Chewing tobacco really sticky??

[chevymudnut]

I have chewed red man for years I got a couple pounds of leafs
I simmered a couple cups of apple juice and salt till I got a light syrup added a couple big spoons of molasses then stirred in the tobacco
I’ve let it set a couple days
Great taste the tobacco is a little course but it’s super sticky is there anyway to get it less sticky? More like red man?
another question is there anything I should put in it for a preservative? This is my first time making it

 

[deluxestogie]

Welcome to the forum. Feel free to introduce yourself in the Introduce Yourself forum. Since I don't do smokeless, other members will tackle your questions.

Bob

 

[Jbg]

I had the same problem when I made it that way, I ended up dousing it with jagermiester(I think) and put it in the fridge for a week or two, smoothed out the stickiness some.

 

[Jbg]

Southern Comfort is what I used. I haven't made any chew baccer in quite some time now.

 

[Rednekf350]

I grew tobacco and made looseleaf chew for the first time last year. I made a mix of exactly what you described and used my own 3 month old Burley. I was really happy with the flavor but the stickiness was ridiculous. I froze what little I made in a Mason jar and dug out chunks to put in baggies as needed.
I made a batch a few weeks ago and didn’t realize we were short on molasses until I was almost done. This batch is less sticky but not as flavorful.
I too would like to know what can help the stickiness. I have tried a little bourbon and it seems to help. Next time I’ll add it to the tobacco.
As for preserving, I think freezing is a good method and maybe adding some sort of booze would help sterilize and some flavor too.

 

[Jb00]

I wonder if adding glycerin would help even it out. I know when I made some, it was like drenching leaves in maple syrup.

 

[Rednekf350]

I did a little touch up with the chew I made a few weeks back when I ran short on molasses. I had about 2/3 of a quart of chew in a Mason jar that consisted of air cured Burley dipped in reduced apple juice and not enough molasses. It that didn't have the full flavor of what I made last year.
So, last night I heated up (3) overflowing tablespoons of dark molasses and re-dipped the chew. After it cooled I added a shot of Bulleit Bourbon dripped in slow and stirred through the mix. Boom ! The flavor and aroma is awesome and the Bourbon did help a little bit with the stickiness. I am keeping the jar refrigerated until I use up all of this chew. This season, I have a lot more tobacco to work with and will probably freeze the chew that I make to preserve it.

 

[deluxestogie]

I've never really thought about this much, since I don't make smokeless tobacco preparations. Molasses comes in several "colors": light, dark and black strap. The sweetness of them decreases as you go from light to black strap (treakle). Also, the darker, the more intense the flavors. So perhaps using the darkest molasses--black strap--would result in a less sticky preparation, though not as sweet.

Bob

 

[Cray Squirrel]

Black strap has some, to me, nasty and bitter undertones. The better grades of molasses are much sweeter and aren't bitter. One way to get the flavor for chew might be to use dunder, a byproduct from the rum making process.
When molasses is fermented into rum, a lot of the sugars aren't fermentable and so are left behind in the distillation vessel. In grain this is called backset but in rum making it's called dunder. Very sweet, full flavored and generally disposed of. Might give you great flavor without a lot of the stickiness of the full load of sugars.