Hedges Snuff L260 - also known as ’The Snuff’ is a fine mentholated snuff.

Hedges  snuff was originally invented by William Ross Hedges, a chemist from Birmingham. Interestingly, Hedges snuff was offered as a ‘cure all’ remedy for various cold related ailments!

Hedges L260 is one of the last snuffs widely available in tobacconists. It is a snuff that has been copied by several other snuff manufacturers - I’m sure if you do a little research, which snuffs will be revealed.

Hedges snuff is a fine powdered dry-ish brown snuff tobacco powder. It is a great all day snuff for those who like their snuff on the menthol side. It has a reported good nicotine kick, so may be suitable for those looking to replace ’smoking tobacco’ with smokeless tobacco snuff alternatives - read this.

For more information on William Ross Hedges click here. I do not know whether the below entry copied from the War Graves reference site, refers to the son of William Ross Hedges the Birmingham based chemist - no matter what, it is still a reminder of the sacrifice made by previous generations on our behalf.

WILLIAM HERBERT HEDGES, MC

Captain 1st (North Midland) Field Company, Royal Engineers

Died Tuesday, 22nd August 1916 aged 23 in France

The son of William Ross Hedges and E. Hedges of Birmingham

Try Hedges L260 ‘The Snuff’ Snuff today.

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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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Magnet Snuff update for you!

Snuff Store now stocks the following Magnet blends of snuff available in 10g tins. Magnet Snuff is a light brown fine to medium, dry-ish blend and thought by many to have a strong nicotine ‘kick’.

Magnet Menthol Snuff
Magnet Peach Snuff
Magnet Spearmint Snuff

So for those of you wishing to try Magnet Snuff, be our guest!

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Taxi Snuff update for you!

Snuff Store now stocks the following Taxi blends of snuff described as being blended with Malawi Tobacco Leaf and available in 10g tins. Taxi Snuff is a coarse moist blend and thought by many to have a strong nicotine ‘kick’.

Taxi Menthol Snuff
Taxi Regular (Blue) Snuff
Taxi Spearmint (Rock) Snuff
Taxi Strong (Red) Snuff

So for those of you wishing to try Taxi Snuff, be our guest!

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Snuff, Snuff Boxes & Politics

Taken from Tobacco Talk & Smokers Gossip, which has numerous snuff related anecdotes. Snuff, snuff boxes and politics relates how no politician should be without a snuff box, as snuff taking ’buys them time’ when answering a difficult question!

Talleyrand was a snuff-taker, not from devotion to the habit, but on principle. The wily politician used to say (and doubtless Metternich, who was a confirmed snuff-taker, would have agreed with him.) that all diplomatists ought to take snuff, as it afforded a pretext for delaying a reply with which one might not be ready; it sanctioned the removal of one’s eyes from those of the questioner; occupied one’s hands which might else convict one of nervous fidget; and the action partly concealed that feature which is least easily schooled into hiding or belying human feelings - the mouth. If its workings were visible through the fingers, those twitches might be attributed to the agreeable irritation going on above.

So there you have it, if you’re struggling for a reply to a difficult question; take a leaf out of Talleyrand’s book and reach for your snuff box, take a large pinch and think!

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Snuff Camaraderie musings…

The nice thing about people who use snuff is the camaraderie - if you see someone in a pub taking snuff, complete strangers will soon be asking them for a ‘pinch’, and they’re always facilitated.

The contents of their ‘box’ is discussed and then the guessing game of which blend, what flavours can be detected etc commences.

Lifetime friendships are often forged over the contents of a snuff box.

It may be a strange facet of human nature that people with apparently nothing else in common, but the love of tobacco in powered form always seem to hit it off; but then again isn’t that just a lovely trait not to be ‘sniffed’ at?!

Those of you who know me, know that I sometimes have the ability to ‘talk the hind legs off of a donkey’… Especially if it’s a topic that’s close to my heart.

Today I was left speechless by the kindness of a Snuff Store regular - John Baxter.

On a description of McChrystals Violet Snuff, I had said that it had a sweet flavour that reminded Julia and I of good old fashioned violet sweets that we used to eat as kids!

Well, what should arrive today in the post? Four tubes of Palma Violets, with a nice note attached asking if these were the ‘violet’ sweets in question?

As I said earlier, snuffers are a nice bunch - how lovely to get a gift package in the post.

Cheers John!

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Sniff Snuff Video

Found the below snuff video on YouTube. It’s a bit whacky and it is nearly 7 minutes long.

In it Anders Pus snuffs what must be nearly a whole box of Gawith Apricot snuff!

Sniff Snuff Video

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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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Bavarian snuff video is a short clip taken in various locations in Germany of people using nasal snuff.

In the video, you’ll see Hans ‘the master snuffer’ snuff Gletscher Prise in a bar, as well as another snuff user taking nasal snuff at work.

Hans has a interesting snuff taking technique, he taps out a large ‘pinch’ of Gletscher Prise, then creates a line of snuff expertly on the back of his wrist, and then has a double snuffing method of sniffing the snuff with both nostrils over the line of snuff on his wrist… It’s a bit difficult to explain, so watch the snuff video below.

To view the video on You Tube click Bavarian Snuff.

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