Clay balls in Viking Dark Rappee.. what is this stuff?!

Johano

Anyone here noticed that in Viking Dark there are lot of tiny balls? At first I supected that must be just tobacco particles of larger grind. They are always falling out of my nose.

I tried to squish one in my finger and it turns out to be like clay, little balls can be rolled and formed.. thats strange stuff nothing like plant material. Looks really suspicious to me! :-w

Any ideas what could that be?

volunge

Don't worry, it's only tobacco. "Claying" happens to some moist snuffs of any colour with uneven grind. I had a tin of WoS Best Dark which looked just like Black Rappee (full of "clay balls"). Some Molens and SWS snuffs, too. And homemade.

A cure is simple: sift it through a tea strainer, save the finer fraction, let the coarse (them little balls on the top of your sieve) dry a little bit, then sift again, applying some pressure with a teaspoon (rub); now mix both and enjoy. You'll find it more pleasant that way. Or crush dried balls with spoon on the plate, then sift. Repeat, as needed. Easier than it probably sounds, and really worth doing. You are not changing the grind, just fixing it.

Gunnar

I had a Toque whiskey and honey that did that and sort of broke them down between my fingers

Johano

@volunge thats exactly what crossed my mind to do.. thanks, that should work!

volunge

@Gunnar, yes, it happens with fine dry/medium-dry snuffs, too. I found this thing in large tin of WoS M or Extra M, probably the largest I stumbled upon so far:

Mr_O

Just snuff bunnies(copyright)! I was picturing a substance of a totally different color and texture.

Gunnar

@volunge ah okay I see now. I had some in my Otto schmalzler that were easy enough to break down. I guess in dry snuff the powder is attracted to stray moisture and forms a sort of concretion?

Johano

Those clay balls are acually a bit tricky to get powdery.. mangling with spoon and the mud appears. May be that those bits need to dry out for a while like you suggested @volunge.

volunge

Yes, @Johano, you need to dry them before regrinding. And you really won't loose neither flavour nor nicotine, just don't use high temperatures. 40-50 C is safe. You'll mix it with the rest then.

@Gunnar, indeed, schmalzlers and some other medium-coarse snuffs are easy to break down. I usually use the back end of my snuff spoon, when loading boxcar. When it comes to rappee (very moist snuff), those balls can be a headache, similar to loose snus balls... Sticky mess.

I assume, in a way it's similar process to that of rolling/making a snow ball. If you shake the tin with reground snuff vigorously long enough, some balls will form again. By the way, it's not a problem with snus; on the contrary, you always find some naturally pre-rolled bolus in pocket-carried can, often hard enough for lip. Really handy :). Loose snus moisture is around 50%, fresh rappee is close to that (if not the same). I'll definitely try it in the lip next time I procure some.

LeNezzz

F&T HDT little balls. I think I

LeNezzz

Dang post cut off: I think I

LeNezzz

I give up. Post cutting off.

Mr_O

@LeNezzz Avoid using apostrophes, I think there are others that cause that problem, but I can t remember.

volunge

Apostrophes, currency symbols and other special characters. Apparently, this bug affects only certain devices (Apple gear) and probably only certain keyboard layouts. I posted some copy-pasted snuff descriptions yesterday, one of them had an apostrophe which I didn't spot and it resulted in post cutting off. Funnily, I can use apostrophe and some special characters with my current system settings. My default input language is English (United States) - United States-International. Win7Pro, SP1.

@#$%^&*()-+*`~ , but I can't use Alt codes and non-English diacritical marks here.

LeNezzz

Is this a new-ish bug. I dont remember this being an issue in 2014-2016.

My autocorrect will get a shit kicking lol

volunge

@LeNezzz, I joined this place in the end of 2017, the bug was already here for a while.

LeNezzz

Wow. That's too bad. It is what it is and you can be guaranteed I wont be using any of those symbols hereon out. I also noticed issues loading pictures from my phones, iPhone and a Samsung. But I can adjust. Thanks for the info. 

ar47

@LeNezzz we can only upload photos up to 2MB in size. Phones like to take much larger photos these days. You will have to resize, crop them down etc. to attach them. It's a pain but I've gotten around this on a Samsung by taking the picture a little farther away than I otherwise would and cropping the photo down with the photo editor.

ar47

Also, I love these snuff balls! At least when they aren't as firm as pebbles. The darker snuffs from SG/Viking like to make the hard little ones that need to be ground up. With lighter snuff like Toque & J&HW though I like when it clumps into balls - I pick those out and crush em as I snuff at my nostril. A nice puff of snuff! :D WoS Irish No22 behaves like that for me too. My Bespoke Toques that are oiled loooove to clump in balls too, even sitting in sealed glassware.

The small hard pebbles (the dark WoS I remember like to form them too) can be insufflated but quickly cause a drippy mess for me

Gormur

I haven't encountered these things.  Lately I've been finding these white flakes in snuff and I always go after them as they contain a lot of nicotine.  Maybe there's a technical name though

ar47

@Gormur if the snuff has dried out and they look crystalline that can be salt