Schnupfer_correctedA few months ago, I found a few links on Reddit about pipe tobacco blogs. Along with those links were a fine blog of a Dutch Pipe Smoker named Arno.

While reading his articles I stumbled on one of them where he talks about Dry Snuff, its history, some makers and how to intake the so called grinded tobacco.

While I had heard in the passed about some people in our entourage (not in the family) that had a bad habit of using such tobacco aspect, with my little passion lately about pipe tobacco, I wondered why people would enjoy such a way of using tobacco and, things going from one to another, I ended up trying doing, such as Arno, this newly discovered vice and led myself to inquire more on this subject.

After finishing a tin of Peterson’s Old Dublin, I took a pinch of the powdered tobacco that laid on its bottom and (sniffing not being the right act) I smelled it. I got a little rush from the spiciness of the Latakia and understood why such an habit can lead to its consumerance. I then made some research on the said product, that is Dry Snuff, crossing other forms of tobacco consumables such as Dipping and Snus.

After some time, I found some online stores selling Dry Snuff. The best in my opinion is ToqueSnuff.com (although I haven’t ordered anything from them yet). Prices are a bit high as I guess, them being in UK, with tobacco taxes as they are in Europe. The best would have been to find a good Website from the US where no such taxes would have been an impediment for any international buyer.

So, after a little reading from Arno’s blog and thinking, I guessed that what I needed to do was to find a way to grind some good tobacco and see if Dry Snuff would be an interesting way to part with my bad cigarette habit.

How to make Dry Snuff

What you’ll need:

  • 0.25 oz of good English blend pipe tobacco
  • One good wooden pepper grinder with an adjustable metallic mill

Let the tobacco dry 12 to 18 hours if it ain’t dry enough (although I like to use the microwave to fast-dry tobacco in intermittent 30 second turns – 30 seconds on, 30 seconds wait for 6-8 minutes).

For the pepper grinder, its wood keeps the tobacco fresh and dry and the metallic mill grinds the tobacco from the finest to a coarse powder depending of the adjustable mill screw.

So there you have it. Dry Snuff for a fraction of the price.

Now, I’ve been snuffing for almost the past month and it does help sooth the cigarette craving but not totally. I’ll write some more on Dry Snuff later as an update of this practice of tobacco consumption I got lately.

Happy snuffing!