Glycerin question

[1germanlineman]

Strange, I don't have that problem, not juicy enough. Maybe you can try grinding your leaves finer? Or some of it ground really fine like dust and some of it a bit coarser. I cook mine in the instant pot for 4 hours, and leave it in there for another hour and let the pressure release naturally. If you're doing a quick pressure release, that could affect it. I've seen food cooking videos that mention a quick pressure release changes the texture of meat.

I might try 3 hours cook next time because 4 hours is probably not needed.

I don't think the problem is your leaves aren't dry enough. I just leave mine out in bags and boxes for a few days or weeks. When I do grind them, the leaves are still a bit pliable and not bone dry. I mix mostly Burley and Virginia and whatever else I have to throw in, I'm not real picky. Also, if it ends up tasting bad, that's nothing that a lot of flavoring can't fix. I tend to be more accepting of how it tastes and just go with it, if it's not what I expected I either get used to it or flavor it. Eventually I'll figure out a blend that I really like, but in general snus is an acquired taste, so I just adjust to whatever I make.

Whenever I made snus, the taste is always a surprise to me. I'm still new so I'm always trying different blends and additives to figure out what I like and don't like. And if you're adding ground mid rib, you could take that out. For me adding in midrib makes it a whole lot of nasty in terms of both taste and mouth feel. I also put it in my lower lip like American dip, it juices a lot more lower lip than upper lip.

I’m going to put them in cardboard boxes like you’re doing

 

[HappyHawaiian]

Thanks for the replies. I drink tons of water. I actually am very health conscious. I only got into snus making because of a DR. Ardis and his work on nicotine. Pasteurized tobacco is safer than nicotine pouches or patches in my opinion. I wonder if too moist of leaf along with the water in the pressure cooker is maybe over cooking the leaf? I use mason jars instead of the roasting bags also. Thanks

I don't know about overcooking the leaf. I cook mine for 4 hours at high pressure and leave it in there for another hour. It takes just over half an hour for the pressure to release naturally. So I cook mine longer than you do. I also don't use jars or bags. I just pack it down in a open bowl and put it in the pot on top of a trivet to keep out of the water. I have the smaller 3 quart instant pot so I use 6 ounces of water in the instant pot. When I used a full cup, the snus got kinda extra wet. I'm new to snus making, only been doing it 6 months or so. I don't really know what it's supposed to taste like. I know it don't taste like my favorite General loose, but it still works so I'm happy.

I may be overcooking my leaves, I'll try 3 hours and see if there's a difference. It would be so much easier if we could just taste each other's snus and find out what they did different, but that's not possible unless I find a local snus club, or start one.

 

[HappyHawaiian]

Tobacco stem, in various percentages, is common to commercial smokeless preparations. I included CORESTA's smokeless product reference recipes (Appendix pages 95 thru 105) in the Snuff, Snus and Chew book.

What is characteristically different about stem, other than its texture, is that its nicotine content is somewhat lower than that of the lamina.

Bob

Ahh, so you're the famous creator of the tobacco Bible! Awesome work! Yeah, maybe 30% stem flour was just too much. I noticed it was more bitter, and it felt like grains of sand in my mouth. Maybe I didn't cook it long enough or I used the really thick bottom part of the stems. Maybe when I get more experience I can start trying to incorporate stems later, but for now I get leaves so cheap that it's ok to toss the stems.

Now I keep experimenting and trying different percentages of leaves. Trying to find my secret recipe that I want to make the same way over and over again. I haven't made the same snus twice, yet. It's kinda cool making something different every time, it's always a semi surprise how it comes out. I can make snus, I'm just trying to find the holy grail snus that's perfect for me.

 

[1germanlineman]

I don't know about overcooking the leaf. I cook mine for 4 hours at high pressure and leave it in there for another hour. It takes just over half an hour for the pressure to release naturally. So I cook mine longer than you do. I also don't use jars or bags. I just pack it down in a open bowl and put it in the pot on top of a trivet to keep out of the water. I have the smaller 3 quart instant pot so I use 6 ounces of water in the instant pot. When I used a full cup, the snus got kinda extra wet. I'm new to snus making, only been doing it 6 months or so. I don't really know what it's supposed to taste like. I know it don't taste like my favorite General loose, but it still works so I'm happy.

I may be overcooking my leaves, I'll try 3 hours and see if there's a difference. It would be so much easier if we could just taste each other's snus and find out what they did different, but that's not possible unless I find a local snus club, or start one.

Yes trying others would be good. I think my grind might be too large as well. I will grind finer on my next batch. I would like to replicate general original. Not sure measurements on the ginger, pepper, and bergamot.

 

[Anders A]

Yes trying others would be good. I think my grind might be too large as well. I will grind finer on my next batch. I would like to replicate general original. Not sure measurements on the ginger, pepper, and bergamot.

This is how fine I grind my tobacco for snus; https://fairtradetobacco.com/attachments/vbl-2024-09-26-3-jpg.53429/

 

[HappyHawaiian]

Yes trying others would be good. I think my grind might be too large as well. I will grind finer on my next batch. I would like to replicate general original. Not sure measurements on the ginger, pepper, and bergamot.

I think General also uses a whole bunch of different leaf varieties too. I haven't seen a list of what leaves they are. If you figure out the recipe, please let me know. Good luck and let us know if you figure out what the issue was.

I grind my leaves really fine but that's because I didn't know how to grind them coarser. I was packing my blender way too full so I always just ended up with dust. I had to keep blending and blending on high speed to get all the leaves. Now I pack it a lot looser and can grind to the consistency that Anders does. Now I'm experimenting with doing a combination of really fine powder and the coarser grind.

 

[johnny108]

This might be of some help:

Recipe for Ettan snus

Hello, I've just finished developing a new recipe which makes something almost indistinguishable from Ettan snus made by Swedish Match. I'm very proud of it and would like to share the recipe of how to make it from whole leaf tobacco. The leaf I used was bought from www.pureleaf.co.uk - which...

fairtradetobacco.com

 

[manfisher]

This might be of some help:

Recipe for Ettan snus

Hello, I've just finished developing a new recipe which makes something almost indistinguishable from Ettan snus made by Swedish Match. I'm very proud of it and would like to share the recipe of how to make it from whole leaf tobacco. The leaf I used was bought from www.pureleaf.co.uk - which...

fairtradetobacco.com

Second this. I highly recommend exercising your patience and using the slowcooker method over the instapot. The instapot has never worked for me and it always comes out raw and nasty. Slowcooker is always smooth and delicious.

 

[HappyHawaiian]

Second this. I highly recommend exercising your patience and using the slowcooker method over the instapot. The instapot has never worked for me and it always comes out raw and nasty. Slowcooker is always smooth and delicious.

Hmm... Raw and Nasty. This whole time I been thinking it's the low quality Virginia leaves I'm using that makes it taste kinda funky. Thanks for mentioning that, I might have to rethink my instant pot method. Or at least try a slow cooker method once to see if the pressure cooker is the issue or it's the leaves.

Then again, raw and nasty describes the taste of my snus very well. It's most likely the pressure cooker method causing the issue. I guess my choices are learn to love it and embrace the taste or invest in a PID device to control the water bath temp and mason jars.

 

[johnny108]

Hmm... Raw and Nasty. This whole time I been thinking it's the low quality Virginia leaves I'm using that makes it taste kinda funky. Thanks for mentioning that, I might have to rethink my instant pot method. Or at least try a slow cooker method once to see if the pressure cooker is the issue or it's the leaves.

Then again, raw and nasty describes the taste of my snus very well. It's most likely the pressure cooker method causing the issue. I guess my choices are learn to love it and embrace the taste or invest in a PID device to control the water bath temp and mason jars.

I bought a slow cooker that has “sous vide” function- it can be programmed to a specific temperature for the water in it to cook meat in a vacuum bag.
It works great for snus, but it’s too hot to use it till winter.

 

[HappyHawaiian]

I bought a slow cooker that has “sous vide” function- it can be programmed to a specific temperature for the water in it to cook meat in a vacuum bag.
It works great for snus, but it’s too hot to use it till winter.

Thanks. I have an ultrasonic cleaner, that I haven't used yet, with a heating function. I'm pretty sure it can heat without turning on the ultrasonic function. I've read some people using a ultrasonic cleaner to cook sous vide. I'll have to check it out and see if that would work. PID controllers are kinda out of my budget right now and I have a regular crock pot but I read those built in temp controllers aren't very stable. I seen one forum post that a guy wired a temp controller into his crock pot but that's too McGyverish for me. If I can use my ultrasonic cleaner than I'm all set, if not, I'll just have to keep using the instant pot until I can figure something else out.

My biggest worry is if I spend more money on more equipment and then the snus comes out tasting the same.

 

[johnny108]

Thanks. I have an ultrasonic cleaner, that I haven't used yet, with a heating function. I'm pretty sure it can heat without turning on the ultrasonic function. I've read some people using a ultrasonic cleaner to cook sous vide. I'll have to check it out and see if that would work. PID controllers are kinda out of my budget right now and I have a regular crock pot but I read those built in temp controllers aren't very stable. I seen one forum post that a guy wired a temp controller into his crock pot but that's too McGyverish for me. If I can use my ultrasonic cleaner than I'm all set, if not, I'll just have to keep using the instant pot until I can figure something else out.

My biggest worry is if I spend more money on more equipment and then the snus comes out tasting the same.

Find out what temperature you can maintain, then try for the times in this chart.
I screenshotted the post from this thread:

snus pasteurization vs time

In the past several week I came across a post that showed a chart, or a link to a chart that showed snus pasteurization time and temperatures. Can someone help me find this post? Maybe I am losing my mind, but I have been searching for a bit now and can't seem to find it. Thank you :-)

fairtradetobacco.com

 

[HappyHawaiian]

Find out what temperature you can maintain, then try for the times in this chart.
I screenshotted the post from this thread:

snus pasteurization vs time

In the past several week I came across a post that showed a chart, or a link to a chart that showed snus pasteurization time and temperatures. Can someone help me find this post? Maybe I am losing my mind, but I have been searching for a bit now and can't seem to find it. Thank you :-)

fairtradetobacco.com

View attachment 57134

I got excited for a minute when I saw that my ultrasonic cleaner can do 80 deg C max. But I don't think it's designed to hold max temp for days. I may have to look into a sous vide machine or a PID that's designed to hold temp for a very long time. I like to buy things that have multiple uses, so if I got a sous vide machine, I could also cook steaks I guess. Maybe I can find a used one for a good price. I got a very limited budget, so money spent on equipment is money I can't spend on leaves.

What I don't know is if changing my cooking method is really worth the investment? Is slow cooking the snus really that much different from using a pressure cooker, which I already have and use? So far I've seen just one person say pressure cooking makes it taste nasty, and yes my snus does taste nasty but is that because of my cook method or the leaves? It seems most people do a slow cook, but is that because they tried pressure cooking and it is a really bad idea? If I have to invest the money I will, but it will have to make a worthwhile difference, not to mention the added electricity cost and days of extra cook time.