! Did it teach me some valuable lessons? Definitely.

There are a lot of variables to snus making - grind consistency, cook time, cook temperature, how much water to add, how much propylene glycol or glycerine to add, plus any flavorings you decide to use. What better way to figure out what works than to experiment with tobacco you weren't planning on using anyway?

If you're looking to buy pipe tobacco just for making snus, I'd suggest looking at whole leaf tobacco instead. Not only does it tend to be cheaper than pipe tobacco, it's probably lower in TSNAs than most pipe tobaccos as well.