Sir Walter Scotts - Mull of Oa

On opening the tin was bone dry and had a strong stale cheese smell. Unusable as a snuff, remote promise after a while in the nose (I guess as it picked up moisture. I manged to re-hydrate after taking advice which improved things somewhat but still very hard work to get the flavours, definitely not near to intended experience when fresh. If you look at reviews here and on Youtube over the last 8 years they get progressively dryer and dryer. Now I fear it is the same batch and basically no use now.

The Oa is a rocky peninsula on the southwest part of the island of Islay in Argyll, Scotland. A place where tweed is the best camouflage and birds are your only companions. Not much happens here, especially since the Highland Clearances emptied the place of its local inhabitants. The rest of Islay, however, is famous the world over for the peat smoke aromas of its whiskeys, whose identity is protected by law. The Mull of Oa is a granular and somewhat dry snuff whose coarse texture recalls cheap ground coffee sold in blue vacuum-sealed tins. Unflavoured and unmedicated, the tobacco tastes of sweet grass, barley and peat. Rather than burn, this snuff glows like a warm briar held in one’s hand when smoking the pipe. High in nicotine, the Mull is a symbiotic companion to the scotches crafted down the road: such as Laphroaig, Lagavulin and Ardbeg. Like one of Oberon’s spells, this midsummer night’s dream kept me mesmerized for over three months, as I took it exclusively from the dog days of summer to the fall equinox. Honest, simple and delicious Sir Walter Scott’s Mull of Oa is worth both the expense and the investment…as fairies and their flowers are never easy to approach.
On the back of the tin, under the health warning, in a print too fine for my unassisted eyes to see, the following manufacturer’s instructions are written: “REFRIDERATE AND KEEP TIGHTLY CLOSED AFTER OPENING”. Sir Walter Scott fabricates artisanal snuff in which the ribs and stalks of the tobacco leaves have been removed. No preservatives are added and not all ingredients are torrefied. As such, tins must be refrigerated after opening. Not heeding the order may alter the flavour and negatively affect the snuff taking experience.

The real scotch not the ultra fine flour. But a nice whiskey only Scott's could do.

Coarse grind, not very moist but not too dry either. Reminds me of nights at the jazz club with good scotch and fine cigars.

The reviews are correct. If you like a malt, whiskey or sour blend or fermented burley, this is a masterpiece. Complex and perfectly balanced. It's my favorite out of the 1st 8 SWS I've tried. Not as smoky as Tears of Chios or Pontefract priory.