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Green Snuffs
I've heard scattered references to Green snuffs used in Russia and Eastern Europe. A search on google books turned up some references, which all stated it was extremely strong and fine and would "bring even old men to tears".
Does anyone have any information on this? Is it still made by anyone? And why the hell was it green? Sounds like my kind of snuff :D
Does anyone have any information on this? Is it still made by anyone? And why the hell was it green? Sounds like my kind of snuff :D
Comments
But they weren't exactly green. They were light brown. Finely milled and wet.
Green tobacco isn't all that unusual, although one generally only sees it in cigars. Here's a write up from cigar afficionado that gives some background and explains how candela (green wrapper) is produced:
"A green shade of wrapper tobacco achieved by a heat-curing process that fixes the chlorophyll content of the wrapper while it's still in the barn. Also referred to as double claro. From about 1958 to the early 1970s, Americans smoked billions of cigars, and nearly all of them were candelas. They were so popular in the United States that the term American Market Seletion (abbreviated as AMS) was created by the major importer of Cuban cigars at the time to designate green or candela colored wrappers.
To make candela, a tobacco barn (or casa de tabacco) has to be properly prepped. The walls of the wooden barn are wallpapered with cardboard or paper to seal the cracks. The barn is loaded with freshly harvested tobacco, and the vents at the bottom of the barn are opened, encouraging air to flow out of the roof vent (known as a doghouse), which is always open. The propane heaters or charcoal fires are lit, and the heat slowly rises, taking the moisture out of the leaves. "The objective is to get air flowing through the tobacco, up and out of the doghouse," says Gustavo Cura, the operations administrator for Oliva Tobacco Co. in Tampa, which grows candela in Ecuador and Honduras. "The heat has to start slowly." Within two hours, the heat will be at about 90 degrees, and by hour No. 3, it will rise to 100. After 40 to 48 hours, the tobacco has wilted. The leaf is dry at this point, save for the stem, which takes much more coercing to dry out than the rest of the plant. The farmers shut the bottom vents in the barn and crank the heat to 165 degrees to remove the remaining moisture from the stem. This final step lasts for about one day, and bakes the tobacco as dry as a potato chip. After 60 to 72 hours total in the barn, the chlorophyll has been locked in the leaf and the tobacco is done heating, but needs to be rehumidified so it can be safely removed from the barn. Workers open the barn's vent doors and windows (unless it's windy), allowing the nighttime dew to make the crispy leaves moist again; if the climate is too dry, they bring in a steamer. Then, the leaves are taken down, sorted and graded, and put into boxes, ready for storage or for rolling. The fire curing eliminates the need for fermentation and aging, cutting months and even years off the typical process.
Sunlight will make candela leaf lighter, while heat will darken the color. Candela wrapper can't be stored in normal tobacco warehouses; instead it's kept refrigerated. Water can stain it, so a roller has to know what he's doing in order to make a candela cigar by hand. Because it's the process that makes candela, rather than the seed or country of origin, candela wrappers are grown in a host of countries."
"The north and east parts of Germany for example prefer the green tobacco, which are sorts like the "Kownoer", "Russischer Augentabak" or "Erfrischungstabak". These tobaccos are based on fermentation and milling of green tobacco west prussian (in further times also Polish and Russian) provenience. The original term "Kownoer" still reminds of this origin."
So I would conclude that the snuff was not necessarily green in color but that uncured green leaves were used in the making of it.
Furthermore Perique tobacco is made with partially cured leaves and I would speculate that the Perique method of fermentation may also suit fresh or wilted leaves just as well.
"More interesting about Russicher Augentabak is the fact that this snuff was one of the last green snuffs available on the market. The last one of course is Kownoer made by Bernard. But the German version of both don't really have much to do with the oryginal Russian and Kowienska snuffs, which were more dry and were very grinded.
The term "russisch" doesn't have much to do with the tobacco. It's another term for "green snuffs". The origin of this type comes probably from Russia, but the production of those was very common also in Poland-Lithuania and Germany. Anyway the term "green" comes from the process of fermentation in which the nicotiana tabacum recieves a green color. From the desription from and old Polish book, those snuffs should be strong like gun powder".
The note from Bernard website also comes from the same guy from Poland... that means me.
Just to correct my previous statement with the 'green color'. Altrough nicotiana tabacum is recieving a greenish color, the green snuffs, are actually brown. It's because this tobacco is just the base, and is being mixed with at least one more. Like in Bernard's Kownoer you can see at least three kinds of tobacco.
Ok, I won't be secretive. My theory on 'green snuff' is based on the Polish naming of this snuff - 'bernardynka'. That's what we called a special snuff made in monasteries in XVIII century Poland made in Częstochowa and Kowno (also other monasteries, but I won't name the others, for certain reasons). As all snuff-taking Poles know both were very similiar (thanks to the Polish epos "Mr. Taduesz). That's a clue. And since there is also a legend about the most famous snuff producer from todays Poland - named Goldfarb, that recieved the recipe on Kownoer form a monastic from Kowno, it's quite 'obvious' that he continued the work of religious monks. But...
I've found an note about an other monatery, saying a bernardynka as some kind of mixture. If anyone has some interest in "sacrum beers" than that would be a bit troublesome, since a lot of this special drink made in monasteries is made differently. So, for now, I would guess that the special method of fermenting the 'green snuff' was originaly discovered by the monks from Kowno, and the later snuffs made the production method are based on that.
Actually the term 'russish' comes from the XIX century, because the Russians wanted to have the whole glory - after the partition of Poland, Kowno was part of Russia.
green snuffs in the Spanish RAE (Language Royal Academy in spanish) to
some "Tabaco Verdin" meaning "Greenish Tobacco" it goes like this: http://dle.rae.es/?id=Yr2tSiJ
tabaco verdin (Greenish Tobacco)
1. m. tabaco de polvo, que se elabora con las hojas de esta planta, pero sin compostura y cortadas antes de madurar.
(Powdered tobacco, made from the leaves of this plant but without -not
sure but here "compostura" maybe can be traslated as mix- and cut before
they reach maturity.
It especifically cites
"powdered" so some type of "green" snuff was known here in Spain at some
moment not sure exactly when...
Elaborated in Cuba, in Guines (diaeresis on "u") Valley specifically, it was a highly
regarded variety of "Tabaco Polvo" (Spanish snuff) in Spain and other
European Countries. It was only produced in that part of Cuba, so its
leaf type and climate imparted some uniqueness to the tobacco
fermentation process. It is known that this "Verdin" leaf "had thick branch, was full-bodied, and dried faster,
being well suited to easy milling", so that was a very productive, high
quality and flash-dried leaf.
It was said in XIX Century that "Guines
produced a bad tobacco for smoking but excellent for snuff". It was so
from 1690 up to the end of XIX century.
Sadly, "Verdin" production in Guines ceased a long time ago... the same as all the cuban snuff tradition.
And you can't help me out
So, take your meditations and your preparations
And ram it up your snout"
I won't review until I finish the 10G bag. but what I can tell you it is green tobacco. It is Medicated reminds me of Dholakia No.10 but not as sharp.
That's right up my alley. Shaman Recommended!
It is now available to Order from Mr. Snuff website
https://mrsnuff.com/dholakia-green-p-3827.html
Regards
Manit Joshi