The stochastic simulation algorithm (SSA) is an essentially exact procedure for numerically simulating the time evolution of a well-stirred chemically reacting system. Despite recent major improvements in the efficiency of the SSA, its drawback remains the great amount of computer time that is often required to simulate a desired amount of system time. Presented here is the “τ-leap” method, an approximate procedure that in some circumstances can produce significant gains in simulation speed with acceptable losses in accuracy. Some primitive strategies for control parameter selection and error mitigation for the τ-leap method are described, and simulation results for two simple model systems are exhibited. With further refinement, the τ-leap method should provide a viable way of segueing from the exact SSA to the approximate chemical Langevin equation, and thence to the conventional deterministic reaction rate equation, as the system size becomes larger.