Rehydrating a dried-out snuff

You'll need Tick as you go

• Dried-out snuff
• Water, distilled if you have it
• Cotton wool and a small empty tin (method 1), two slices of washed carrot about 1/4 inch thick (method 2), or a plastic lunch box (method 3)

Equipment

Method

1. Step 1 of 4Damp cotton tin: fill a small empty tin, such as a 5 g tin, with cotton wool and wet the cotton. Stand it open in the middle of the snuff in the larger tin, close the lid and leave it overnight. Then take it out and shake the snuff so the damp top layer mixes through.
2. Step 2 of 4Carrot slices: put two washed slices of carrot in with the snuff, close the tin and leave it overnight. One forum post reports that two 100 g tubs that had gone completely dry came back to nearly their original moisture and scent this way.
3. Step 3 of 4Floating tin: put 1 to 2 cm of water in a plastic lunch box, float the open tin in it, close the lid and leave it overnight.
4. Step 4 of 4Drops of water: stir a few drops of water straight into the snuff, close it and shake well. Add more a drop or two at a time. The forum posts don't give an exact amount.

Rest time

Overnight for the first three methods. Drops of water work straight away.

Notes

The slower methods are harder to overdo, but the longer you leave them the damper the snuff gets, so check it the next morning. Take the carrot out once the snuff is moist, because fresh food left in a tin can go mouldy. For something longer-lasting, cut florist's foam to fit a small tin, wet it and punch a few small holes in the lid, and you have a tiny humidifier to leave inside a bigger tin. To put back exactly the water a snuff has lost, see Rehydrating dried snuff by weight.