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Snuff


 
 

Snuff is a type of smokeless tobaccoTobacco

Tobacco refers to a genus of broad-leafed plants of the nightshade family indigenous to North and South America, or to the ...
. There are several types, used in different ways, but traditionally it means Dry/European nasal snuff, which is inhaledInsufflation

Insufflation is the practice of inhaling substances into a body cavity....
 or "snuffed" through the nose.
TypesDry
Dry snuff or European snuff is usually (but not always) scented or flavoured and is intended to be sniffed through the nose. Typical flavors are floral, mentholated (also called 'medicated'), fruitFruit

The term fruit has different meanings depending on context....
, and spiceSpice

A spice is a dried seed, fruit, root, bark or vegetative substance used in nutritionally insignificant quantities as a food ...
, either pure or in blends. Other common flavours include:

Modern Flavors


Apart from flavours, dry snuff also comes in a range of texture and moistness, from very fine to coarse, and from toast (very dry) to very moist. Often dryer snuffs are cut finer.
Brands of dry snuff
Germany

United Kingdom

Netherlands

South Africa

Sweden

India

Brazil
Moeda
MoistMoist snuff is called American Snuff in the U.S.






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Timeline

1560   Jean Nicot introduces tobacco in the form of snuff to the French court.






Encyclopedia



Snuff is a type of smokeless tobaccoTobacco

Tobacco refers to a genus of broad-leafed plants of the nightshade family indigenous to North and South America, or to the ...
. There are several types, used in different ways, but traditionally it means Dry/European nasal snuff, which is inhaledInsufflation

Insufflation is the practice of inhaling substances into a body cavity....
 or "snuffed" through the nose.

Types

Dry


Dry snuff or European snuff is usually (but not always) scented or flavoured and is intended to be sniffed through the nose. Typical flavors are floral, mentholated (also called 'medicated'), fruitFruit

The term fruit has different meanings depending on context....
, and spiceSpice

A spice is a dried seed, fruit, root, bark or vegetative substance used in nutritionally insignificant quantities as a food ...
, either pure or in blends. Other common flavours include:
  • Corn
  • SpearmintSpearmint

    Spearmint is a species of mint native to central and southern Europe, where it grows in wet soils....
  • Raspberry JamRaspberry jam

    Acacia acuminata, commonly known as raspberry jam or fine leaf jam, is a shrub in the family Fabaceae....
  • Cheddar
  • CinnamonCinnamon

    Cinnamon is a small evergreen tree 10-15 m tall, belonging to the family Lauraceae, native to Sri Lanka and Southern India....
  • RaspberryRaspberry

    The Raspberry or Red Raspberry is a plant that produces a tart, sweet, red composite fruit in summer or early autumn....
  • OrangeOrange (fruit)

    Orangespecifically, sweet orangerefers to the citrus tree Citrus sinensis and its fruit....
  • LemonLemon

    The lemon is a hybrid citrus tree of cultivated origin....
  • RoseFacts About Rose

    A rose is a flowering shrub of the genus Rosa, and the flower of this shrub....
  • MentholMenthol

    Menthol is a covalent organic compound made synthetically or obtained from peppermint or other mint oils....
     & CamphorCamphor

    | CAS number|[76-22-2][464-49-3]-Camphor)[464-48-2]-Camphor}...
  • Whiskey
  • BourbonBourbon whiskey

    Bourbon is an American form of whiskey made from at least 51% corn, or maize, with the remainder being wheat and/or rye, an...


Modern Flavors
  • ApricotApricot

    The apricot is a fruit-bearing tree native to China....
  • BananaBanana

    Banana is the common name used for herbaceous plants in the genus Musa, which because of their size and structure, are o...
  • ColaCola

    Cola is a sweet carbonated drink, usually with caramel coloring and containing caffeine....
  • StrawberryStrawberry

    The strawberry is a genus of plants in the family Rosaceae, and the fruit of these plants....



Apart from flavours, dry snuff also comes in a range of texture and moistness, from very fine to coarse, and from toast (very dry) to very moist. Often dryer snuffs are cut finer.
Brands of dry snuff
Germany
  • Bernard brothers - Founded in 1733
  • Lotzbeck - Founded in 1774
  • Sternecker - Founded in 1900
  • Pöschl - Founded in 1902, makers of Gawith ApricotGawith Apricot

    Gawith Apricot is a type of snuff, produced by Pschl Tabak....
  • Wittmann - Founded in 1955
  • Arnold Andre
  • Dallmayr
  • Gletscher PriseGletscher Prise

    Gletcher Prise is a snuff produced by Pschl Tabak....


United Kingdom
  • Fribourg & Treyer - Founded in 1720
  • Wilsons of SharrowWilsons of Sharrow

    Wilsons of Sharrow is a British manufacturer of snuff....
     - Founded in 1737
  • Samuel Gawith - Founded in 1792
  • Gawith Hoggarth - Founded in 1854
  • Hedges
  • McChrystal's - Founded in 1926
  • - Founded in 2006
  • - Founded in 2008

Netherlands
  • De Kralingse

South Africa
  • L. Dingler
  • Ntsu

Sweden
  • Swedish MatchSwedish Match

    Swedish Match is a Swedish company based in Stockholm that makes tobacco products and matches....


India
  • Dholakia
  • M/s Bhogilal Mafatlal & Sons
  • P. V. Rajan & CompanyP. V. Rajan & Company

    P. V. Rajan & Co was a South-India based company which manufactured tobacco snuff....


Brazil
Moeda

Moist

Moist snuff is called American Snuff in the U.S. and Canada, in contrast to the aforementioned Dry Snuff, which was perceived to be an European, particularly British and French, habit. In truth, it originates, and is still produced and used, in Europe. It tends to be applied to the gums, rather than sniffed. Called dipping tobacco, it is similar to SnusSnus

Snus is a moist powder tobacco, a kind of snuff....
, a SwedishSweden

The Kingdom of Sweden is a Nordic country in Scandinavia....
 tobacco product, and it is possible that this type of snuff originated in Sweden or ScandinaviaScandinavia

Scandinavia is a region in Northern Europe....
. American snuff comes in two varieties, 'sweet' and 'salty', but also has flavours including peach, mint, and licorice. Dipping tobaccoDipping tobacco

Dipping tobacco is a form of smokeless tobacco....
 is distinct from chewing tobaccoChewing tobacco

Chewing tobacco is a smokeless tobacco product....
.

In India, Creamy snuffCreamy snuff

Creamy snuff is a tobacco paste, consisting of tobacco, clove oil, glycerin, spearmint, menthol, and camphor, and sold in a ...
 is a paste consisting of tobacco, clove oil, glycerin, spearmint, menthol, and camphor sold in a toothpaste tube. It is marketed mainly to women in India and is known by the brand names Ipco (made by Asha Industries), Denobac, Tona, Ganesh.

Snuff accessories

When snuff taking was fashionable, the manufacture of snuff accessories was a lucrative industry in several cultures. In EuropeEurope

Europe is one of the seven traditional continents of the Earth....
, snuff boxesDecorative boxes

Though the purpose of a box may be purely functional, boxes can also be very decorative and artistic....
 ranged from those made in very basic materials, such as horn, to highly ornate designs featuring precious materials made using state of the art techniques. Large snuff containers, called mulls, were usually kept on the table. A famous silver communal snuff box at the British House of CommonsBritish House of Commons

|align=left|*Parliament**State Opening of Parliament...
 was destroyed in World War IIWorld War II

World War II, or the Second World War, was a worldwide conflict fought between the Allied Powers and the Axis Powers ,...
.

In ChinaChina

China is a cultural region and ancient civilization in East Asia....
, snuff bottleSnuff bottle

Snuff bottles were used by the Chinese to contain powdered tobacco during the Qing Dynasty....
s were used, usually available in two forms. Glass bottles are decorated on the inside to protect the design. Another type used layered multi-coloured glass; parts of the layers were removed to create a picture.

History

Snufftaking by the Native AmericansIndigenous peoples of the Americas

The term Indigenous peoples of the Americas encompasses the inhabitants of the Americas before the European discovery of the...
 was first described by a monkFacts About Monk

A monk is a person who practices asceticism, the conditioning of mind and body in favor of the spirit....
 named Ramon Pane in 1493, during Columbus'Christopher Columbus

Christopher Columbus Italian Cristoforo Colombo; Spanish: Cristbal Coln was a navigator and an admiral for the Crow...
 second journey to the AmericasAmericas

he Americas are the lands of the Western hemisphere or New World consisting of the continents of North America and South Ame...
.

In 1561 Jean NicotJean Nicot

Jean Nicot was a French diplomat and scholar....
, the FrenchFrance

France, officially the French Republic, is a country whose metropolitan territory is located in Western Europe and whi...
 ambassadorAmbassador

An ambassador, rarely embassador, is a diplomatic official accredited to a foreign sovereign or government, or to an i...
 in LisbonLisbon

Lisbon is the capital and largest city of Portugal....
, PortugalFacts About Portugal

Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic is located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula, and is the w...
, sent snuff to Catherine de' MediciCatherine de' Medici

Catherine de' Medici , born in Italy as Caterina Maria Romola di Lorenzo de' Medici, and later lived in France under...
 to treat her son's persistent migraines, after which she became a fan of snuff.

By the 1600s1600s

Events and trends Many inventions and institutions are created, including Hans Lippershey with the telescope , the newspaper Av...
 some started to object to snuff being taken. PopePope

The Pope is the Bishop of Rome, and, as Successor of Saint Peter, is the head of the Catholic Church....
 Urban VIIIPope Urban VIII Summary

Pope Urban VIII , born Maffeo Barberini, was Pope from 1623 to 1644....
 threatened to excommunicate snufftakers, and in RussiaRussia

Russia , also the Russian Federation , is a country that stretches over a vast expanse of Eurasia....
 in 1643, Tsar Michael set the punishment of removal of the nose for snuff use. However, there were still some fans; King Louis XIII of FranceFrance

France, officially the French Republic, is a country whose metropolitan territory is located in Western Europe and whi...
 was a devout snufftaker, and by 1638, snuff use had been reported to be spreading in ChinaChina

China is a cultural region and ancient civilization in East Asia....
.

By the 1700s1700s Summary

Events and trends*The Bonneville Slide blocks the Columbia River near the site of present-day Cascade Locks, Oregon with a land b...
, Snuff had become the tobacco product of choice, with fans including Napoleon, King George IIIGeorge III of the United Kingdom

George III was King of Great Britain and King of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until 1 January 1801, and thereafter King of...
's wife Queen CharlotteCharlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz

Queen Charlotte, was the queen consort of George III of the United Kingdom....
, and a new PopePope

The Pope is the Bishop of Rome, and, as Successor of Saint Peter, is the head of the Catholic Church....
, Benedict XIIIPope Benedict XIII

Pope Benedict XIII, O.P. , born Pietro Francesco Orsini, later Vincenzo Maria Orsini, was pope from 1724 t...
.
It is also during the 1700s that the first tobacco warnings were published, among these, John HillJohn Hill (author)

John Hill, called from his Swedish honours, "Sir" John Hill, English author, son of the Rev....
, an EnglishEngland

England is the largest and most populous constituent country of the United Kingdom....
 doctor warned of the overuse of snuff, causing vulnerability to nasal cancers.
Snuff's image as an aristocratic luxury attracted the first U.S. federal taxTax

A tax is a financial charge or other levy imposed on an individual or a legal entity by a state or a functional equivalent ...
 on tobacco, created in 1794.

In Eighteenth-Century Britain, the Gentlewoman's Magazine advised readers with ailing sight to use the correct type of Portuguese snuff, "whereby many eminent people had cured themselves so that they could read without spectacles after having used them for many years."

Legal issues

Oral snuff, in the form of dipping tobaccoDipping tobacco

Dipping tobacco is a form of smokeless tobacco....
 and snusSnus

Snus is a moist powder tobacco, a kind of snuff....
 is banned from all countries of the European UnionEuropean Union

The European Union is an intergovernmental and supranational union of 25 democratic member states....
, except SwedenSweden

The Kingdom of Sweden is a Nordic country in Scandinavia....
, where the sale of snuff is legal. .

In spite of legal issues, snuff is readily available over the counter in most European tobacco shops. In Britain, snuff is much cheaper than cigarettes and other tobacco products as it is tax exempt, however for duty free reasons snuff still carries the same limitations as tobacco products.

See also

  • Snuff boxesFacts About Decorative boxes

    Though the purpose of a box may be purely functional, boxes can also be very decorative and artistic....
  • Snuff bottleSnuff bottle

    Snuff bottles were used by the Chinese to contain powdered tobacco during the Qing Dynasty....
  • Snuff MillsSnuff Mills

    Snuff Mills is a park in the Frenchay area of north Bristol....
  • Anatomical snuff boxAnatomical snuff box

    The anatomical snuffbox, or radial fossa,, is a triangular deepening on the radial, dorsal aspect of the hand - at the...
  • Jack and His Golden Snuff-BoxFacts About Jack and His Golden Snuff-Box

    Jack and His Golden Snuff-Box is a Gypsy fairy tale collected by Joseph Jacobs in English Fairy Tales....
    ,
    a fairy tale
  • Lycoperdon perlatumLycoperdon perlatum

    The gem-studded puffball or devil's snuff-box is a moderate sized puffball mushroom with a round fruiting body, taperi...
    , Devil's Snuff Box, a mushroom
  • Verrucous carcinomaVerrucous carcinoma

    Verrucous carcinoma is a variant of squamous cell carcinoma....
    , "snuff dippers carcinoma"
  • AnadenantheraAnadenanthera

    Anadenanthera is a genus of South American trees in the Legume family, Fabaceae....
    , source of an hallucinogenic snuff known as CohobaFacts About Cohoba

    Cohoba is an old Spanish transliteration for a ceremony in which psychedelic ground seed of the cojóbana tree was smoked in ...
    , see also Vilca, Yopo, nopolyopoAnadenanthera peregrina var. peregrina

    Anadenanthera peregrina var. peregrina is a tree in the Fabaceae family....
  • Asarum europaeumAsarum europaeum

    Asarum europaeum, or Asarabacca, European Wild Ginger, Haselwort, and Wild Spikenard, is a Europ...
    , a ginger plant once used as a snuff
  • GradanGradan

    Gradan was an expeditious method of drying grain for the quern, by burning the straw....
  • MarengoMarengo (horse)

    Marengo was the famous war mount of Napoleon....
  • Artisans
    • George Michael MoserGeorge Michael Moser

      George Michael Moser was a renowned artist and enameller of the 18th century, father of celebrated floral painter Mary Moser...
      , eighteenth century snuff-box maker
    • The BlarenbergheBlarenberghe

      Louis-Nicolas and Henri-Joseph van Blarenberghe were two french brothers born in Lille painting usually in Gouache dur...
       brothers
    • Daniel MacneeDaniel Macnee

      Sir Daniel Macnee was a Scottish portrait painter....
    • Juste-Aurčle MeissonnierJuste-Aurčle Meissonnier

      Juste Aur?le Meissonier was a French goldsmith, sculptor, painter, architect, and furniture designer....
    • James Sandy, inventor of airtight "LaurencekirkLaurencekirk

      Laurencekirk is a small town in Scotland, just off the A90 Dundee to Aberdeen main road....
       hinge".
    • Rosalba CarrieraRosalba Carriera

      Rosalba Carriera was a Venetian painter....
    • Adolf Frederick of SwedenAdolf Frederick of Sweden

      Adolf Frederick was King of Sweden from 1751 until his death....
    • Free club for lovers of snuff to review and chat about nasal snuff.
    • Snuff tobacco UK Website.

Further reading

  • Ursula Bourne, Snuff. Shire Publications, 1990.
  • John D. Hinds, "The Use of Tobacco." 1882.