I say it right at the beginning: Interesting!

The Zwiefacher comes in a handy, dark green snuff box with a sliding mechanism, containing 10g (1/3 oz) of snuff. It has a picture of a dancing couple on its front. Zwiefacher is actually a traditional fast dance. I guess the word Zwiefacher would be translated to twice or double which might be related to the couple, doing the dance. It is a blend of a Schmalzler and Snuff. Therefore it is is dark brown in its colour, is medium fine and a little moist. Coming out of the box without a strong smell, it develops a slight menthol scent in the nose. After the refreshing effect fades away relatively fast, a herbal and slight sweet odour remains. It is mild and can be sniffed in large portions just as a typical Schmalzler. The odour remains after cleaning the nose for quite a while.

This way of combining Snuff with Schmalzler is very well done. If you have the chance, give it a try.

I wish mars still had this one. It's a favorite actualy and the first order I got from mars this was one of the picks. Very great snuff.

Schmalzler is a German style snuff, I think it has something to do with lard when being made, but I'm not sure. I read about it before, I'll have to dig back through though to remember excactly. I actually just ordered a couple schmalzler styles by Bernard through Rajek. I've had the Amostrinha by Bernard and like it very much, it has a different kind of scent to be certain.

Huh? Lard? Could you explain a little more? The question mark in my head has just turned to a big bacon-flavored question mark :P

So it's way more oily. I think I like that, if I'm not mistaken that's kind of what Latakia's and Pöschl's popular snuffs feel like. I'm still curious though, what kind of flavors can I expect from a Schmalzler? I'm saving up for a big order at Rajek's and I'd love a few Schmalzler reviews :)

Thanks for the info guys!

Samorost, the only real schmalzler I've had is the Amostrinha by Bernards. It is a light menthol with a very earthy for lack of a better term scent to it. Trying to explain earthy is difficult, I guess it smells a bit like being in a barn, I don't know, that sounds bad, but really it is good, lol......

Also, I do have Brasil-Feinst by Bernards, It smells like fermented dried dates to me. Not sure if this is really a traditional schmalzler though.

I do have a couple new ones on the way from Rajek's, I'll be sure to review them as soon as they arrive...

I'm no expert on tobacco fermentation, but here are some thoughts based on my general knowledge of food and drink.

I suppose fermentation and aging bring about complex flavors in tobacco much as with some other products - beer, bread, wines,spirits, cheese, etc -In most cases, specific strains of yeast are employed to achieve a consistent result. Certain fruits have characteristic wild yeasts present on their skins, and these proliferate wildly as the fruit ferments. The yeast in effect digests the food value from the medium and adds its yummy metabolic wastes - hundreds of different organic chemicals - to the flavor. When the yeast population has consumed all the food or retards itself with alcohols, the fermentation process stops. Yeast cells are still alive at this point, but dormant. To induce a second fermentation, additional food will wake the yeast up. At some point in the finishing process the yeast is killed off by heat otherwise you would be snuffing live yeast which can't be good for you.

Perhaps the fermentation is started with a non pasteurized sample from previous run. Like sour dough bread.

Does anybody know more about this?

I do know to make Copenhagen Snuff, the tobacco is placed in wooden barrels, where its aged for years. But I do not know if they use a "Sour Mash" method.

The fermentation itself changes quality of the leaf, transforming the proteins into impotent components which will not produce distasteful odors and reducing the level of chlorine and nicotine in the plant. Through the process, the leaves are properly conditioned for aroma (through the ripening of essential oils and ethereal salts by oxidization) and combustibility (directly related to the amount of potash carbonate).

Moist Snuff:
Snuff is composed primarily of tobaccos varieties such as Dark Fired, Green River, and One-Sucker tobaccos, primarily from Tennessee and Kentucky. Physically, these tobaccos are heavy-bodied, having long, wide leaves. The manufacture of tobacco snuff products requires that the tobacco have the desired flavor characteristics, and the ability to withstand snuff manufacturing processing. A traditional tobacco snuff blend may contain a mixture of leaves and stems.

Traditional snuff processing begins with tobacco which has been packed in hogsheads for aging. The tobacco is packed having a moisture content in the 15 to 25% range, and stored for a period of three to five years to aid in the fermentation of the snuff-type tobaccos. After the aged tobacco is removed from the hogshead, sufficient water is added to bring moisture content of the tobacco to the 20 to 25% range. The moist tobacco is then subjected to a fermentation process whereby bacteria produce enzymes which reduce the natural sugars present in the tobacco to produce the flavor precursors unique to moist snuff. During the fermentation process the temperature is controlled by agitating the tobacco to lower the fermentation temperature to control bacterial growth without killing the bacteria. This action avoids high temperature levels which kills the bacteria. The fermentation process is allowed to proceed at a slow rate, typically over several months, to convert the tobacco to snuff, but preventing over fermentation which would degrade the tobacco into a compost type of product.

The fermented snuff product is typically cut into the desired particle sizes, and additives such as salt and ash are traditionally used as preservatives to retard mold, or to control pH or further fermentation. Flavorants such as wintergreen, attar of rose, or other ingredients are added to give the product a distinctive flavor, and the moisture level is adjusted to that the final product has a moisture content of from 45 to 60%.

A stabilization process is utilized after the fermentation step to reduce the level of bacteria in the fermented snuff product, and to retard microflora recovery and oxidation to promote longer shelf stability of the snuff product.