Hello all! I am not an avid tobacco chewer, but was inspired to try making my own as a gift for a friend. I'm sure many of you have heard me talking about Mapacho (N. rustica), and I decided to make a mixture including some rustica leaf. Let's start off with the basics. We're talking chewing tobacco here, not dip or "moist snuff." So get all those crazy ideas of "glass shards" and all that crap out of your head. We're here to make a wholesome, flavorful, and as natural as possible of a chew. And this is how it's done.
Step 1. You are going to need to start with some tobacco. If possible, grow your own so you know there are no chemical additives or anything like that. If this isn't a possibility, there are many places you can buy whole raw leaf which you can then cure yourself. Next down the line would be buying already cured and ready-to-use leaf. You can use pipe tobacco which already is moist and flavored to some degree, and the pieces are cut much larger. Also, cigarette tobacco can be used, but it is shredded finely and gives the chew a unique texture. I decided to buy a pouch of American Spirit perique blend for kicks. I was only going to be using about 3/4 of the bag, so I figured I'd smoke the rest . So anyway, let's move on to step two...
Step 2. You need a fruit base to begin with, most preferred is apple, but you can use cherry or another fruit. What you want is the juice, so you can just go out and buy pure apple or cherry juice, or you can get a little hashier with things... I go to one of my favorite fields to hunt, and there are tons of "wild" apple trees, which had gone feral after an old farm house had been removed from the area. There are a few different varieties of apples at this spot, and I picked a few sweet apples, as well as some smaller tart ones. I took them home and ran them through our juicer. Viola! Good apple juice! Very tasty and "alive." Take your fruit juice, and cover the bottom of a frying pan with about an inch of liquid. Simmer on medium heat, subtly boiling off the water from the juice to form a sticky candy apple tar. If you need to, add a little more juice, and repeat the boiling until you arrive at the amount you find necessary for how much tobacco you are adding. Once you have a nice sticky mess, add a fat dollop of molasses or honey. Since this whole mess is so sugary, and because you want saliva to be pulled out of your gums, at this point you add salt. Yes, salt. Don't really worry about measuring, just cover the surface area of sticky candy tar with salt, then mix it in. Remove from heat.
Step 3. As the candy mixture is cooling, add your dry tobacco little bit by little bit and start stirring and kneading it all together with a wooden spoon. You should try and move quickly at this stage, because once the mixture cools completely, you cannot heat it back up and mix. You need to add little bits of tobacco at a time to ensure that it gets completely saturated in the sugars. This helps preserve and lock in flavor and freshness. I used about a 1:4 ratio of Mapacho to perique, and also added a pinch of edible lime to basify the concoction. While it is still warm, taste a little bit and see if it may need more salt. You want to be able to hit the "saltiness threshold" so that saliva is actively being pulled out of your mouth. Don't worry though, because of how much sugar is in this mix you will never end up with a salty dry mouth.
Step 4. You can go ahead and try your chew at this point, but it won't really be the right consistency. Let it sit out on a piece of wax paper for a day or two to finish evaporating and hardening. You should end up with a nice tacky substance that is pliable and easy to handle (not a sticky gooey mess). My blend of cigarette tobacco and mapacho is perfect for chewing as well as the "dip" method being held between the lower gum and lip. Its actually very nice, and doesn't rush at you all at once. I had tried commercial dip and chew as a highschooler, and hated the effect. I feel that there is a lot of other unspeakable chemicals in the stuff on the shelves. This homemade batch brought on a smooth and mellow euphoria that lasted the better half of an hour. Very nice on a hike through the woods.
Let me know if you have any questions about this TEK, growing tobacco, tobacco shamanism, or anything Nicotiana really! It is a very unique and widely misused/misunderstood plant. Hope you enjoyed the read! Stay hashy my friends. -Hashfinger (8/24/2013)
-------------------- Species List (Georgia): Psilocybe caerulescens/weilii, Psilocybe atlantis/galindoi, Psilocybe cubensis, Psilocybe ovoideocystidiata, Psilocybe caerulipes, Psilocybe semilanceata, Psilocybe fagicola, Copelandia cyanescens, Panaeolus cinctulus, Panaeolus fimicola, Panaeolus olivaceus, Gymnopilus luteofolius, Gymnopilus aeruginosus, Gymnopilus junonius, Pluteus salicinus (Ohio): Psilocybe ovoideocystidiata, Psilocybe caerulipes, Pluteus cyanopus, Pluteus salicinus sensu lato..., Panaeolus cinctulus, Gymnopilus luteus, Gymnopilus luteofolius, Gymnopilus junonius, Gymnopilus aeruginosus
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