Making your own snus in Australia

[matreshkin]

Hi everyone

I live in Russia where snus is sold without restrictions (it's not very popular though, so one has to go to special tobacco shops to get some). It's priced at some US$3 per can here which is still expensive as compared to cigs. Seeing that I normally use more than one can per day, it amounts to at least US$100 per month, which translates to some US$ 10,000 since I started taking snus in 2001.

But in February I'm moving to Perth, WA, and as I recently learned, because of the high customs duties, I'll be hardly able to afford my habit there.
(Funnily, when I came for a visit last year, I was unaware of the customs rules, so I brought several rolls with me and this went undetected even though my backpack was thoroughly checked by the Quarantine guys).

So I see two alternatives here (or probably two stages of a single strategy):
1. Trying to smuggle in as much as possible this time - hopefully I won't be caught again - and then trying to make it last for as long as possible.
2. Finding a way to make my own stuff in Australia. I read threads about DIY snus and about snus-ing in Australia on this forum - but now I hope to get two things combined.

So, has anyone tried to have some DIY stuff delivered from Sweden to Australia or used any different way to produce their own snus? Can you buy raw tobacco in AU suitable for making snus?

Thx and happy new year.

[holnrew]

http://www.vikingasnus.se/index_en.html is where you can order DIY kits, but I'm not sure of the legality of doing it in Aus.

[matreshkin]

Looks like a bargain even if the current exorbitant customs tariff of AUD 310 per kilo will be applied. Even though they don't state the weight of the package, I believe it should contain some 300 g of tobacco.

Probably I should contact the Aussie customs directly to find out... I wonder if someone hasn't tried this method already.

[PennySD]

Note to self: cancel trip to NZ.

[SeneNatten]

The thing that makes snus tobacco different is how it is produced: low-heat drying and steam curing. This is what avoids the carcinogenic TSNAs produced in American-style processing with high-heat drying and fermented curing.

If you can buy Swedish-style processed tobacco in Australia, great. Or, if you want to go to the ultimate, you can find a tobacco farmer, buy the raw plant, and cure it yourself. I'm sure that'd be cheaper in the long run, and higher quality, but it would take a lot of work. If you can figure out how to do that, I'm sure lots of Aussies here would appreciate a few pointers. Heck, as an American who used to make my own cigarettes, and still brews my own beer from time to time, I'd be interested too.

Otherwise you're still importing tobacco it'll be subject to customs duties and GST. Then the question becomes whether you want to avoid detection--say, by posting small orders rather than UPS-ing large orders--which could cause more trouble if the tax collectors realize the amount you've smuggled in over time. But if you're importing, the cost difference of the products is miniscule compared to the tax cost.

[sychodelix]

What you are better off doing is finding someone locally that grows and cures tobacco and buy some from them. Then you can find sources online that tell you how to make it yourself. You won't need anything but cured tobacco, water, salt, baking soda, and whatever essential oil flavorings you want to add.

[matreshkin]

Looks like the way to go to me.

With so many guys complaining about high import duties, problems with mail delivery, etc. here, I'm just surprised that no one has tried this before... or is there some snag? Can it be that they don't grow the right sort of tobacco in Australia?

[sychodelix]

It mostly has to do with the types of seeds, but yeah, the soil matters some too. Still, a talented grower should be able to handle about any of them.

[matreshkin]

Hmmm, I'm in a fix.. :?
Last week I arrived in Perth, WA with 10 cans of portion snus and 5 cans of loose - the maximum amount two persons could take into the country without incurring the import duty. This small stash is now dwindling and is unlikely to last for more than a month (even though I'm sometimes trying to replace snus with nicotine containing chewing gum). Yesterday I contacted Vikingasnus mentioned above and they replied: sorry, mate, no way we can deliver snus to Australia, we tried several times but none of the packages reached the intended recipient because of the Australian customs. I will try to look for tobacco manufacturers here, but the problem is I'm now living on a university campus and we've got no baking oven in our apartment. So even if I procure the right sort of tobacco somewhere, I won't be able to process it. Are there any fellow snusers here in Perth who could help me out? I'd be happy to share a can or two of General with you. :roll:

[matreshkin]

I've been also thinking about possible alternatives... We definitely won't be able to squeeze a normal-size oven into this flat but I've heard that there are portable ones. Are they any good?

Or may be something like this would do:

http://www.sunbeam.com.au/Pages/Brow....aspx?pid=1274
:lol:

However, with the recent events in Victoria serving as yet one more reminder that fire safety is no laughing matter – is it safe to leave such appliances on for 2-3 days?

[matreshkin]

The first batch of home-made snus ready!

[img] http://img-fotki.yandex.ru/get/3408/...06f_98a2aaef_L [/img]

and packed into General tins. Looks very much like the real thing!

[img] http://img-fotki.yandex.ru/get/3409/...070_4bce25bb_L [/img]

The taste is surprisingly decent and it's easier to form a pris out of it because the consistency is a bit different. Slightly more leaky than mass-produced snus – my wife says I should try adding some gelatin in subsequent batches. I stuff it in pieces of teabags to facilitate disposal. So if out of snus for a while, you can as well try my recipe.

[Shownarou]

It kinda looks like a wet, dark copenhagen.. Weird.

[matreshkin]

Questions to admins: maybe this topic should be moved to some other section of the forum? I don't remember why I originally posted it here... but maybe there are other people who make their own snus and don't visit the Online Shops section? And I'd like to get some feedback and tips... :?

[deebocools]

good work

DIY or die

[lxskllr]

Very interesting matreshkin. I don't know about adding gelatin. I think you might be better off tweaking the moisture content instead. I imagine it'll take a few batches to get everything right, but as long as you take notes, you'll be able to refine the process.

Nice job, well done :^)