JNF - Pansari 非烟草 Chhikni

Super weird... Smells just like a spice cabinet and not in a good way. Smells like curry and spices you'd use for a chicken roast. But the menthol kind of covers it up and after using a few times, I actually kind of enjoy. Mine came in a metal screw top tin, which I love! Grind is not too dry nor moist.

Got this tiny tub in the Janta sampler, and it remained sealed in the cellar for quite awhile. I mean, no tobacco, no nicotine, no point, right?
Wrong.
On a whim, one night as I prowled through the house looking for distractions I espied the tub sitting serenely in the dark. Being in the right frame of mind is key to some epiphanies, I suspect, and it certainly applied here. With a quick label slice and a dump of the inevitable spillage into an empty tin I gave the light brown powder a light waft. It looked familiar, but smelled strongly of nutmeg in a way no snuff I've yet tried ever has.
On the spoon and in the nose, and BAM! there's an amazing hit of spices. Nutmeg in spades - the "tin note" was true - but there seems to be some other, more complex stuff happening underneath. Cinnamon, I think, or maybe allspice, and perhaps a little star anise, but none of the eucalyptus/menthol of medicated snuffs. It sits in the nose easily after a brief burn, and the scent lasts for a good long while.
It's a fun snuff. Somewhere I read that this snuff is supposed to make you sneeze and sort of get your sinuses going; I can't be sure of that intent. I have only sneezed once - once! - due to a snuff, and Cheeta was to blame. So no sneezes here, but Pansari is great as a chaser to perfumed snuffs, for sure, adding a little mid-range to overly floral arrangements.
If I snuffed solely for nicotine this would be pointless, but as it turns out I kinda like sticking odd-smelling brown dusts up my nose. Who knew?