Most likely this goes in the “unanswerable” pile, but I often wonder how there can be so many American scotches still available on the market from American Snuff, Swisher and U.S. Smokeless. The cans all look like they were designed in 1920, and from what I’ve read most stores in the American south only carry one or two scotches. How is it that there is enough demand to keep Bruton, Society, Tube Rose, Dixie, etc etc etc on the market? I wonder if they’re still producing them or if they’re just selling off old stock till it runs out. Apart from a very minor resurgence in interest in nasal snuffs in the u.s., I’m sure that most of these brands have survived because of oral users (apparently older woman using them with hickory sticks), but even with that how can all the brands possibly survive? Why would you dip dry snuff when moist snuff is so much easier to keep in place? Do they make a batch of each brand one day of the year?
I’ve often wondered too. But it seems they must sell, or they would not make them, or make so many of them. It seems there are more dry scotch snuffs than there are moist snuffs. Granted not all stores sell them all, but my local grocery store sells Bruton, WE Garret, regular and Sweet, Red Seal, and Honest. So, they must be selling them. Apart from nasal snuff interest from people here, I have never heard them mentioned as being a regular use, as an oral snuff. You never see youtube videos, apart from the very few that have gotten them with a new interest in nasal snuff. I have never in real life met anyone that uses these also. So, I do wonder. Is there that many elderly old women with hickory sticks out there? And I don’t live in the boonies either, yet they are for sale here at near every grocery, and local tobacco shop. What’s the sales of these, and the demographics of their users?
Well it sounds like you’re in a good position to find out the demographics of users and approximated sales figures of your local grocery store at least, though they may pull a gun on you for asking nosy questions (no pun intended).
I think there are so many because they are popular regionally. Those snuffs started as independent labels made in small snuff mills and they built a following in their area. Later they were bought up by large tobacco companies. Oral snuff users (most of which don’t use hickory sticks, they just put it in their lip) are fiercely loyal, so the label is continued and distributed in the area in which it was popular. I suspect some of the formulas have changed and some of the labels are simply copies of other snuffs the company manufactures (eg. I suspect that is true of RR Mills plain and Navy Plain)
I guess my wonderment is, is how much these sell? I know we may get a can, as nasal use afficianados, but 1 can lasts near a lifetime, so I suspect most national buyers buy them for oral use, but it seems that market would be rather small, not enough to sustain such a large variety of labels and types. It just seems there is way so many names and types of scotch snuff, sold near everywhere, that it would seem rather popular, yet it doesn’t seem to be at all. Maybe it is, I don’t know, but going by this forum’s nasal use, and a dip forum especially, it seems these do not have a large user base, or they are all real old and don’t post about it.
They are usually old so it is a market that will go away. Correction, has for the most part gone away. I read a comment om Nicotinerush by a gentleman who was buying for his mother who had moved in with him. She was distraught because “her” brand was not available in the city where her son lived. He was thankful he could find it on line. I think she is typical of the American Scotch user, especially the Sweet user. By now I doubt it is profitable for the tobacco companies to make so many or the stores to stock so many. Soon it will probably be down to Garrett Sweet and Scotch and Honest Scotch.
I wouldn’t be suprised there are more snuff users in America than people think. Not many people attend discussion forums, especially when they grew up with snuff use. Forums are more for people who switch to snuff and like to collect things. Many just use get their snuff from local shop and don’t make a fuss of it. And about the multiple brands, it’s just easier in a big country to preserve traditions because even a relatively small market can be enough in volume to keep brands alive. In Ireland we used to have 3 snuff mills with several types, now none even though snuff is still quite popular in West of Ireland. On other hand, UK snuff business is still there and doing ok. Capitalism works differently in small economies.
I have found nearly 20 brands locally now. Generally, I’ve only be found them in lower class neighborhoods though. I found a store that carried 7 or 8 types and a store a block away from it had never heard of them. They must be selling though. I’m sure I’m the only one in the state that uses them nasally! I’m pretty sure the hickory stick thing is an anachronism, even among this type of dip user. I think they are just poured or spooned into the lower lip. I have vague memories of childhood seeing something of the sort among some old women. We know the range is gradually decreasing as Lorillard Maccoboy and High Toast were still made up until recent years and DeVoe Sweet was discontinued only last year. I do think these will survive, though, but in a smaller range. I think we’ll probably see more of the sweet ones go away first. As far as keeping it in place, that’s not really the way these are used. The idea is to disolve as much as one can in saliva and then spit when the mouth can’t hold any more. One can pre moisten them, though, and create little wads that are notoriously similar to loose snus. Its probably not a common practice, but I’m sure I’m not the first to think of it either.
About a month ago I was waiting on a car repair at the Honda dealer. Sitting across from me was a middle-aged African-American man who was hitting a can of Carhart’s Sweet like you wouldn’t believe. Yes, nasally. I swear that he must have went through 1/3 of the can in 30 minutes. I was surprised for two reasons: 1) I never encounter a random stranger using nasal snuff, and 2) I’ve never seen Carhart’s anywhere but Nicotine Rush. I tried talking to him but he was not in a friendly mood. I asked him where he bought it and he snapped, “At the store, boy!” and rolled his eyes. That was the extent of the conversation. There are very few places I have found that sell snuff around here, and the selection is usually limited to Garrett, Garrett Sweet and Mild, and Honest. What I do notice is that this stuff definitely sells, although I’ve never actually witnessed anyone buying it. I have seen employees at a nearby smoke shop place two freshly opened flats of Garrett on the shelf and have noticed three days later that only three tins remain. OK, selling 21 cans of snuff in three days has to be laughable in comparison to the amount of cigarettes they must sell within the space of an hour, but still, someone is buying it. Whoever these mysterious purchasers are, I really am starting to wonder if more of them use it nasally than we tend to imagine. I would think that scotch snuff must be dirt cheap to manufacture. It appears that these products have not been advertised since the 1950s, so the marketing costs are absolutely zero. Scotch snuff probably consists of tobacco waste – the lowest grade tobacco bits and stems that are useless for any other product. Instead of throwing it out, they pulverize these floor sweepings into dry snuff.
Maybe we should have the FDA look at what’s in them! There is only up to a certain parts per million of bugs I can take up my nose and I think I got my daily quota on my bike ride with the gang today.
@kjoerup Situation same here in Dublin, hard men use snuff and you simply don’t go there snooping around their businesses, except in pubs.
I often read here people saying “XX Scotch snuff is sold in my local grocery” etc. Is this a particular Southern US thing? Because I have never been in a tobacco shop in the US that sold snuff of any description, let alone a Scotch snuff. My experience (when I had time to go to a tobacco shop - I love browsing them) is limited to Pittsburgh, Detroit, San Francisco, Colorado Springs, and Spokane WA. So, these places are all pretty “northern” or, like San Fran, pretty anti-tobacco. I should say I haven’t seen snuff of any kind in Canadian tobacco shops either - not in Vancouver, or Edmonton, or Toronto, or Montreal (and Montreal is the tobacco hub of Canada, I think!). As a kid they used to sell German snuff in corner stores in Edmonton, because of all the German immigrants (my folks were German immigrants too). Old Germans used to smoke pipes and take snuff (I was told - never saw them taking snuff, although the old Edelweis German-Canadian club used to have a pipe-smoker’s area). The snuff available back then, 35+ years ago, was only German, and I suspect now it was likely some sort of schmalzer. I do remember a friend of my father used to collect tins, and in addition to a wide variety of mini-kegs of German beer, he had snuff cans and bottles from all over the world, including a bottle of “Macoboy” (spelling?) which I am sure is an American snuff. However, he bought empty containers via mail and scrounged things on his travels, so I am also sure he didn’t pick it up in Edmonton…
@kjoerup: A few things: Very awesome that you witnessed a stranger taking snuff! Also, Carhart’s Choice is probably the most available snuff in these parts. Almost every store that I have found snuff carries CC. Try looking in African American neighborhoods. Conversly, I have never seen Garrett S&M here; only online. I can find the scotch readily, but not Sweet. Lastly, I don’t think they are using floor sweepings for snuff. Floor sweepings go into cigarettes. That becomes part of the reconsituted sheet tobacco that we saw on the Modern Marvels video a few weeks ago. Tobacco for snuff is generally high grade. The expression “up to snuff” originates from tobacco grades. @ Juxtaposer: They are compliant with exisiting FDA rules and post their ingrediants on their website. @Geraldo: I’m not exactly in the South here in Delaware, although southern Delaware is more culturally the South than northern DE. However, I can’t find scotch snuffs in the high end tobacco stores, but do find them occasionaly in places that call themselves “cigarette outlets.” Some of the high end shops will carry Pöschl, and in rare cases, English snuffs. As far as Canada goes, I’m pretty sure some English snuffs find their way onto Canadian shop shelves. I bought a jar of Smith’s some years ago in Halifax. Some other members have found some McChrystals there. There seems to be some snuff cuture in Detroit, so in Ontario across from Detroit I bet there is plenty. Keep looking, never give up hope! Maccoboy is the correct spelling (2 Cs) but it is a corruption of the word “Macouba.” Its one of 2 non-Scotch snuffs still made in the USA.
Oh, Carharts Choice is at my local grocery too.
Well I can speak for Manitoba, which is in the middle of Canada. Two or three years ago they pulled all nasal snuff, which was only ever found in speciality tobacco shops anyway (at least post-1980). The local tobacconist cannot re-stock because of the advertizing requirements: there has to be a giant warning, with picture, about tobacco products and the snuff makers simply can’t be bothered to comply with our regulations. Also, everything needs to be reproduced in French on the label. It’s a frustrating situation. Internet shopping is the only way for snuff geeks like me (and miners, who are apparently still regular customers) to get our fix. I still don’t quite understand how one dips dry snuff. I understand that you can make a pellet by moistening it, but why not buy it already moist then? I poured some W.E. Garrett into my bottom lip (as the smell doesn’t thrill me)–the bottom gets wet and the gum absorbs the nicotine, but the top stays dry and unused. Maybe I used too much; maybe I didn’t let it linger long enough. Don’t try to pack the tobacco with your tongue–I made that mistake.
Also, what sort of warning and picture COULD they put on snuff? I don’t think they can really say for certain that it causes cancer. Our cigarette warnings are very specific–one favourite shows a limp-looking cigarette and informs the user that cigarette use causes importence. Besides the general warnings about being addictive and damaging health, I guess they could say it may cause rhinitis and have a picture of a forlorn-looking person in bed surrounded by tissues and “breathe right” nasal strips…
hence the “may cause” rhinitis, though you might find that the rhinitis is worse than before if you ever stopped taking snuff. or you might not, maybe it has actually helped you–what do I know… otrivin or dristan can also clear up rhinitis in the short term but make it much worse in the long term due to the rebound effect. at any rate, this sounds like a job for Roderick at Toque–be the first to get your snuff on the Canadian market by complying with our regulations!
I still can’t really figure out how Indians use their dry snuff? Which I read is mostly women, and used orally. I want to see a video of an actual woman in India using their snuff, so I can see exactly how it’s done.
@tom502 Got a photo for you of a indian women doing snuff 
Tobacco snuff is made by selecting tobacco leaf and disintegrating it into a coarse powder. It is next ground in a manual or mechanical mill, and then sieved. Various essential oils may then be added for flavouring, after which it is stored in airtight containers to allow the flavour to permeate uniformly.
What I have read, is that sniffing of snuff is rare in India, and it’s mainly used orally. Even the Dholakia Sparrow sachett says Strongest Taste, and their website says Manjul is popular oral snuff. The reason I brought up Indian snuffs, is it seems similar the use of American scotches, in that it has a popular oral history, yet is also used nasally.