Chewing tobacco experiment

[NeonMouse]

OK ive ordered 450g burley from pureleaf and 500g of molasis from another store.

Does anyone know how much molasis and apple juice I will need to make some chewing tobacco for around 100g of tobacco?

I've found recipes online but they dont seem to have the measurements of the tobacco.

Also do you add the pinch of salt after you add the tobacco to the reduced apple juice or do you add when reducing the juice.

[squeezyjohn]

I haven't made it using that kind of classic recipe, but I think just using "some" is fine - enough to coat the tobacco. If you use too much juice then it just will stay in the pan at the end of the casing. If it were me I'd add the salt at the beginning.

Essentially you can case the tobacco in anything you wish to though - and bear in mind that sugary things next to your teeth will lead to tooth decay unless you brush very frequently after using sugary chew.

[NeonMouse]

I still havent got around to making some up... keep forgetting to buy the apple juice. That and ive got enough snus to last a long while and im not overly keen on having to spit.

This is the recipe i was going to do. http://tribes.tribe.net/tobaccopatch...b-ba696c8a6631

Does anyone know what a skim deep is?

[squeezyjohn]

Hey neonmouse, I think a skim deep referred to in the recipe just means not too much.

The aim in that recipe is to make the apple juice reduce down so it is thick and concentrated (apple cider in this case just means soft apple juice - the American term for cider as we know it is hard cider)

so you need to heat the pan up, only put a little juice in and let it reduce down, then repeat until you have a thicker apple syrup. And then you add the salt and molasses to finish the flavour.

I warn you that after snus - this stuff will be mighty sweet!

[Ansel]

personally i would just stir in some bicarb soda and you're good to go...

[Ansel]

once you add a liquid that makes the tobacco wet/moist/damp it's likely to then have more of a shelflife isn't it?

[Ansel]

best to do dry mix with bicarb soda dust!

[squeezyjohn]

What I do with my chew now is either leave it natural with only a little bit of salt by brushing it with brine before making the twists. Or if I want a strong flavour I add whatever flavouring (essential oils etc.) I want to that brine. If I want sweetness then I find that liquorice root works well. Xylitol also works well without any liquoricy flavour.

For a subtle taste of spice or coffee I leave the twists in a sealed jar with the thing I want to give the taste and that works quite well. When I want to use the twist I rehydrate it by spraying it with water and leaving it for 24hrs in a sealed container - a baggie will do.

If I want a fruity taste that doesn't contain lots of sugar then I will just leave a plain twist in a sealed container with a piece of that fresh fruit cut up before using it instead of using water. That way I get a twist that cannot rot my teeth with too much use.

Basically making chew tobacco is far less complicated than making snus because all you're doing is flavouring it and getting it moist enough to use (and in a shape you're happy to put in your mouth!). By making small twists of strong tobacco you can end up with snus sized pieces that you can cut off and use in the same way as snus.

I have tried doing as Ansel suggests and adding an alkali to freebase the nic in the baccy while making the twists and it has not been much of a success! I used sodium carbonate with some twists, but it has to be in a solution so it can get in to the tobacco and start the chemical transformation. I found that they went quite soggy and developed an unpleasant flavour - it seems impossible to treat solid tobacco the same way as snus is treated because it is unevenly distributed throughout the tobacco unless the tobacco is ground up.

[Ansel]

where did you buy the burley neonmouse?

[NeonMouse]

pureleaf... Idk i like the idea of twists but i have no idea of how ill twist the tobacco it might be to dry by now. I did quite like OT becore i got hooked on extra stark snus. Pigtail is nasty though.

Ive tried redman once that I imported. I didnt really like the stuff but i think thats just because i wasnt used to that type of tobacco and the spitting. unded up all over my mouth rather then in a compact ball in my cheek.

I still like the idea of having a cheap form of tobacco chew. Might one day become broke plus the one thing i miss about OT is playing with the twist in my mouth or using my hands when it comes to smoking. You cant really do that with snus apart from poke it.

I quite like sweet snus.

[squeezyjohn]

It's fairly easy to get the leaves in to the right kind of moisture content to be pliable enough to twist. If they're from pureleaf just undo the bag they're in and spray a little water in with a mister, seal it up and leave it to soak in to the leaves overnight. The leaves will be pliable in the morning - although be careful not to use so much water that they mush up.

Cheers

Squeezy

PS - I will be making a video of how to roll thin twists soon once some of my home-grown baccy is colour cured enough.

[NeonMouse]

Alright, might give that ago. Ill have a look at your other posts.