Making snus at home

**Badfish74** · 20-06-09, 07:08 PM

Definately looking forward to your review on the dificulty level of this project, and of course the end results! 8)

**justintempler** · 20-06-09, 07:27 PM

Re: Making snus at home

Originally posted by Mr. Snuffleupagus

.. Comments and suggestions welcome, especially before I pull the trigger

Don't use any aluminum cookware, and if you use aluminum foil you can use it as a cover but don't let it come in contact with the snus mass.

Your cooking time should be based on the temp of the snus itself and not the oven. So cook accordingly.

and have fun 8)

**Mr. Snuffleupagus** · 21-06-09, 01:00 AM

Originally posted by Badfish74

Definately looking forward to your review on the dificulty level of this project, and of course the end results! 8)

From everything I've read the difficulty level should be very easy. Also I have some already baked tins coming with the shipment so I will get an instant taste of what the end results should be.

I don't think the shipment is coming today, so it will be next week I guess. Oh well.

**Mr. Snuffleupagus** · 21-06-09, 01:03 AM

Re: Making snus at home

Originally posted by justintempler

Originally posted by Mr. Snuffleupagus

.. Comments and suggestions welcome, especially before I pull the trigger

Don't use any aluminum cookware, and if you use aluminum foil you can use it as a cover but don't let it come in contact with the snus mass.

Your cooking time should be based on the temp of the snus itself and not the oven. So cook accordingly.

and have fun 8)

Thanks for the tips, Justin. I think I'll use a stoneware crockpot pan and use foil to carefully cover. I plan on monitoring the oven temp and the snus mass as well.

**Badfish74** · 21-06-09, 01:39 AM

From everything I've read the difficulty level should be very easy

Good deal. So I guess dealing with the language barrier while ordering is going to be the most difficult part of the process! 8)

**zmanzero** · 21-06-09, 04:32 AM

way cool thread. take some pics of the steps if ya can snuffle.

**Sacrilicious** · 22-06-09, 03:00 AM

OK - I'm in!

I found a recipe for crockpot snus that I'm going to play with.

I have:

Package of American Spirit rolling tobacco
Sea Salt
Baking Soda
Mineral Oil
Small Crockpot
Small Stoneware Container
A strong desire to make snus!

I'm not going to add any flavors for the test run - I'm more of a pure tobacco taste guy.

I'll keep updating as this unfolds!

**Lucky Striker** · 22-06-09, 08:22 AM

I applaud your efforts Sacrilicious, but isn't American Spirit tobacco fermented? I know it's supposedly additive free but the bottom line is that it's cured for use as a cigarette, not snus. Why not buy whole leaf tobacco straight off a farm or market and air cure it yourself? All you would need is a place to hang it and the patience required for it to dry.

**Sacrilicious** · 22-06-09, 09:47 AM

Yeah - I just started my first batch of tobacco, it won't be ready to go in the ground for a few weeks and won't harvest till the fall I guess.

I'm pretty impatient - I don't want to wait that long to try this out!

I'm doing it just for the experiment - to see if it works. I suppose since the tobacco isn't air-cured it won't be "true" Swedish snus. I don't know - on the threads I was reading these guys were talking about grinding up old pipe tobacco and old cigars to make snus, so... :?:

I don't think it'll kill me - I smoked commercial American cigarettes for twenty years. Maybe it'll be on par with American dip? It can't be any worse than whatever the hell they put in Camel "snus" (the nasty candy stuff - not the good Swedish product.)

**justintempler** · 22-06-09, 10:23 PM

Using American Spirit is additive free which has a big advantage over using pipe tobacco.

The whole "air-cured" thing is way overblown. American tobacco used to be cured in barns using propane gas heaters exposing the tobacco to the exhaust gases and starving the tobacco from oxygen which raised the TSNA levels in the tobacco. When they switched to heat exchangers to shield the tobacco from the exhaust gases the TSNA levels of flue cured tobacco dropped to levels comparable to air cured.

SantaFe tobacco is flue cured and aged up to 3 years.

The biggest drawback is cost, 150 gram tin is atleast $25.00 now
Snus is half water, so roughly 300 grams of snus.
Compare that against the cost of a roll (450 grams) of lös snus.

The most common problem that I've read about so far, using prepackaged tobacco, is getting the grind fine enough. The particle size should be somewhere in the range of 150 microns and 1 mm. According to the patents.

**Kitabz** · 23-06-09, 12:58 AM

Originally posted by justintempler

The most common problem that I've read about so far, using prepackaged tobacco, is getting the grind fine enough. The particle size should be somewhere in the range of 150 microns and 1 mm. According to the patents.

Would snuff work (or is it fermented somewhere during it's manufacture).
I think it's just finely ground up dried tobacco leaves but I'm not 100% sure.

You can buy 400g of snuff for $40 here: http://www.toquesnuff.com/gbu0-prods...tural-bag.html (smaller sizes [and flavored too] are available but that works out more expensive).

**justintempler** · 23-06-09, 03:20 AM

Originally posted by Kitabz

Would snuff work (or is it fermented somewhere during it's manufacture).
I think it's just finely ground up dried tobacco leaves but I'm not 100% sure.

As far as I know, nasal snuff is fermented first, then it's ground, then it's flavored. I don't know if it can be converted into a snus product successfully. You have to consider taste, it's abilty to take a flavoring, the nicotine %, and the pH level. (pH determines the level of pronated vs unpronated nicotine.)

Technically some fermentation always happens when a tobacco leaf is cured. If no fermentation occured you would end up with a dried tobacco leaf that was green. So it's a matter of degree.

Keep in mind when someone in the USA talks about it being expensive that may not apply in the EU. In the USA RYO tobacco is taxed heavily whereas snus is not. So it doesn't make sense for us to take something that is heavily taxed to make something that has no or very little tax. In the EU they pay more tax on snus, so what doesn't make sense for us may make sense for them.

**sheilalynn** · 23-06-09, 03:35 AM

Originally posted by Sacrilicious

OK - I'm in!

I found a recipe for crockpot snus that I'm going to play with.

I have:

Package of American Spirit rolling tobacco
Sea Salt
Baking Soda
Mineral Oil
Small Crockpot
Small Stoneware Container
A strong desire to make snus!

I'm not going to add any flavors for the test run - I'm more of a pure tobacco taste guy.

I'll keep updating as this unfolds!

Where did you find the recipe? I'm googling but can't track it down yet...

**justintempler** · 23-06-09, 03:41 AM

Originally posted by Kitabz

You can buy 400g of snuff for $40 here: http://www.toquesnuff.com/gbu0-prods...tural-bag.html (smaller sizes [and flavored too] are available but that works out more expensive).

and remember 400g nasal snuff is dry weight that would give you 800 grams +/- snus because snus is aprox 50% water.

I would email Roderick @Toque with your questions. He can't sell you snus but I would see no reason he couldn't answer your questions on how to make snus using his product. (if it can be done)

Making snus at home

Making snus at home

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