Some Poor Man Snus DIY help

[devilock76]

So buying snus sucks these days. Just a fact. Dip is a barely acceptable alternative.

So I am thinking it is time to give it a try myself, making some snus. Recipes and what not does not seem to be a problem, but I have two questions that I need to ask about the process and ingredients.

First off I don't want to commit to growing my own tobacco plants, not yet. But I do have some really good pipe stores near by and I was thinking starting with a reasonably small amount of plain pipe tobacco would be a good starting base to this process without growing. I can get good prices and good quality locally with pipe tobacco.

Secondly is a method to pasteurize, most recipes I see call for 4-5 days of the snus being heated at about 55-70 degrees centigrade (about 130-160F). First of all that is lower than any temperature on any available ovens I own, nor do I want to run an oven for 4-5 days. I saw the light bulb method so that is a possibility. I was also thinking being in the south a metal box in the sun gets close, but at night won't work. I guess I am looking for any bright ideas for an efficient and safe way to go through that process. The light bulb idea is probably the clear winner and I have several coolers that might make a good sacrifice to such a build. Looking for bright ideas I have not thought about it.

Ken

[squeezyjohn]

I wouldn't get your tobacco from a tobacconist unless they carry plain air-cured leaves. Tobacco for smoking has been processed and soaked in various additives to make it smoke well.

If you're in the USA a website called whole leaf tobacco exists and that tobacco is tax exempt as its not processed.

To make snus - I use a thermostat regulated canning boiler as a water batg which doesn't cost too much to run. But the lightbulb method is tried & tested

Cheers

SqueeZy

[Snusdog]

What Squeezy said.....I'd stay away from pipe tobacco, roll your own, or anything else that has been processed to smoke.

[tattooer601]

I wouldn't get your tobacco from a tobacconist unless they carry plain air-cured leaves. Tobacco for smoking has been processed and soaked in various additives to make it smoke well.

If you're in the USA a website called whole leaf tobacco exists and that tobacco is tax exempt as its not processed.

To make snus - I use a thermostat regulated canning boiler as a water batg which doesn't cost too much to run. But the lightbulb method is tried & tested

Cheers

SqueeZy

Out of curiosity..
What is the "light bulb" method of preparing snus?
I just keep hearing the phrase....lightbulb method.

Good to see ya back Squeezy

[Faylool]

Why do you need to pasturize it? Why not just freeze and use within six months?

[lxskllr]

Out of curiosity..
What is the "light bulb" method of preparing snus?
I just keep hearing the phrase....lightbulb method.

Good to see ya back Squeezy

You use the lamp as a heat source. Put it in an insulated box, and it makes a decent oven.

Edit:

Why do you need to pasturize it? Why not just freeze and use within six months?

It kills bacteria, and prevents TSNA growth. It probably also affects flavor, but I don't know that for fact.

[devilock76]

I wouldn't get your tobacco from a tobacconist unless they carry plain air-cured leaves. Tobacco for smoking has been processed and soaked in various additives to make it smoke well.

If you're in the USA a website called whole leaf tobacco exists and that tobacco is tax exempt as its not processed.

To make snus - I use a thermostat regulated canning boiler as a water batg which doesn't cost too much to run. But the lightbulb method is tried & tested

Cheers

SqueeZy

Interesting, I figured pipe tobacco was as plain and air cured as you can get. Ok so whole leaf suppliers should not be hard. Hell I live in NC, it grows down the street from me. Maybe I should ask the farmer if he would sell me some leaves...

Ken

[devilock76]

What about grabbing twists. Not Oliver twists, pure rope twists, pig tails, old school chew, no sweeteners. Just as a matter of convenience.

Ken

[lxskllr]

What about grabbing twists. Not Oliver twists, pure rope twists, pig tails, old school chew, no sweeteners. Just as a matter of convenience.

Ken

Aren't they usually cased with something, and possibly flue cured? I have one I've been meaning to make nasal snuff from, but haven't gotten to it. My preference would be raw leaf tobacco. I'd talk to some local farmers. Since you're only experimenting at this point, you could probably buy leaves directly from the farmer and get a cheaper price, while the farmer gets more money.

[devilock76]

Aren't they usually cased with something, and possibly flue cured? I have one I've been meaning to make nasal snuff from, but haven't gotten to it. My preference would be raw leaf tobacco. I'd talk to some local farmers. Since you're only experimenting at this point, you could probably buy leaves directly from the farmer and get a cheaper price, while the farmer gets more money.

I need to convert these recipes I find to english units that I can "cook" with. And then figure out exactly how much snus a lb of leaf is going to make...

Ken

[squeezyjohn]

I have never seen a pipe tobacco that is not cased with something sweet or has fermented or fire-cured tobacco in it.

A pound of tobacco will make a little over 2lbs of Los snus. That's about 20 cans of loose snus in the old 50g cans.

When you say 'English units' I presume you mean American ones ... Very few of us here in England under the age of 70 struggle with metric as we've all learnt it at school since the late 60s. We still use pounds ounces and feet and inches too though.

Never been able to follow an American recipe though as its normally all in cups rather than weights ... All the cups in my house are different sizes!!!

Cheers

Squeezy

[devilock76]

I have never seen a pipe tobacco that is not cased with something sweet or has fermented or fire-cured tobacco in it.

A pound of tobacco will make a little over 2lbs of Los snus. That's about 20 cans of loose snus in the old 50g cans.

When you say 'English units' I presume you mean American ones ... Very few of us here in England under the age of 70 struggle with metric as we've all learnt it at school since the late 60s. We still use pounds ounces and feet and inches too though.

Never been able to follow an American recipe though as its normally all in cups rather than weights ... All the cups in my house are different sizes!!!

Cheers

Squeezy

Yeah that is what I meant. 2.2lbs to kilograms, etc. But like you said everything I have is in cups, top of my head I don't remember cups to milliliter (or deciliters as the recipes from Sweden call for) but I am sure I can google that in a jiffy (a jiffy = 11.38 seconds). Also I don't have a proper balance/scale here for such things. But from what I am seeing I can get 1lb of air cured leaves here with shipping at right around $30. Looking local I might be able to beat that. After that the rest of the ingredients are almost insignificant price wise. But let's say another $10 in ingredients. Anyway, I am going to shop around for a supplier and see if I can get this started up in a couple of weeks. I will try to document it all to hopefully post here.

Ken

[Mr. Snuffleupagus]

I've cooked snus in the oven, cooler with light bulb, and crockpot. Crockpot hands down is my favorite method. The light bulb method can be a fire hazard, so please be careful if you do it. Most ovens will auto shutdown after 12 hours but you can disable it on some. If you don't have a crockpot you can find them cheap at consignment shops, yard sales, and thrift stores. Here's a couple threads with some info:

http://www.snuson.com/forum/showthre...light=crockpot

http://www.snuson.com/forum/showthre...light=crockpot

I wish you great success!

[squeezyjohn]

Cool! I'd shop around though - I've seen whole leaf advertised as low as $10 per lb - obviously the more you get in one shipment the cheaper the shipping is per lb too.

On the subject of pasteurising - when you 'cook' your own snus - the main thing you're doing is changing the taste. These cooking procedures are not the same as commercial snus makers steam pasteurisation but holding the temperature around a steady 70 degrees C for that long will kill off most things.

Cheers

Squeezy

[devilock76]

I've cooked snus in the oven, cooler with light bulb, and crockpot. Crockpot hands down is my favorite method. The light bulb method can be a fire hazard, so please be careful if you do it. Most ovens will auto shutdown after 12 hours but you can disable it on some. If you don't have a crockpot you can find them cheap at consignment shops, yard sales, and thrift stores. Here's a couple threads with some info:

http://www.snuson.com/forum/showthre...light=crockpot

http://www.snuson.com/forum/showthre...light=crockpot

I wish you great success!

I have a crock pot, let me look into that, because I agree that the light bulb method as a fire hazard does concern me.

Ken