I was informed last night by a reliable source (Antiques Roadshow) that the 18th-19th century practice of using snuff involved tucking a bit of tobacco between ones cheek and gum–much like the modern practice of chewin’ tabaccy. For quite a while, I had had the impression that snuff was inhaled (as did the woman on ARS). In fact, I have this distinct image of watching a period drama (The Scarlet Pimpernel?) where the characters occasionally inhaled a pinch of tobacco and then politely sneezed. The height of chic, I imagine. So:
Is there any pnysical difference between 18th century snuff and modern chewing tobacco?
Do the verbs “dipping snuff” and “chewing tobacco” refer to the same thing?
Was the practice of inhaling tobacco ever popular? What was it called? When was it popular?
There is a powdered snuff that you snort. I always thought that the snuff from olden times was the sniffing variety. I believe they called the practice “taking snuff” or “sniffing snuff.” You can get it in all sorts of scents, some of them quite lovely. I think even the Menthol ones tend to stuff up your nose eventually.
The snuff you dip is moiste and coarse, and it goes inside your lower lip. Until you’ve been dipping for a while it’s wise to spit rather than swallow. Swallowing will make you blow chunks – I know this for a fact. The snuff itself tastes kind of salty, it definitely burns, and spitting will dry you out very quickly.
The other chewing tobacco is in longer strands, it goes between your cheek and gum, and it’s called “side chew.” Red Man is a popular brand.
I went to school in Western PA in the early 1980s, and both kinds of chewing tobacco were popular. You would see guys in class with big soda cups, and they had them so they could spit.
I had a client (female) who ‘dipped’. She liked to mix the ‘sweet’ with the ‘bitter’ whatever the hell that means. it’s not a hot item, since there was only one place locally she could get the stuff.
The ‘snuff’ was sold in little tins, came loose, like pipe tobacco would, but much finer cut. she’d pack it in her cheek as you described, and spit, of course.
We didn’t like it.
Don’t know the difference ‘tween this stuff and chewing tobacco (tho’ perhaps the fineness of the cut?).
that’s the sum and total of my knowledge of the subject.
There’s only one place where you live to get it? Are you stranded in the middle of Montana (no offense to any Montanians)with only an old style general store? Here in my home town, every grocert store has rows and rows of dip, chew, and snuff, lined up in cans behind the customer service counter. Every gas station has it too.
Of course, this is the south… GO figure.
Chrome Spot:
You say they brought soda cups into class to spit? They did that at my high school too… so the school banned drinks or drink cups in class… so they just spit on the carpet. Go figure.
You walked through the room with a “squish” “squish” “squish”.
First off I don’t use smokeless tobacco. I’ve tried it a couple of times and it just made me nauseaus. I have seen the stuff in tins and the stuff in pouches, but I think that there is another form. I was with my grandfather when I was very young and I saw a lady use a knife to cut a chunk off of what looked like a big bar of hashish (of course at the time I didn’t know what hash looked like). I asked my grandfather what she was doing and he said chewing tobacco.
The block you saw is typically called Plug or Plug Tobacco. It’s another form of chewing tobacco. somewhat less coarse than the loose leaf, and compressed into a bar or block.
The snuff variety is also called “snoose” in some circles.
A girl in a place I was living in as a student was going to great lengths to learn to dip snuff nonchalantly so that she could play a rather nasty practical joke on her family by doing it at a well timed point during a wedding rehearsal. Her “practicing” and getting tips from a couple guys who dipped was funny as hell, actually. Somebody else in that same place turned up with a can of the sniffing variety at the same time, so a bunch of us were snorting the stuff and sneezing. Her reaction to that was “Now THAT’s digusting …”. I never did figure out why sticking some powder up your nose and sneezing would be more disgusting than exuding brown spittle.