Yesterday I was going through some things around the house, and came across my stash of Esfahan tumbac, that a friend used to supply me with, when some years ago I enjoyed smoking my Turkish brass Hookah. Now I have switched to snuff completely, and was wondering if anybody had some good ideas for transforming these blocks of tumbac still in the original wrapping into snuff? It is quite strong in nicotine, as it is the REAL Esfahan quality tobacco, and not the cheap market stall stuff from Tehran. I would love to hear from fellow snuff lovers on how to go about this project in the best way. I ordered a snuff grinder, but will not rush into something - I like to study things before I practice them :o) Many brownish-powdered greetings from the Viking.

Hello. Thank you - I've been here for a while, though mosty lurking :o) My tumbac is extremely dry. It is raw, folded tobacco leaves from the Esfahan area, Persia. I think you are thinking of Sheesha, which is the final product smoked by many in Hookas? Very wet and scented. But the way the Orientals smoke Hookah is to grind the very dry leaves in the hand, then spit (!) in the hand, and - smoke :o) So I was thinking that this tobacco would be very good for snuff. It is completely natural, whole leaves. So if anybody could recommend any essences, herbal oils, particularly useful and/or delicate,, I would be very happy.

Hello EW

Yes the sheesha is wet, so you are absolutely right. However tumbac is not. Aha? That's a shame - what kind of scents did you try?
Cheers
Viking

Greetings Viking!

Another aspiring snuff maker! Welcome to the club.

I am familiar with this type of tobacco. It is essentially air cured, natural leaf. It could make some excellent snuff.

I'd suggest making some small batches at first - a few grams at most - until you get it dialed in.

Start by washing the leaves in cool water. Just lay them in a pan of water, The idea here is to remove any dust, dirt, insects, etc. Once the leaves have absorbed some water, gently brush them off under water with a soft cloth, pastry brush or whatever.

Once leaves are thus cleaned, transfer them to a fresh water rinse and let rest for a few minutes before laying them out to dry. When the leaves are half-dry, they will be pliable and the mid-rib can now be easily removed. Start at the tip of the leaf and separate each half from the mid rib. If you are gentle, it will come off in one piece!

Next you will want to toast leaf to remove all moisture and also to improve the flavor. There are several ways to do this. A toaster over works well. Try 200 degrees for an hour to start.

Place dry toasted leaves in mortar and grind with pestle to a medium coarse size and screen out and toss out the remaining fragments of leaf rib. Return to mortar and continue grinding leaf for several minutes. Screen through a very fine stainless steel mesh - a tea ball works very well. Do not attempt to push the grind through the screen. Rather move the material over the screen with a stirring motion. Reserve yield and return larger pieces to mortar and repeat until all is reduced to powder.

Have a pinch!

As for scenting, it's a matter of personal taste. Given the origin of the tobacco, you may want to try some scents associated with the region - aniseed, rose, apricot come to mind. Do a search here and you will find some posts that deal with flavoring your snuff.

Let us know how it works out!

Greetings all!
Thanks a lot so far for the input. The leaves are of course dry already, as they are packed for smoking in a hookah. However they still have the ribs, but I heard somewhere that you can grind those as well? I have ordered a snuff mill, and hope to make a snuff as finely grind as No 22, which I love. Persian rose water sounds awesome, this is very good in the hookah too and makes a lot of sense. Snuffgrinder - I hear you! A nicotine addict, who made his addiction his hobby, I wouldn't want to risk washing out the nicotine! God forbid :o) I even have a Persian snuff box, that would go perfectly with such a snuff. Powder quality rose water scented sounds wonderful :o) What is the ylang ylang? Funny what you said about not putting in your nose what you would not put in your mouth - I cannot stand menthol drops or candy! And I have a hard time with mentholized tobacco in all forms - absolutely hated Newports too, ha ha ha. Thanks again, and could you tell me if the ribs can be used as well?

Hello Snuffgrinder.
Aha? That sounds really appealing to me :o) Frying pan! So I break up the leaves in smaller bits and then fry? Or crush it completely - then fry - then grind?
Cheers
Viking

Just crumble the leaves first and then toast. See my previous comment for "the second method."

Nicotines water solubility is [url=http://www.google.com/search?q=define%3Amiscible&ie=UTF-8]miscible[/url]

Snuffgrinder - thanks, for some reason the part of your posting containing your explanation did not explain the whole text. Got it now, and thank you :o)

Turns out that Persian hookah tobacco was commonly used to make snuff in Ottoman days. This is the only recipe that I've been able to find: "The snuff is manufactured in Smyrna, as follows:
The conscientious manufacturer uses Persian hookah tobacco (tum-
beki), and the fragments of country tobacco leaf colored with black ink.
These tobaccos, ground as fine as possible and mixed with grape molassses .
are put in a covered barrel to ferment. Two or three days later the
snuff is taken out and spread in the sun to dry partly, and then rubbed
with the hands and passed through iron wire sieves to be granulated.
The product is afterwards scented with powdered orris root, tonka
beans, and oil of geranium ; the superior qualities are scented with es- .
sences of roses and jessamine and put up in packages." Doesn't sound bad, except for the black ink. Coloring matter like red or yellow ochre was sometimes added to European snuff in the same era (late 1800's).

Don't worry, the ink was squid ink and completely harmless.

I Don't mind it in pasta but I agree, I wouldn't put it up my nose. you'd look like you'd contracted the black death.

I hate making fun of a typo; but what would you but up your nose?

Squid ink is good!

I'm very curious. This tobac looks yummy. Is it very strong to smoke?