Started processing a New Snuff Today.

[Whalen]

Well I have been asked to add some snuff techniques to the forum and I am happy to comply. I have two snuffs planned and I began the first today. I purchased ten pounds of BigBonners Burley and began stripping the stems and ribs out last week. I now have about two pounds cleaned and these were placed in the oven at 160 degrees for about an hour to dry them prior to processing.

Once crispy the leaf was reduced using a blender I found that had a easily removable blade that I could sharpen, and I did sharpen to a razors edge. The resulting tobacco is now in the form of a almost finished powder. It has a raw tobacco smell that irritates the nose at this point. Sure makes me cough when powdering it!

I use the weight of the Tobacco powder to calculate a 2% amount of Sodium Carbonate (Washing Soda), and 1/2 of 1 percent Kosher Salt. I use just enough clean well water to dissolve the salts, and add this back into the powdered tobacco to rehydrate and then mix thoroughly. This mixture will now be set aside to develop. May be a month from now, we will see.

 

[BigBonner]

Whalen

That sounds good . Have you had any luck with other mixes ?
Have you tried any Dark fire / air tobacco ?

 

[Whalen]

I spent some time researching the dark air cured after receiving the sample you provided. One thing about snuff is that anything short of fully cured and fermented tobacco samples from say, the center of a stored bale, will not fully convey what it can truly be. I mean you can smoke a tobacco and gather much about its character. But a snuff develops, and rather slowly at that. Either constant experimentation, or accumulated knowledge, is all you have to go by. The art of snuff tobaccos is a bit of a trade secret, at least the knowledge is not widely disseminated. And to start a snuff batch from whole leaf is a complete leap of faith in many ways. I try to keep a good set of records and many samples going at one time. Actually in some ways it is a complete folly. Although I was smitten with a batch of Rustica that was quite good and well received upon review, by others, that originated in my front yard from seed. I guess every one needs a hobby, eh!

 

[Cerasaan]

I use the weight of the Tobacco powder to calculate a 2% amount of Calcium Carbonate (Washing Soda),

Whalen, is the 2% amount Calcium Carbonate or is it Sodium Carbonate (which is what washing soda is)?
Sodium carbonate (also known as washing soda or soda ash), Na2CO3 is a sodium salt of carbonic acid.sourced from Wikipedia

 

[Whalen]

@Cerasaan - You are correct my Friend, I will edit the original post, Sodium Carbonate.

 

[Cerasaan]

I read online of a way to make baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) into sodium carbonate by baking it in the oven. Is this actually possible?
How is it done?

 

[Cerasaan]

2 samples Dark air cured

I have got 2 quarter pound samples of dark air cured & a pound of burley that are too strong for me to smoke so I figured I would make lip chew out of it, something similar to skoal straight. As far as I can tell there is no flavoring in it, right?

 

[Whalen]

Straight tobacco taste is ok, although the fermentation process changes the flavor, and Skoal is aged a bit. The recipe is basically the one posted by You. You are correct about the baking of Bicarb. Cannot find the relevant link right now, I use Arm and Hammer Washing soda, cheap here, and pure.

 

[Cerasaan]

I am starting a snus cook using the recipe in the link that Whalen gave in my other post.
I have got my crockpot dialed in to operate @ 90 C. However, I am unsure of whether it
is a good idea to let the crockpot cook overnight. The thing cools down to 50 C in about 7 hrs.
If the temp fluctuates that much I would just have too cook it longer than, right?

 

[Whalen]

Well it seems the over nite cook is important, but I understand your concern too. Seems that the 48 hour at 93 degrees c is the target. I found another link for you also:http://www.snuson.com/forum/showthread.php?11485-Making-snus-at-home

 

[Juxtaposer]

I'm following closely behind you there Whalen. What are your thoughts on jarring w/o oxygen. I'm thinking that because it's not actually fermentation that it won't need oxygen during aging. But then without opening to check, mold is a concern. Also I see that you are adding salt before "fermenting". I was under the impression that the sodium chloride would inhibit aging. I've also been thinking about adding a sugar, probably honey. Lot's to think about eh?

 

[Steve2md]

When adding sugar to anything that will be aged, there is always a chance that wild yeasts will begin to form and actually ferment the sugars. Yeasts love the nitrogen in our air, and oxygen may oxidize the end product. As an experiment, why not purge the jar with CO2 prior to sealing? nothing harmful can live in that environment for long, and it will not cause the "stale" flavor associated with oxidation. I am curious about this method and may try it with a mason jar of cigar filler at some point...

 

[deluxestogie]

Unless the mixture is sterilized first, I would worry about anaerobic organisms (e.g. Clostridium botulinum) growing in the low oxygen environment. I'm not sure what the concentrated sugar (high osmotic potential) and high CO2 would do in the way of inhibiting such growth. Jellies and jams seem to be immune from anaerobic growth deep within the jar, so maybe it's not a worry, however jellies are raised above 212ºF (100ºC) immediately before being poured into the jar.

Bob

 

[Steve2md]

Unless the mixture is sterilized first, I would worry about anaerobic organisms (e.g. Clostridium botulinum) growing in the low oxygen environment. I'm not sure what the concentrated sugar (high osmotic potential) and high CO2 would do in the way of inhibiting such growth. Jellies and jams seem to be immune from anaerobic growth deep within the jar, so maybe it's not a worry, however jellies are raised above 212ºF (100ºC) immediately before being poured into the jar.

Bob

Botulism. Effing terrifying!!! I know that with a high enough sugar concentration, yeasts won't grow. I have no Idea on those other nasties! try canning methods with mason jars? vacuum seal? interesting subject. But I don't want to hijack this thread. Should we start a new one for the topic of long term storage and such?

 

[Juxtaposer]

I boiled the honey and made a honey snuff with it. I don't think I will be starving it of oxygen though because I don't think I will be able to keep my fingers out of it. My question of anaerobic aging stems from the habit of pipe smokers doing so with good results.

 

[Steve2md]

I boiled the honey and made a honey snuff with it. I don't think I will be starving it of oxygen though because I don't think I will be able to keep my fingers out of it. My question of anaerobic aging stems from the habit of pipe smokers doing so with good results.

Honey is antibiotic. It should kill off any Bot toxin if it showed up. how did it come out? no need to boil honey if you don't want to. heating it kills the subtle flavors in local and specialty honies

 

[Jitterbugdude]

Honey is antibiotic. It should kill off any Bot toxin if it showed up. how did it come out? no need to boil honey if you don't want to. heating it kills the subtle flavors in local and specialty honies

But not in this case, raw honey is full of fungi and bacteria. If it is store bought honey it is already pasteurized and ultra filtered. Honey only becomes an antibiotic when 2 conditions are met, these are heat and salinity. That is why it works well when applied to human flesh. The salt content of the skin along with the 98 degrees of the body causes hydrogen peroxide to form at an almost microscopic level, killing all germs it makes contact with. By adding honey and not pasteurizing the rest of the mix you will see massive mold growth due to the honey's high sugar content which the airborne yeast/fungi will feed off of and multiply.

 

[deluxestogie]

I'll add one additional grim comment. Pasteurization of honey does not kill the spores of C. botulinum, which are heat resistant. The bad news for the bacillus is that the acid of the human stomach destroys the spores, so no problem on that account. The bad news for the home team is that the stomachs of infants don't produce enough acid to kill the spores. This is why honey on a pacifier is discouraged. The spores pass into the infant's intestine, where they can grow and produce their toxin. So don't let your babies use snuff with honey, even pasteurized honey.

Bob

 

[Whalen]

Well I just jar it up and let it age for a while, I never add anything but calcium carbonate and a little salt. I have used lots of honey in my mixtures, but always with some alcohol, preferably whiskey. I have about 6 different batches , some over a year old that are great snuffs. I have never had a mold problem. And I have never worried about anything going wrong.

I believe the addition of salt helps keep things on the up and up, salt was used to stop the process of fermentation. I have a pound of Bigbonners red tip burly that I put up in October, it is pretty fantastic snuff flour now, dark and rich, just what I wanted.

 

[Ishi]

Honey not only produces hydrogen peroxide but it removes fluid from bacteria and kills it. Honey under 18% will not ferment. If it sugars and the liquid on top falls under18% then it will start to ferment.