Making your own snuff using a snuff grinder of some description is really easy.

In the below example I’ve used a small plastic snuff mill / snuff grinder - whilst it’s not designed for everyday ‘heavy’ use, (for that I would suggest a metal snuff grinder) I think from the images below you can see that making your own snuff using a snuff mill is fairly straight forward.

You could also use a salt / pepper grinder or a coffee grinder. If you want to really go back to basics, then a pestle and mortar could also be used to grind up your tobacco into snuff.

Most snuff grinders / mills are of a similar design, they’ll generally have three parts. The first is the hand grinder at the top which you turn to rotate the grinding blades.

The second is the tobacco and sieve chamber. Depending on the snuff mill you’re using, this will vary in size. Some have a large capacity. The blades are usually on a spring type mechanism, this automatically pushes down on the tobacco that you’ve put in the tobacco chamber. The tobacco is pushed against the sieve and you turn the grinding handle to blend your tobacco into snuff.

The third is the snuff chamber, or sometimes it’s a chamber that has a funnel that you place inside a suitable container whilst grinding your tobacco into snuff in the mill.

All you then need to do is transfer your ground up snuff powder into a suitable container / or snuff box and you’re all set to use your homemade snuff.

The tobacco used in the snuff mill for this snuff grinder experiment was sourced from a old packet of ‘Lucky Strike’ cigarettes.

The tobacco in Lucky Strike I think is ‘toasted’ and so the snuff that was created in the milling process not only looks a little like High Dry Toast, it also has a similar aroma!

I found about ten cigarettes in a kitchen drawer. I do not know how long they’d been in there, so I opened them up and removed the tobacco, placed the tobacco on grease proof paper in a baking tray, then I put it in the oven for a few minutes on a low heat to makesure the tobacco was totally dried out.

I then put the tobacco in the snuff mill’s tobacco chamber in small batches and steadily ground it down. All I was left with at the end was a few stubborn bits of stalk, which I’m sure if I had the patience I could have turned into snuff with a few more moment’s work!

Now to take a pinch of snuff. I was ‘testing’ the snuff as I was grinding it, purely for research purposes you understand - the line of snuff you see below was my first ‘big’ pinch after already deciding the snuff was good due to these earlier tests…!

So that’s the left nostril done, now for the right nostril!

Right nostril done and no sneezing… Or should I say ‘with no grimace‘?!

The strange thing being, is that the wooden snuff box that I transferred the home made snuff into, had previously been full of a menthol snuff. This added a slight menthol flavour to the snuff that wasn’t at all un-pleasant!

So there you have it, if you’re interested in DIY snuff making get yourself a snuff grinder of some description and have a go!

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Below are further images of the metal snuff mill.

Snuff Mill laying on it’s side.

Overhead view of snuff mill, showing turning mechanism.

Snuff Mill showing tobacco chamber, milling blades, sieve and turning mechanism.

Snuff mill broken down into three parts, showing funnel that milled snuff is dispensed from, sieve and tobacco chamber.

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Snuff Cocktails inspired by Bryan.

I know that a lot of people like to make their own snuff cocktails, using ’secret’ recipes. Some people even like to grind their ‘left over’ old tobacco down and add it to make new, interesting and individual snuff blends.

The trick with this is always to write down what you’ve added…

There’s nothing worse than making a nice snuff blend and not keeping a note of quantities of oils, brands of tobacco ground down and other bits and bobs of useful information - should you discover a ‘winner’ you’ll want to be able to recreate it in the future!

Since Snuff Store’s launch, it has been my pleasure to ‘meet’ some wonderful people, one of whom - Bryan Fast is a Snuff Store regular and always ‘free’ with his advice!

Bryan emailed in a few days ago with his own snuff cocktail blends made using various different snuffs.

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Dear Julia and Tim,

First off, I wish to thank you for your excellent service and the incomparable range of snuffs offered.

I have dabbled with ’snuff-taking’ for many years, but since the Government has turned smokers into lepers, I am now taking the pastime more seriously!

I am amazed at the vast number of varieties available, as in the past I had only tried the Hedges and Wilsons from local tobacconists. I can thoroughly recommend all POSCHL snuffs especially Gletsher Prise, Lowen-Prise & Red Bull.

Some blends I have mixed are:

1) My Spice Mix

Equal quantities of Manjul (Clove) and Kendal Sandalwood.

2) My Aniseed Mix

Equal quantities of Wilsons Aniseed & Eucalyptus and Robbies Top Mint

3) My Medicated Mix

One third quantities of Kendal Special Medicated (Strong Peppermint), Wilsons Extra Menthol and Menthol Toque

I have also tried adding 3 or 4 dops of pure essential oils (Lavender/Eucalyptus) to Robbies (which isn’t very strong) with good results. Do you sell a lavender?

If your snuff becomes too dry, gradually dampen it with a fine aqueous spray until it is moist enough.

Finally, you do not have to purchase fancy snuff boxes as the Poschl range provide free re-usable snuff dispensers (not Gletsher Prise) which are quite excellent.

Kind Regards

Bryan Fast

PS Keep up the good work!

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Well many thanks to Bryan for sharing his ’secret’ snuff cocktail receipes - if you’d like to share yours then please feel free to contact us and we’ll gladly publish them here.

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