Bon Bon Hot

The manufacturer's stated list of the flavouring ingredients in their fermented Virginia tobacco based Bon Bon snuff makes for quite a read: "Sandalwood, Benzoe, Tonca, Amber, Vanilla, Orrisroot, Lemonoil, Storax, Lavenderoil, Bergamotoil and Cognac". While I can detect some of those in the blend I suspect my nose is less efficient than it should be. But this is about the sum of the parts and the end result is an excellent snuff, sweet and yet subtly spicy at the same time. This is another old recipe revived and I for one am very glad it has been.

I was lucky enough to receive this snuff as a sample on my last two orders, and have been using a little every day. Like all the Molen's I have tried it has a scent that lingers in the nose and a rich tobacco scent. It is satisfying and I will be purchasing a box once it is up for sell.

Many types of snuffs that broght happiness to the noses of our ancestors, had long since been forgotten. There are various reasons for this - not profitable, time-consuming production, a lost recipe or again thr transfmation of the consumers taste. I can safely say that such snuffs that had been produced a long time ago are no longer visable, cause who today has heard of products such as "Welsh", "Petergsburg", "St. Omer" and many others, whose fame went out into the many corners of the world.

Fortunately, there is the De Kralingse company that today's snuff consumers take in the historic journey - to the times in which we did not live. Indeed, this Dutch company specializes in manufacturing forgotten snuffs from very old, but what is worth of the selection, original recipes, so as to give all the fans the opportunity to taste the snuffs of the past.

Another "new", released on the market 15 January 2010, product of de Kralingse is a pleasant snuff for the heartbeat called - "Bon Bon". This is the nineteenth century snuff prepared from fermented leaves of Virginia. How sweet, old books say about this powder, it was a "Spanish snuff for women", or "snuff for women." Indeed, it is something of the feminine, especially the aroma. But what fascinated me most in "Bon Bona" is that it somewhat reminds me of something very connected with the Poland.

Like other products from the Dutch, "Bon Bon" is packed in a plastic box that it's shape that reminds a lot of people a recycle bin. This is not a package, which may be called divine. However, for snuff products packaging is not a very important element and probably the people from De Kralingse. Always the most important thing is what lies in the box.

The content can shrug a lot of people and after the first sniff the heart itself will tell us that in the box is the great "Bon Bon" - which I affectionately called it "the beating heart". Immediately after opening, you can feel a pleasant for the nose sweet smell. This is caused by the use in the production of this snuff several essential oils, amber, vanilla, tonka and many others, that I do not want to exchanged, so to not reveal all the ingredients.

This snuff, like almost all derived from the nineteenth century Western Europe, was prepared the carrote method. So also, Bon Bon, before it was released, had to go through this process - which as I mentioned at the beginning is considered to be too time-consuming, so any company wants to use it nowadays. Snuffs made in this way were (and still are rather due to de Kralingse) in it's own way moist. It is not so damp as the Pöschl snuff, which the moisture is achieved through giving menthol to the tobacco. This kind of humidity can be achived only by the carotte method.

I think that after this lengthy introduction, I can finally write those 3-4 lines of my own feelings about this snuff. Although the so long introduction is due to the fact that "Bon Bon" is really a high class snuff and brings a lot of kindness to the nose, so the only thing I can do now is write why, as I wrote earlier, this product reminds me of Poland. I have already given the answer talking about the composition, but nevertheless I hope that many of you are interested in what I wrote above - and the effect of this is that this sentence at this moment is readed by you.

Indeed, the matter is very simple. "Bon Bon" reminds me of it's fragrance ... while the snare drum ... gingerbread of Torun. Although I doubt the original creator of the snuff wasn't in Torun, Poland, and wasn't thinking about it when he was creating this product, but I doubt that he certenly had to get under his door long time ago a package of this delicious gingerbread "aus Thorn".

Therefore, I believe that "Bon Bon" should win the heart beat of many offers of Polish and International snuff-takers. Indeed, near falls the gingerbread from Torun, and the Dutch from "Bon Bon".

* At the end a general remark. I know now why so often the authors of various books about snuffs were writing about handkerchiefs. The XIX century snuffs just requires to have them with you.

** Note nr2. The name of this snuff is probably French and means simply "Good Good". Although who knows it.