lxskllr

Tobacco As Art

Rate this Entry
8 Comments
by
lxskllr
, 11-03-2011 at 06:31 PM (1649 Views)
It seems like most companies treat tobacco as a revenue device, and not as an art form. Instead of making their finest product, they chase the (sometimes retarded)tastes of consumers. That's ok for mainstream products, but there should be an outlet for the artist also.

I've pushed the concept, but it doesn't seem like anyone cares. In snus, of all companies, it's Swedish Match that gets it. The world's largest snus maker. Every year they release Kardus; arguably the worlds greatest snus, as an artistic expression of their blenders. It doesn't make them any money, but it works as a prestige product to show people what they can do. Like building a fast car, a great building, or a fine wood carving. It may not be practical, efficient, or cost effective, but it says "We're the greatest, and here's the proof".

Many luxury goods makers do it, from whisky to watches. I'd like to see more tobacco companies, and snus makers in particular take that approach, and treat their product as the fine art it's capable of being, and not an every day, bog standard commodity.

Submit "Tobacco As Art" to Digg Submit "Tobacco As Art" to del.icio.us Submit "Tobacco As Art" to StumbleUpon Submit "Tobacco As Art" to Google

Categories
‎ Uncategorized

Comments

  1. Snusdog's Avatar
    Very well said sir Raven

    I think Molens snuff is another example of artistic blending. The more I deal with Jaap the more I realize we are experiencing a bit of Tobacco history in the making
  2. Ephemeris's Avatar
    Very well stated, LX! It seems almost like American tobacco manufacturers are afraid to take pride in what they're making (with a few notable exceptions, of course). I would love to see a US-based smokeless manufacturer put out a product similar to Kardus, just to show the world that they have faith in what they manufacture and are proud enough of their ability to show off once a year with a special artisan blend. But something tells me we won't be seeing anything like that on the horizon for quite some time.
  3. Ansel's Avatar
    hear hear
  4. MojoQuestor's Avatar
    I think it's a good point, and I suppose tobacco products, like everything else, fall prey to Sturgeon's Law, that is, 90% of everything is crap.
  5. shikitohno's Avatar
    This sort of artistry seems to be more common in the snuff world than in the realm of snus. You had the legendary Spanish Jewel being produced until recently, which was simply astounding. Now one of the guys over at Snuffhouse has gone and made Abraxas, which by all accounts is another excellent example of craftmanship honed over time. And there's of course the wonderful snuff whalen sent me a while ago that he'd made from the same tobacco as the Odens Extreme. Perhaps rather than waiting for the major snus manufacturors to come out with such a product, we should focus on getting the creative people among us to try their hand at making some small craft batches, and trading it around. Develop a recipe until you're really satisfied with the end product, and then make a small, say 10kg batch. 200 cans to spread around is enough that you can have a snus tailored to your own tastes with enough to last you a long time, and still be able to get a whole bunch of people to ty it. If it's good enough, you'll get that sort of cult status that snuff like Spanish Jewel has, and rather than waiting on Swedish Match to start putting out a quality product, you might see a homegrown snus company rise up out of Snuson.
  6. lxskllr's Avatar
    That's a really good point shikitohno. Snus isn't /that/ hard to make. Based on what I've read, I'd rank with home brewed beer on the skill level. Definitely approachable for the enthusiast, with less specialized equipment required.
  7. UsualSnuspects's Avatar
    Where's a good starting point/URL for looking into homesnusing?
  8. lxskllr's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by UsualSnuspects
    Where's a good starting point/URL for looking into homesnusing?
    Check out our section here. There's some good information scattered throughout...
    http://www.snuson.com/forum/forumdis...bacco-Products