OK, planned on starting Sunday but it was pushed back to today.

I've got 3 flavors started based on supplies purchased from my local "organic" supermarket. Probably should've checked the normal supermarkets first, but saw others recommending the "green" markets. Wasn't too impressed with the selection (live in a small town and this store is likewise small by cityslicker standards), but came away with 4 flavors, though not all will make a cameo in round 1. I picked up coffee, vanilla, almond, and orange extracts, all 2oz (59mL). Like I said, not a lot to choose from, and I don't expect to challenge the major brands with these offerings, but it's a start. Now for the experiment!

I've got a 10mL medicine syringe with markings every .2 mLs, a 5mL medicine dropper, a glass of water (not distilled, better: Blue Ridge Mtn well-water!) and a ramekin. I'm only using 20 portions per can, because I think it will give just a little more room to stir the batch in-can during the hydration process, and because I'm borderline OCD and 20 is a nice, happy number. The dropper is nice because, unlike my syringe, it can fit in the mouth of the flavoring bottles. The flavoring is transferred to the ramekin, the water is added by syringe, all is sucked up into the syringe, then the portions are hydrated, 5 at a time, in the can.

Batch 1: Coffee. Pure coffee, no vanilla, no almond, and certainly no orange. Trying to keep it simple at first, will think about mixing flavors once I get a feel for the strength of these extracts. I'm starting with 15 drops extract (approximately 1mL) with 8.2 mL water. Smelled strong in the bottle, not too strong once applied to the portions. I think it may need more flavoring, but hey, that's what these initial experiments are for.

Batch 2: Orange. Only picked this up because I didn't have many options, but I've not tried any orange flavored snus, so curiosity is killing me. Used the same 15 drop initial dose of flavoring and same 8.2mL water. The orange smell is apparent in the can with this one, unlike the coffee.

Batch 3: Jagermeister! 9.2mL of pure Krauter-Liqueur! After the first bourbon experiment I've kinda missed that alcohol burn, so this will be my next alcohol snus. Not surprisingly this smelled strongly like Jagermeister in the can. I've noticed that using straight liquor allows you to hydrate the portions much more easily; no bothersome water tension to cause drops to roll off of targeted portions. I have no idea what the health implications are with holding alcohol soaked bags of tobacco between my gums and lips for long periods, but the burning makes me think it must be beneficial.

I have each can crammed into a snack-size ziploc bag, and gave each a good shaking before placing in the fridge. I plan to shake them every time I'm in the fridge and manually mix the portions once a day till the glorious 3rd day arrives.

Now I just have to wait. Impatiently.