Dead insect in White Elephant

Wiltowei

Yesterday I cracked open a new 35g tin of White Elephant, and I found a dead, dried out insect inside of it, buried in the snuff. I'm kinda scared. I already wrote about it on the subreddit dedicated to the nasal snuff, but I thought I'll write it here as well, seeing as this is the more popular snuff forum. Did anyone else have this kind of experience? I don't know if I should be seriously concerned about hygiene standards at 41 Photo now. Here are the pictures: https://imgur.com/a/JLj1Gj9

SHbickel

Whoa. I was thinking it'd just be a lil guy, but that was a legit bug!

I'm sure experiencing that first-hand would alter my buying habits, but I'll be honest, I kind of already expected hygiene to be low in every snuff facility.  Snuff is not foodstuff so I assume they don't have many rules in that regard.

I remember a video someone cut into various snus portions to show the texture and color, etc.  Every Swedish snus looked great (where they must follow food prep laws), and the American-made "snus" had all sorts of crap in them. Both bugs, and just non-tobacco bits of stuff like they swept the floor to fill the portion!

Again, if I ran across that in person I'm sure I would freak out.  But I don't see this changing my buying habits.

volunge

Looks like... a rabbit! Itsy bitsy one.

SHbickel

Hell of a way to go, too. I bet he died happy.

ALLex

This post can cause more harm to the company than the bug to your snuff.

Honestly I guess it was only a one time mistake. 

That bug just wanted to swim in a snuff pool

or maybe it died before and left instructions to get buried in its favorite indian white snuff.

:D

pantsBoots

It's funny because my wife and I were just discussing Indian snuffs and the level of quality one would expect from them considering the appearance of Indian snuff tins vs. the German and British brands. I've never tried any Indian snuffs. I'm also not rushing out to try any anytime soon.

Wiltowei

@pantsBoots Truth be told, I really liked it. It was my everyday snuff, I liked the kick and the lack of any distinct, aggressive aromas. I may be overreacting, but unfortunately I probably won't be able to look at an Elephant tin in the same way anymore.

@ALLex In my defense I can say that I e-mailed the company, and got no response whatsoever, so they don't seem to really care about the PR.

volunge

@Wiltowei, join Nasal Snuff Takers group on Facebook and upload the pic. Tag Charanjeet Grover, he's posting there every now and again, I can bet he'll respond to you. Or contact him on Messenger.

miamimark

I've never been a huge fan of people joining snuffhouse and then immediately starting a negative thread. Usually they don't stick around long and they almost never contribute much else. Hopefully that's not the case here.

Johano

I hope he had one helluva buzz before leaving this planet.. RIP

Wiltowei

@miamimark Sorry, I was pretty shaken by it. I do plan on staying here though, although I'm afraid I may not be a huge help for most people (snuff selection in my country is pretty small, and tobacco shipping is illegal).

Betty_BW

I use more Indian snuffs in my rotation than anything else. 

I've never had a problem with any of them if I did I would just chuck it away and order another one. 

willc

I know it is a bit disconcerting to find a bug in your snuff or food or anything like that but it really is not a big deal.
The bug is most likely more healthy to ingest than the tobacco.

I trust that most snuff producers do a pretty good job at delivering an untainted product but mistakes do happen.
If it were me I would just toss the little guy and maybe sift it to see that he wasn’t alone and just go about snuffing as normal.

newbiesnuffer

This may be a rare occurrence. I am in India and 80 percent of snuff I take is Indian. The people who work with the owners and the owners are (mostly) nice people (I do not want to state the one exception here - but that too is not about hygiene factors). I did not face a problem like this. Looks like you hit a ugly jackpot. Do what @volunge told you to, or better, message the owner personally on facebook with the pic instead of first making it public. If he does not give you a response, you can put it up on the group and tag him.

Also, India is facing a heavy second wave of covid hence you may not have received or will receive a prompt response. I hope you get a satisfactory resolution to your problem. 

newbiesnuffer

@volunge - I am so sorry, my friend. I was a little drunk and did not read you did already mention about contacting the owner via message. Talk soon!

pantsBoots

I'm glad this was made public as it informs future purchases. If the manufacturer cannot provide adequate QA/QC to prevent this from happening, I see no reason to buy their products.

SHbickel

I don't think it accurately informs, though.  It induces an "inverse gambler's fallacy" and makes it seem like this rare and unlikely event can or does happen on a regular basis.  How many thousands of tins of the revered White Elephant have snuffhouse members enjoyed over the years?  And how many have had an insect in them?

I've had bugs in my bagged salads from big-name brands.

I've had bugs in my vegetables from grocery stores and farmer's markets.

I've had god-knows-what in my restaurant food which my body saw fit to expunge immediately on more occasions than I dare recount.

None of these events will dissuade me from partaking in these brands/products/experiences in the future.

I'm not trying to convince you, though, @pantsBoots.  You've already expressed a distaste for Indian brands based on the "appearance of the tins".  (Is Dholakia included in that generalization?)  And you say you've never tried one to begin with so they've not lost your business.

Indian snuffs are unique and I authentically treasure several of them in my collection.  (But I'm still glad it wasn't ME who found the bug in my tin!  Eek!)

Bryceton

Must have flown in during packaging. That snuff looks mighty fresh too. I wouldn't worry about it. I'll take it off your hands if you want

expers

As much as I've enjoyed Indian snuffs and their exotic scents I stopped using also after I got some really weird side effects from one of them where my throat lost the ability to swallow for up to an hour, which happened on a few occasions with the same snuff.  I could still feel the nerve endings in my throat, and my mouth was moist enough, but it was like the muscles had become paralyzed temporarily.  I'm not sure if it was the camphor, eucalyptus or something else, but I've had snuffs with those ingredients from UK manufacturers and never experienced it.  Ultimately it became a perception thing, and feeling that Indian snuff manufacturers may not follow the strictest safety protocols in their manufacturing process.  I don't want to smear good companies, but it's ultimately a perception thing, it's like, Russia might make fantastic cars, who knows, but I'll pick a German manufactured car over a Russian any day.  And so with snuff, I stick to UK stuff these days.