Some Poor Man Snus DIY help

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  • devilock76
    Member
    • Aug 2010
    • 1737

    Some Poor Man Snus DIY help

    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
    Member
    • Jan 2008
    • 2497

    #2
    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
    Squeezyjohn

    Sometimes wrong and sometimes right .... but ALWAYS certain!!!

    Comment

    • Snusdog
      Member
      • Jun 2008
      • 6752

      #3
      What Squeezy said.....I'd stay away from pipe tobacco, roll your own, or anything else that has been processed to smoke.
      When it's my time to go, I want to die peacefully in my sleep, like my uncle did....... Not screaming in terror like his passengers

      Comment

      • tattooer601
        Member
        • Jun 2010
        • 942

        #4
        Originally posted by 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
        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

        Comment

        • Faylool
          Member
          • Dec 2012
          • 496

          #5
          Why do you need to pasturize it? Why not just freeze and use within six months?

          Comment

          • lxskllr
            Member
            • Sep 2007
            • 13435

            #6
            Originally posted by tattooer601
            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:
            Originally posted by Faylool
            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.

            Comment

            • devilock76
              Member
              • Aug 2010
              • 1737

              #7
              Originally posted by 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
              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

              Comment

              • devilock76
                Member
                • Aug 2010
                • 1737

                #8
                What about grabbing twists. Not Oliver twists, pure rope twists, pig tails, old school chew, no sweeteners. Just as a matter of convenience.

                Ken

                Comment

                • lxskllr
                  Member
                  • Sep 2007
                  • 13435

                  #9
                  Originally posted by 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
                  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.

                  Comment

                  • devilock76
                    Member
                    • Aug 2010
                    • 1737

                    #10
                    Originally posted by lxskllr
                    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

                    Comment

                    • squeezyjohn
                      Member
                      • Jan 2008
                      • 2497

                      #11
                      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
                      Squeezyjohn

                      Sometimes wrong and sometimes right .... but ALWAYS certain!!!

                      Comment

                      • devilock76
                        Member
                        • Aug 2010
                        • 1737

                        #12
                        Originally posted by 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
                        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

                        Comment

                        • Mr. Snuffleupagus
                          Member
                          • Dec 2008
                          • 2781

                          #13
                          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!

                          Comment

                          • squeezyjohn
                            Member
                            • Jan 2008
                            • 2497

                            #14
                            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
                            Squeezyjohn

                            Sometimes wrong and sometimes right .... but ALWAYS certain!!!

                            Comment

                            • devilock76
                              Member
                              • Aug 2010
                              • 1737

                              #15
                              Originally posted by 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!
                              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

                              Comment

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