Howdy! I see a lot of people use the word “SNUFFING”… To me this just doesn’t sound right! I do not “SNUFF,” I “SNIFF” I “SNIFF SNUFF” or I am a “SNUFF SNIFFER.” What is the general consent?

“sniffing” sounds more generic to me than the action we’re performing. Likewise, “inhaled” sounds like smoking and implies a deeper breath than we use for snuff. Technically, we should say we’re “insuffilating” the tobacco. But I agree that it sometimes sounds strange. I think “taking snuff” is a good compromise.

‘To snuff’ is a transitive verb, at least according to the Oxford English Dictionary (probably the closest thing we have to an authority for our wonderfully fluid and flexible language): —Quote— snuff, v.2 Pronunciation: /snʌf/ 1. To draw up or in through the nostrils by the action of inhalation —/Quote— The entry includes a quote from a 1555 source: “Snuffinge vp into theyr nosethryls the pouder.” Having said that, ‘sniffing’ and ‘snuffing’ both work for me.

I definately snuff. Stefan

I inject it directly into my eyeballs. Have I been doing it wrong?

I said once that i “snorted”, to which my better half corected that i “sniff”. All in all, i prefer “to snuff”.

I dun’no… “Sniffing” seems to have a more refined air about it… “To snuff” seems to be a very short step away from “to snort.” Am I the voice of one crying in the wilderness?

I am snuffing because I am sniffing snuff. However I have been known to insufflate. Sniffing, snuffing, snorting and stuffing is what we do here in the snuff house but in the wilderness of non-snuffers which word do you think would be most self explanatory?

In my local area, “snorting” is the one most people are familiar with (due to the prevalance of pill-heads). If I use the word “sniff”, I have to follow it with the phrase “up my nose.” Most of the others draw blank stares. “Snuffing” causes me to have to explain moist vs. dry snuff since most assume that I mean a dip of moist.

I snuff snuff. ‘Insufflating’ sounds like a medical procedure and ‘sniffing’ is something I do to work out if I need to change my sneakers. I’m not aware (but not certain either) of the word ‘sniff’ being used by any of the small amount of snuff writers (McCausland, Matoom Curtis et al) who seemed to avoid adopting any particular verb on grounds of gentility. ‘Snuff’ seems to be a pleasantly descriptive and utilitarian little word.

I take snuff and am a snuff taker. No sniffing, no snuffing, just taking snuff. And I’m correct about this.

I also take snuff, nothing else sounds quite right.

Pennanngalan brings up a point that strengthens my argument… In my neck of the woods the only “snuff” that people know about is dip. Thus my use of the term “snuff sniffer” to differentiate.

To each his/her own. But…I think ‘snuff’, ‘sniff’ and ‘snort’ are all ultimately onomatopœic.

I snuff my snuff. However when people ask what im doing im sniffing snuff. If im taking some taxi im inhaling snuff.

In your neck of the words, people are ignorant of the meanings of the term snuff. They’re only aware of one definition. That still doesn’t negate the fact that “to snuff” is a perfectly valid transitive verb, as brigstowe pointed out. Sniffing, to me, sounds as if you’re opening the tin, leaning in to get a whiff of the scent, and putting the lid back on without having actually taken any snuff. Also, I’ve never heard anyone refer to taking a pinch of Cope as snuffing, so it’s not really as if you need to differentiate between the two. It seems to me like you’re attempting to jump through semantic hoops to accommodate people who are ignorant of your particular hobby, which just strikes me as silly. If people see you taking a pinch, they’ll understand what you mean when you say you’re snuffing. If you’re not taking a pinch, chances are good you’re being like someone who’s found a new diet or religion; you’re talking about it constantly, thinking everyone is as enthralled with it as you are, when they’re just hoping the eccentric guy will be quiet already. Which is pretty normal when people find something new they like, they want to share it with others. Still, I see this whole debate on semantics as only serving to aid people who will most likely never become aware that it had ever occurred.

@shikitohno, do you really, really think this was necessary? I don’t.

shikitohno is absolutely right… In my neck of the woods, when one “takes a pinch of snuff” they are sticking a wad between their cheek and gums. “To snuff” is technically correct, but there is a big difference between making a technically correct statement and coherently communicating with people. I know – I’m a technical writer. To communicate, one does not make a statement that can be understood… You make a statement that can NOT be MISUNDERSTOOD. There is a big difference!

We rural and uneducated people (WV) hear “snuffing” and make the assumption it concerns moist tobacco since that is what we are familiar with. Even the dry snuffs are dipped here in the US. I don’t know why, but that is how it is. If someone asks, I see no problem speaking to others in a way that they can understand without a drawn-out explanation. I stopped talking over people’s heads years ago, having to explain what I was saying in detail got rather tiresome.

Is that because the moist snuff / dip which folks use in the States evolved from the dry stuff?

Round our way to get a bit of ‘sniff’ is to get some cocaine. So i prefer to ‘snuff’.

@ brigstowe - As far as I know, that is the case. We seem to have recycled the words to different meanings instead of making new ones for a different way of doing things.

This is a little off-topic, but have any of you guys tried using dry snuff orally? Can’t imagine it would be to my taste, but I bet you could find the occasional Good Old Boy who dips his Scotch.

Yes I have… not very tasty. Most people in America who use scotch snuff dip it. Only one person I have ever spoken with has even been aware that people actually snort tobacco into their noses (on purpose). This individual (in his late 50’s) told me his grandparents would fill their nostrils with Bruton and then pour some into their lip.

@Pennangalan: Well, I stand corrected. Living throughout the North East, I’ve never heard it referred to as snuffing, only as dipping, packing a lip, or using dip. I guess some people do say it like that. @PieterClaasen: What exactly are you taking issue with? People by howdydave ARE ignorant of the meaning of snuff, based on what he’s said. It’s not putting them down, they genuinely don’t know about other forms of snuff. And I stand by my statement that this is a debate for the benefit of folks who likely will never be aware it took place, and likely don’t really care. Also, from my experience on this forum and others, when people come to snuff or snus, they generally want to share their new discovery with others, the majority of which seem to feel they’d rather we just let them do their thing and not constantly try to get them on board with what we’re doing. I’ve done it myself, where I was the guy constantly trying to get people to give it a whirl. I’m not saying it’s necessarily a bad thing. The comparison to a new diet or religion only served to emphasize the point about this being a debate for the benefit of those who don’t really care. I don’t mean any offence towards howdydave or others, but that was the most concise way I could think of to get my point across. I think howdydave got what I meant, and realised that I didn’t say anything with malice, but I enjoy talking with you on here, so if you take issue with something I post, let me know so I can avoid bothering you in the future. Apologies to anyone who took offence, but none was intended.

Successful communication requires more than clarity on the part of the speaker/writer. It also requires an attentive, open, and active mind to receive the message. Without the latter, regardless of how specific the message is, the listener/reader is likely to misunderstand.

I think that rather than Pieter failing in any of those regards, he was either annoyed because either I could have phrased things better in his opinion, or that this is another of those moments where being able to convey tone of voice over the internet would’ve helped avoid confusion, with text and the internet not conveying emotion/tone as well as speech can.

Oh, I wasn’t speaking about Pieter, or of anyone in particular. It was just a general observation on the nature of the communicative process. I merely wanted to point out that a message can fail despite the best efforts of the one who composed it (and in fact, often does).

I’ve got to take shikitohno’s side on one issue. As long as we do not confuse “ignorance” with “stupidity,” then I totally agree that the people in my parts are ignorant when it comes to nasal snuff.

BTW: In case you have not yet caught on… Agitating and promoting debates (preferably heated) around me while just sitting back and watching the show is a favorite sport of mine.

@shikitohno, when one takes up a new “hobby” and is serious about it, one tends to talk a lot about it. We’ve all done that. For “old timers” it might get irritating but we should not let it show. I’m always weary to “preach” to newcomers because I don’t want them to leave the forum. That’s why I’ve asked you whether you thought it was necessary to talk to howdydave like you did with the emphasis on “necessary”. I do not want to “fight” with anyone, I’m already to old for that. What I would like to see here is respect for one another, even if you do not always agree. We should give everyone room to move in. I’m pretty sure you will understand what I’m saying because you are an intelligent young man

I’m pretty sure the verb “to snuff” orignated before the noun. One “snuffed” tobacco into one’s nose, then said tobacco eventually became known as snuff. Therefore, I snuff. I snuff snuff. I snuff snuff tobacco. I’m not going to deliberatley modify my speech for the ignorant. To do so dumbs down the language. Furthermore, those that use moist snuff, as shikitohno points out, NEVER use the word “snuff” they invaribaly refer to it as “dip” or simply “tobacco”. Somwhere back in their race memory, they know that what they are using is not actually snuff, even though it says so on the label.

@Pieter: Its cool. I don’t think anyone here is angry or was out of line. Its just debate.

@Pieter, I wouldn’t worry too much about it. Although Dave may not mention it out of modesty, he is hardly a newbie. When I first started snuffing in the late 1990’s, his was one of the first webpages devoted to snuffing (along with that of Prof. Griffiths). I daresay howdydave has been snuffing longer than most on this board.

For the record, I favor the infinitive “to snuff”

To me “snuff” always seemed to be a past tense (of some form or another) of “sniff.” Probably all in my head. Then again, maybe that is one of the many inadequacies one must learn to endure when one learns English in the USA. Basing on how they learned me English: I ain’t never made but one gramatical error in my life and I seen it when I done it and I taken it back. As Winston Churchill said: “We are two peoples separated by a common language.”

Snuffed would be past tense. To snuff and to sniff are both present tenses and both are correct, although I would suspect that “to snuff” is the more archaic usage. Of course, we are engaged in a fairly archaic hobby, so I think old fashioned usage is appropriate. To each his own.

Pieter sniffed the snuff the snuff he snuffed…

I’m the man!!!

I hate to break it to you Xander, but the phrase “hang-on while I get a dip of snuff” is heard daily all around my geographic region. It may be localized, but I’ve heard it all my 36 years. I guess that’s just how us hillbillies roll

yeah they don’t snuff it though. Although similiar a snuff is not a sniff and a sniff is not a snuff. I think a snuff classicaly (I could be wrong so don’t quote me on this) is when you breath in sharply but not deeply kind of like a shallow snort. A sniff is what you do when your trying to figure out where that poop smell is coming from. If I’am wrong I’am still right about one thing, which is I’d rather snuff then sniff. Sniff sounds very crude to me. The Yokels here call it sniffing snuff. That always makes me cringe, the worst part is it’s always the really cool yokels that even know what snuff is so I have to subtley teach them it’s nasal snuff.

Sociological proof for snuff taking: a child asked mother ‘what that man is doing’ when I took a pinch sitting on park bench. ‘He is taking snuff!’ was the answer.

I’ve decided not to participate in the using of ground tobacco anymore because I do not know how to use it…sniff, snuff or snort. And that’s because of you, Dave!! As from today I will just BURN my tobacco in a pipe and sniff the smoke coming from the bowl. I’m talking about the pipe’s bowl, not my bowls.

yeah just wanted to ad that Daves website was the first snuff related website I learned anything from.

SNUFF DIPPER by HOMER HOEHANDLE (aka Lynn Grissom) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFDxx8zVv6A

Howdy Pieter! Well… Hang my head in shame! BTW: Can I have your stash?

Howdy rdunnion! Notice Homer the snuff dipper doesn’t have any teeth? Wa’ja bet that’s due to dip-rot?