Yes you’re right, Nulliverse. Some good old snuffs there – some older than others – as starting points. It reminded me of my waffling on earlier about TS Eliot’s poem and the reflexive movements between things present, past and future. I suspect that was/is an important realisation with the practitioners of sorcery, necromancy, alchemy etc. – and of course snuff millers (😂).

That whole area of snuffing within which the dark rappees dwell is a very discrete arena. And the snuff makers who do it well have developed that over the course of decades if not centuries. My initial thoughts, which I kept to myself earlier, was – this is maybe a step too far for Roderick. But then I remembered the idea of a Toque-Otto schmalzler, when my reaction was also “What! Cool yer Jets, matey.” And of course, there it is now, on the market, the excellent Otto Snuff Schmalzler. It IS a schmalzler, and it’s certainly one of my Top Five.

So plain, strong, depth, high-ish on nicotine, perhaps some complexity. I’d suggest:

Viking snuff: Viking Dark, Viking Dark Rappee, Viking Brown.

Wilson’s of Sharrow: Best Dark. There’s a slight background bergamot scenting, but it’s so much a backnote, even Wilson’s themselves have declassified it as an SP and categorise it as Plain. And their Brunswick. In its current iteration it has been de-scented and is sold as BRUNSWICK Black Rapee (they spell it with one P).

Samuel Gawith: Black Rappee (they use the old 2-P spelling) and Scotch Dark (which I think is a blend including Black Rappee as a base anyway).

Sir Walter Scott’s: St James Parish. A Virginia – Rustica – Perique blend. Very potent. Has a slight citrus smell, but it’s definitely Plain. The aroma has much to do with the Perique – a Burley leaf that has undergone extensive high pressure anaerobic fermentation.

My own two go-to’s of this lot are St James Parish (to which I add a little extra Toque Rustica) and Best Dark. Happy Hunting!

I think you’re starting at the right point (reflection with reflexivity). You’ll know, I’m sure, TS Eliot’s quote: ‘Time present and time past Are both perhaps present in time future, And time future contained in time past’.
I’m thinking about ‘possibles’ and any ideas will come back.
At this point three doves named Rappee, Berwick and Black are fluttering around in my craniosphere 😎 Would be great to start off with an extension of an established Toque classic. Black, coarse and moist (by definition, of course). And (personal preference) plain and higher in nicotine. Thus (it worked for those ‘other guys’ 😊 with Brunswick), lose the mild scenting – just well sweated leather plus light smokiness tobacco. And, on the nicotine, I do it myself anyway – a quarter teaspoon of Toque Rustica goes into my Berwick Brown snuffbox, ‘matter of course”.