I don’t notice a difference in the scent between pinching and the snuff spoon. I mostly notice it in getting stuff on my fingers and underneath of my fingernails when pinching, so using a spoon/paddle is definitely cleaner in that respect.   I had tried going back to pinching and found I was getting it more accurately where I wanted and seemingly less blockages, but this could just be me getting complacent using the snuff spoon.  I’d just try both and see what works best to you, there’s not going to be a best method for everyone.  Apparently in Germany they do it more off of the hand rather than pinching or paddles, it seems like this would be functionally equivalent to using a paddle.