I can’t believe it myself. As of late I have been dealing with some aliments that I can only attribute to snuff use. I am not a doctor, but I am able to research my symptoms and draw my own conclusions. Within the last 6 months, I have increased the amount of pinches per day. From 3 to at least 8 Also within this time I have experienced, high blood pressure, chest “pains” not really pains but… chest feelings, and I have had an eye twitch that will not go away. After a little research on the internet, I have learned all are related to overuse of stimulants. tobacco being the only stimulant next to caffeine that I use. Now, this pisses me off to no end because I enjoy snuff, and it allowed me to quit smoking for over a year now. But it would appear that now there is yet another enjoyment that I have to cut down on. If I have to quit wine, I’m going to lose it!!! So for the last 4 days I have not used snuff at all, trying to purge what Nicotine may be left in my system. Today was my first pinch of beautiful grapefruit. God how I missed it! The chest pains have lessened, the blood pressure has dropped, but still getting those damn eye twitches. I guess like I’ve been told, too much of anything isn’t good. What freaks me out the most is… I"M ONLY 30! God help me for my physical next week. I can use all the luck I can get people! …nightcap.

Right, try to eliminate one thing at a time so you don’t come to a wrong conclusion. Hope you feel better.

3 to 8 pinches a day is nothing. I hardly think you are overdoing it. I probably do 3 times that much (or more) myself, and use other tobacco products as well. Consider that there may be other causes to your ailments. Also watch the salt intake for your high blood pressure.

I get an eye twitch from time to time. Annoying as hell. As for HBP and chest pains, I would guess you should see a doc. Good luck on the physical.

I would look at your caffeine and things like aspartame and MSG if you smoked before I think you would have noticed it before.

Myself, my BP is on the high side, but that’s because I am too fat, and have metabolic syndrome, which means I should stop eating flour foods. But darn, that fine white powder is more addictive than anything, and if I die, it will be from that. Tom

thanks for the replies guys… Other then my alcohol intake… due to my profession of course…wink I can’t 'figure it out. The pains in the chest, I h8 to call them pains. They are a combination of a burning sensation, a tickle, and a cramp. All that I’m left with is the fact the nicotine is a stimulant, and stimulants can do things like this. About 6 months ago there was a thread about eye twitches. someone was talking about how they couldn’t get rid of this twitch and it was driving then crazy. I only snuffing for half a year at the time told them they had nothing to worry about, and that it should go away in time and it had nothing to do with snuff. Well after reading up on eye twitches, they are caused by lack of sleep, and an increased amount of stimulants. ie nicotine, caffeine, any “non drowsy” med’s… So I have my theories. I’m not bad mouthing snuff in any way!!! I love the stuff. I guess I was seeing if anyone else had similar symptoms like myself.

I will not provide advice, but I think your doctor will. I think you should chat to him/her. I don’t think members of a snuff forum are qualified to help. I hope you find an answer that puts your mind at rest. All I will say is that I suffer from bouts of anxiety and panic which often result in a variety of symptoms, such as chest pain, breathlessness, throat blockages, nausea and dizziness. They have come and gone since I was a teenager. I am beginning to learn to deal with them and suffer far less now. Good luck.

I hope I have not come across as someone pleading for help or bashing snuff. this was not my purpose. i was just wondering if anyone else has experienced the same symptoms as myself, and if they felt it was stimulant related. Although, I do thank everyone who has shared thoughts and given “best of luck”. Tank you again. I’m still here and still snuffing. Just scratching the surface as it were. …nightcap.

Have you tried taking more snuff to cure your ills? No joke. That funny tickle sensation you describe in your chest sounds to me very much what I feel when I crave a cigarette. I don’t know how much you smoked when you did and never got addicted, or if you just smoked so often that the feeling never had a chance to come. However, since taking snuff and regulating my cigarettes to 2 a day, I find that I never get that chest itch feeling. You might well be having nicotine cravings and not realize it. Also the 3 symptoms you describe could all be unrelated to each other. Give it a little time and see if it persists. Our bodies have a way of sorting things out for us (at least the minor things).

@Mifnightmosesuk, you too!.. glad (or sad) to hear i’m not the only one. for me it was kind of a side effect of taming my a.d.d. on my own but it is few and far between and also Xander i too find that it happens sometimes when i’m craving nic.

I had similar symptoms in the fall, when I was smoking cigars a LOT, along with nonfiltered cigarettes. I did seem to get into an anxiety loop over it, like what midnightmosesuk was mentioning. I did cut back on cigar usage, and that helped. But what also seemed to help was not worrying about it. Another thing was, I’d just quit drinking about that time, which accounted for quite a bit of stress. I still get minor pains here and there, but I try not to pay too much attention to them. As far as stimulants go, I think caffeine could eat nicotine for breakfast and still be hungry. I don’t get headaches if I don’t smoke, whereas I would probably get a migraine so bad I’d end up throwing up if I ever went a whole day without coffee. And I can smoke or take several pinches of snuff right before I go to sleep and not have a problem, which I can’t exactly do with coffee. So, quit drinking coffee, and the wine should help cancel out any of the negligible ill effects of nicotine.

Nightcap, I take between 5 and 10 pinches per hour without any ill effects. I also drink to much coffee which does have a negative effect on me and I’m trying to cut down. I suffer from HBP and have 5 stents in my chest and one in my leg and I’m almost 65 years old. On the 17th of February I was tested for THREE HOURS as a check-up and everything was PERFECT. So, don’t worry, be happy!! I wish you luck with your medical but try to calm down and not worry, otherwise the results might be bad. I agree with other posters that stess might be your biggest problem. One’s body can play up in strange ways. In the meantime, DO NOT cut back on your snuffing 'cause doing so will make you feel WORSE. You are in my thoughts. Regards from South Africa Pieter

Hmm you do not mention palpitations, rather chest pains, and no mention of panic attacks, Nightcap, so I’m not so sure it is an anxiety disorder (which I used to get too, had to go through that ECG procedure as midnight moses described; I thought I had heart disease or something lol!, turns out to be anxiety…). Anyway, as others have suggested, I think stress could very well be the problem…It seems to manifest in many diverse ways, depending on the person. Like you say stimulants probably exacerbate the condition, and the combination of caffeine and nicotine (remember nicotine levels are much higher in snuff than cigarettes) is fairly potent on the blood vessels (causing vasoconstriction and temporary high blood pressure). So a cut back is probably in order. I’d say diet plays a huge role in such matters too (low salt, low saturated fats, bla bla). I would like to just put on record though that the time I started drinking coffee and tea in large quantities (~age 19) coincided with the end of my palpitations ended (as well as migraines!). So i’m a big believer in caffeine being a salubrious alkaloid… but probably not when suffering from, or prone to, stress (same with nicotine).

Since starting snus and snuff, and quitting cigs my BP has actually went down. I am drinking less coffee, but I am surely getting more nicotine. I chain snus, and still use 2-6 pinches of snuff an hour, (small pinches compared to some of you hardcore guys). Point being, I would also advise looking at causes other than snuff/nicotine.

I have heard of people thinking they are having a heart attack, and going to the hospital, having chest pains, ect, and it’s related to indigestion/gas, maybe there is an actual term for this, I don’t recall. While I don’t want to discount anything, as I am only a non-trained theorist, but the amount of snuff taken does seem very light. I am no way a big time snuffer, and I do more than that, and I have had hbp since before I started snuff, not too long ago. I have noticed a more stimulated feeling, and in my chest, and that may be nictoine, as it is a stimulant. Though it seems to have lessened, as I guess my body is getting used to it, as I am pretty new. But I have noticed different body effects from different methods of nicotine usage. I feel a good kick with snuff. Snus made me feel ill. Ciggs sometimes are nice, but then sometimes they are ugh, why am I doing this. Bottom line, IMO, if one does have feelings they are really concerned about, see a doc. Docs arn’t perfect, and often I find them ignorant on many subjects, but if it’s something obvious, it may be noticed. And if one believes it may be from a certain thing, take a break from it, or lessen it’s usage, like do it so many times, at certain times. I know snus gave me heartburn and an upset stomach. The only “negative” I sometimes feel with snuff, is a sometimes stimulated feeling in my chest, that’s not all the time, and I guess it can be expected to some degree, but that’s mainly due to my uncontrolled diet, and condition created by, and I get it with coffee too. Just my rant, but don’t risk your life by ignoring something(even though I probably would) Tom

Would 3-8 pinches even equate to a cigarette? have you tried different brands to see if they all have the same effect? It just seems unlikely that an ex smoker would be affected by such a small amount of nicotine, but I hope it works itself out so that you don’t loose yet another pleasure.

GET A STRESS TEST! My symptoms were similar. My EKG’s were all normal. Doc suggested a stress test. It saved my life. I was immediately taken to the hospital. After the stents were put in, and the nurse wasn’t looking…A nice BIG pinch of Rooster laying right there in recovery! LOL!

Well guys, I’ve not gone to the doctor yet, but I’ve got down to 4 pinches a day and I do notice a difference. Perhaps for myself, I am sensitive to the means of nasal absorption of nicotine? Yes life is full of stress. But that IS life! My “unwind” is a glass(x3) of scotch and a pinch of what I’ve got going, plus what ever I’m listening to at the moment. I also find myself packing my Peterson Pipe with a VA/PER. That’s a good unwind. My father always taught me to " step back from the forest and see the tree". I’ve done my investigations, and made my conclusions, and there is a bit of a difference. Perhaps for myself, large amounts of nicotine doesn’t work? …i was never a heavy smoker. maybe 4 smokes a week. Anyways, What doing is making a difference, and i plan to continue. i’ve not quit snuff, just cut down.

What gave me a nic OD was snus. Ugh, I felt terrible, sweating, nausas, just terrible. Smokes, cigars, snuff, even a lip of W.E. Garrett didn’t give me any kind of feeling snus did, and I am glad. And I am glad, for I do like snuff, and an occasional smoke. Probably won’t try Garrett in the lip again though, yuch. Tom502

I knew a guy that liked that feeling that tom discribes. He’d bum snus and snuff off me and smoke. He was crazy so that might explain the liking it. Yeah a couple of times I’ve felt like that and it isn’t pleasant. Only happened once with snuff I said what happens if I snuff half this tin tonight (I was sixteen) it sucked also couldn’t sleep that night (though I tend towards insomnia alot.

TOBACCO is the only source of nicotine. For four centuries or more it has been used for chewing, snuffing, or smoking, but no population has given up one form of tobacco use without replacing it with another. The only time the British gave up smoking was in the 18th century, when they switched to snuffing for almost a hundred years. The common factor is nicotine. There is no tar or carbon monoxide without combustion. Nicotine is absorbed through the lungs in cigarette smoking, through the buccal mucosa in tobacco chewing, and through the nasal mucosa in snuffing. What about snuff? Would it be a satisfactory alternative for dependent cigarette smokers? Snuffing is simply a matter of inserting powdered tobacco into the nose, and thus has two major advantages. Firstly, there are no products of combustion such as tar, carbon monoxide, and oxides of nitrogen. Secondly, it cannot be inhaled into the lungs, which eliminates any risk of lung cancer, which kills almost 30,000 British smokers a year. Would snuff provide enough nicotine to satisfy the dependent cigarette smoker? The historical evidence suggests that it could. We are studying the absorption of nicotine by cigar smokers and snuff users. Preliminary findings presented here show that the absorption of nicotine from snuff is very rapid; snuff could be sufficiently satisfying for cigarette smokers to switch to snuffing relatively easily. METHODS We measured blood-nicotine and blood-carboxyhæmoglobin (COHb) in cigar smokers and in snuff users. RESULTS Even with this form of non-inhaled cigar smoking, nicotine absorption was initially very slow. By contrast the absorption from a single pinch of snuff was extremely rapid. DISCUSSION The rate of nicotine absorption from snuff is very rapid. The blood-nicotine level of over 40 ng/ml matches the peak levels found in heavy cigarette smokers. Although the snuff user does not get the puff-by-puff high nicotine boli obtained by inhaling cigarette smokers, it takes the cigarette smoker about 10 min to reach a peak nicotine level compared with 5 min or less for a snuff user. Snuff may well be a satisfactory and acceptable substitute for cigarette smoking. In addition to its capacity to deliver nicotine, snuff could provide many other components of the smoking habit, such as a variety of aromas, attractive packaging, and intricate sensorimotor rituals which add to the pleasure and social aspects of the habit. Furthermore, it is likely to be acceptable to all social classes, since its present limited use ranges from velvet-curtained lounges to the depths of coal mines. Switching from cigarettes to snuff could have enormous health benefits. Although some problems could arise from continued absorption of nicotine and local nasal irritation in heavy users, the absence of tar and gases such as carbon monoxide, oxides of nitrogen, and many other toxic combustion products, would virtually eliminate smoking-related cancer, bronchitis, and possibly heart disease. Also, snuff does not contaminate the atmosphere for non-users.
Our findings suggest that a new age for snuff is a feasible alternative to cigarette smoking. Snuff could save more lives and avoid more ill-health than any other preventive measure likely to be available to developed nations well into the 21st century.

Firstly there is radioactive lead and polonium in tobacco. and secondly I’ll bet your ass it gets in your lungs. But yes don’t smoke, snuff Toque! The more you snuff, the less you smoke. Smoking is much worse than snuffing by far for all the reasons mentioned above. But don’t expect to live for more than ten thousand years, or one hundred without any wear and tear for that matter.

In my case caffeine contributes much more to high BP problems than nicotine. I’ve wondered why it was always much higher at the doctors office than it was the evening before when I checked it at home. I finally put 2&2 together and realized that after drinking a few cups of coffee at home,I would go straight to the doctors usually drinking a cup on the way. I monitored it at home over the next couple days and after my morning coffee and snus (this before I found snuff) it would be in the pre-hypertension stage (140+ over 90+) and slowly return to normal within 2-3 hrs. I quit drinking coffee and the BP problems went away. It actually drops a little when I use snus,but rises a little when I snuff,maybe because of the rapid absorption rate. I don’t worry about that because my normal BP is on the low side. I loved coffee and went through a few days of nasty headaches after quitting but I was happy it wasn’t my snus and snuff causing it.

Tobacco is not the only source of nicotine. Nicotine is a toxin used by plants of the Solenaceae family (which includes tobacco, tomato and pepper plants) as a self defence mechanism. Tribes in Peru smoke dried wild tomato leaves for their nicotine. Don’t try it at home though, the flavour is repulsive apparently.

Sandy, wonder what snuff made from dried tomato leafs will be like?

I’ll take mine in spaghetti sauce, thank you!

Well, I’ve got some tomato plants growing in the house and they smell horrendous (not unlike cat urine) so I can’t imagine them making for good snuffing.

Eggplant has the highest concentration of nicotine after tobacco. However, its a tiny amount.

I’ll take mine baked, in spaghetti sauce…

Nicotiana Glauca has anabasine but not nicotine.

@Pieter, not nice. Tomato leaves are mildly hallucenagenic. The actual fruits also contain trace levels of nictotine interestingly.

@ sandy130674: Mildly hallucinogenic, you say? Hmm… and the fruit contains nicotine? That reminds me of an episode of The Simpsons when Homer grows the ‘Tomacco’ crop.

@Ibild - I may have missed an explanation somewhere, but when you say ‘we’ in respect to your last post who are you talking about? Are you undertaking a formal study of tobacco use? Apologies if you have already explained somewhere but I’ve not been on the forum much lately.

Suffster, The aforementioned post comes from the website of a guy in England, it was a (cut/paste)… Their were some other studies done on smokers and snuffers that i cant find… What they did was draw blood from smokers before they smoked their cigarettes, the again 10 min after… The point of those test were to measure the amount of nicotine in the blood stream… They did the same test on people who snuffed… They also measured heavy smokers,snuffers moderate and occasional smoker,snuffers… The conclusion of those test were that Snuff was the quickest way to get your nicotine, and also in the largest amounts of nicotine… Yes other plants ie"niteshade family" do contain a trace amount of nicotiana but tobacco is the only one in which we get our nicotine… Tobacco plants have the largest amount of nicotiana… I am not sure the amount they contain and i dont know how much we get in a smoke, sniff, cigar, or pipe… I read someplace that most of the nicotine is dissolved when it is burnt, but you still get some from smoking, just not as much as when it is snuffed… So the active ingredient that keeps me and probably most of you taking your daily dose, is the “nicotiana” or nicotine as we call it… I have been told that nicotine is as addictive or more addictive then heroin but i dont know that for certain, since i never had nor do i plan on trying heroin so who knows… Hope that clears it up for snuffster, as most of my ramble is based off my memory and i suffer from chronic CRS… ibild

Thanks mate, it certainly does. With respect to Heroin, I can speak with some authority on this, having been addicted to Morphine. Addictions are measured, obviously, by the urge to take the substance, ie how often and how much, and also by the effects of not taking it. Opiate addiction knocks nicotine addiction into a whole row of cocked hats. In my case, the desire for Morphine and the cold turkey from not taking it was literally hellish. By the way, my addiction was through getting badly injured at work and then being presecribed it, ‘street’ users tend to take far more and suffer to the extent that it fuels crime.

I think nicotine’s addictiveness is overrated, at least chemically. Its the habits and routines and things we do while enjoying nicotine that make it hard to break. Smoking cigarettes in particular, since the hand to mouth motion becomes so routine. Also, I think we are culturally conditioned to think that once you are on it, you have to be doing it constantly.

Good point about addiction, as I am sure anabasine is as addictive as nicotine. There are studies being done as to whether the first one can replace the second. I personally am waiting anxiously for the results. Leonurine (in dagga) is also as addictive I understand to a similar degree. Don’t forget people, alcohol is also addictive and can be much more destuctive, so prioritize accordingly please.

If nicotine is more addictive than heroin then I may take up heroin as an occasional treat instead of the one piece of twist tobacco I have each evening

sounds good sandy. I can find hookah bars in the phonebook, but no opium dens. we really need to open one up here.

addicition I define as the level of need to take something. Which is diffrent for everyone. Another definition is how likely someone trying to quit something will remain off of it. This is all pretty personal and changes with each persons make up. However for me at least nicotine is really very addictive.

I am dealing with a similar uncomfortable feeling in the chest.  I’ve never experienced this until coming off of long term, high volume marijuana usage (half oz to 1 oz a week).  When I ditched the marijuna, overnight I might add, it wasn’t very long before the ensuing palpitations came.  So I found out that this is how the addrenal gland will sometimes respond to heavy pot usage.  It, the gland will secrete the hormone in the absence of the potent sedative as your body adjusts to a new state of mental and physical conditions.  The best articles I came upon, as I am no doctor, explained that as the hightened levels of adrenaline hormone are secreted and eliminated, it will often, if not likely have this precise palpitative play upon the heart.  Without the marijuana the adrenal gland is trying to induce a fight or flight response.  Okay there you have it.  Highly controversial when we take up the mantle against Mary of the Jane clan.  

To add insult to injury Nicotine is also an adrenostimulant.  Again, though not a doctor, I am inclined to agree with this tid bit.  I find that Nicotine, in the two forms that I like to imbibe, pipe n snuff, do just what my chest was doing just following my Mary Jane cessation.  I have zero pain or discomfort in my chest with the exception of the occasional palpitation.  Which is certainly uncomfortable, but I imagine if it were accompanied with any kind of continued chest pain or discomfort I’d have been to the ER by now.  

Anyhow, if others of you can share similar experiences let me know.  Or if you think my words are rife with fancy and unscientific to the core… you chime in too.  Cheers Snuffers!  Up Yours with love!

I’ve cut down on Snuff and lately I been using snus a lot more just because it’s easier than using nasal snuff and you still get a nice nicotine Rush depending on which snus you get.

Like everything else it’s moderation. Maybe use less strong snuffs and decrease your use gradually to avoid nicotine withdrawal jitters?

@matteob There are days that I don’t take any snuff  and I don’t get any jitters, or notice any real ill effects. 

I would recommend intense exercise, I find that always gets me feeling even.  

Not everyone responds the same way, and to an extent you just have to discover what works for you. Keep your fluid levels up, keep busy (distracted), and be patient. When making changes to your intake, it can take a while for things to settle down. Seek medical advice (face to face professional, not internet opinion) as necessary.

I’d be very interested in learning about a very low nicotine snuff as I use tobacco primarily for the other alkaloids found in the plant more so than the nicotine.  While I enjoy a small amount of nicotine too much can be overstimulating, I was never much of a smoker, in fact I first experimented with nicotine lozenges, then switching to vaping, before moving on to snuff.  NRT/vaping is an overstimulating awful feeling, although the energy can be very productive which is why I partook of it.  Tobacco on the other hand is a well-rounded relaxing/stimulating effect, but I do feel the nicotine level is still higher than I’d like with the snuffs I’ve used.  I sometimes get some messed up dreams, or twitching of muscles in my head if I take too much.  I only got chest pain when I experimented with dholakia white, the stuff was getting into my lungs, after reading a medical paper on a longtime snuff user who had developed some kind of severe pneumonia related to ‘vegetable fibers found in his lungs’ I decided to stop playing around with fine powders like that, on top of the fact the alkaloid balance skewed too heavily towards nicotine.  

Wise thought that, stop playing around with fine grind. I’m sure coarse and moist is much safer (at least for bronchia and lungs).

Talking about low-nicotine snuff, you might be interested in non-alkalized snuff or snuff with lower alkali content (lower pH). You can also reduce the size of your pinch. It’s more about snuff pH level and the amount of bioavalaible nicotine (aka de-ionized, unprotonated, free-based, which directly correlates with pH - the higher the pH, the higher the amount of free-nicotine), than the total amount of nicotine. Unfortunately, there’s little information publicly available on such properties of nasal snuff, but you can trust the manufacturers’ descriptions (when they state their snuff is strong, most often it’s true) and the experience of other snuff takers (snuff reviews).

To my deepest knowledge, besides Poschl schmalzlers (Perlesreuter, Sudfrucht, Doppealaroma and Brasil A), currently there are only two non-alkalized tobacco nasal snuffs on the market, both made by Bernard: Civette and Alt Offenbacher Kostlich.

Another possible solution is cutting tobacco snuff with herbal snuff (Dholakia and 6Photo make some nic-free herbals). And making your own snuff without alkalizers, surely.

If you like WoS snuffs, you can check the nicotine content of any snuff they make in their website.

For instance, https://sharrowmills.com/product/fribourg-treyer-macouba

also nicotine and caffeine interact. Nicotine causes you to metabolize caffeine more quickly. This can intensify some of the effects of caffeine while reducing other effects. Especially if you alter the absorption rates, frequency of ingestion, or quantity of nicotine. Though if snuff is causing one to have palpitations I wouldn’t suggest cutting back the number of pinches but the size of each pinch. And if that doesn’t help I’d really suggest seeing a doctor just to rule out some of the nasty possiblities.  

I had an episode of life-burnout last year that resulted in an anxiety disorder I am still working through (about 80% better). Among the somatic symptoms were chest pain and heart palpitations (high pulse, skipped beats, occasional arrhythmia). Because stimulants were raising adrenaline and causing panic attacks, I stopped caffeine and nicotine last may (caffeine withdrawal left me with a headache for 5 days, tobacco withdrawal wasn’t tangible/significant).

But despite that, I still get heart palpitations. in fact, the worst of it came over the summer, 3 months after completely stopping all stimulants, where I would suffer from POTS and at times my heart would skip a beat every 10 seconds.

So, point being, the etiology can be pretty complex with these things. I hope to be able to tolerate my beloved strong tea and snuff again soon enough. I can eat plenty of dark chocolate now without problems, which keeps me somewhat sane!

Some people have an allergy to chocolate not because of the percentage of cockroach parts that most contain?or so I read. I am one of those who did not have a nicotine habit before taking up snuff. I have to say that the psychological addiction is more of the pull for me?I have gone without snuff for weeks without any signs of physical withdrawal but that is just me.