Morning, lads and lassies.

I am ever thankful that I do not suffer with hay fever myself, but as that time of year comes again and I see many people struggling, it made me wonder if anyone here does/did suffer with it and if taking snuff had any impact, positive or negative.

Cheers

I have heard many people say it helps, though I still suffer hay fever badly a few times a year. Maybe it depends on the actual allergen, and how it affects the individual

I also wonder if a naturally scented floral snuff like Toque Violet would get the hay fever going.

I never suffered from it before Now tree pollen makes me cough ? no watery eyes or runny nose just an irritating cough.I use a good amount of snuff. but I do have a compromised system. More problems rear their ugly head without notice. Lucky me! 

From an advert in 1933.

…

Avoid  HAY-FEVER !

A pinch of snuff is a sure preventative !     At the first sign of a sniff when your head aches- or you feel heavy and listless-take a pinch of TOP MILL…   At 2d. a tin will last you a long time.

Ask for   S.P.No.1 The Quality Snuff.

J&H WILSON LTD. SHEFFIELD.

Oh snuff sure has made my migraines more tolerable and reduced

Just in case you are still unsure about the powers of TOP MILL another advert from  1903.

…

TOP MILL SNUFF 

is Tobacco in its most convenient and beneficent form. This pungent and titillating powder helps you to think, soothes the nasal nerves, and is of the highest service as a preventative of Catarrh and Influenza.

Obtainable from all leading Tobacconists in this district.

Manufactured solely by

JOSEPH AND  HENRY WILSON LTD.

WESTBROOK MILL, SHEFFIELD.

…

@Roderick    Its a shame you couldn’t get away with adverts like this nowadays.

“Torque Snuff - good for what ails you”

Thanks for the inputs, all.  Just had me wondering

I only took up snuffing over the winter but about this time of the year I usually have terrible allergy problems - red swollen itching eyes stuffy or running nose and itching ears, sneezing, even sore throat. This year my vehicle is once again covered in pollen but I have no allergy symptoms.

I stopped using snuff for about a week for passover and started to feel allergies in the way back of my nose again.

I only just started snuff taking recently too. This time of year, here in North Carolina, the trees literally explode into life. You’ll go to sleep one night with nothing on the ground and a chill in the air. When you wake up it’s 70f and it looks as though it snowed over night. Well…yellow snow… Being a transplant to the state myself, my head would swell and my nose would just quit. After snuff? Nothing… I haven’t hand any issues *knocks on wood*. I don’t want to rush to attribute this to the snuff as I could also be growing used to it. Also, for any true sufferers out there, eat more local honey. It will really aid in your system’s defense come pollen season.

Is it still illegal to advertise snuff tobacco if you can prove it has medicinal effects and market it as a medication?

snuff pretty much killed my allergies. When I first started snuff made them worse. I think what happens is your body over release the histamines when you snuff and can’t replace them quickly. There are therapys that work on that principle using allergins to trigger the mast cells (which trigger the release of histamines). That’s what I think is one part of the snuff killing allergies thing. 

Without a doubt snuff stopped me sufferering hayfever. Prior to discovering snuff again about five years ago (I had previously dabbled a bit in my 1970’s teenage years after a ‘what’s in those little blue tins’ discussion with a newsagent) my hayfever had been steadily getting worse. One summer, at a rehearsal with the blues band in which I was the singer, the rest of the guys asked me if I was referencing Chris Youlden’s style - check out ’ Savoy Brown She’s Got A Ring In His Nose And A Ring On Her Hand’  on Youtube and you’ll get the idea!

Sleeping was always difficult as, in spite of a conk of noble proportions it never worked very well daytime or nighttime, but in the summer it was even worse. Snuff cleared up all those problems, and my bedtime pinch of 6 Photo Kailash sends me off to zeddland without a sniffle. 

That said, I can only cope with Indian menthols, the bucketload western snuff makers bung in generally brings back my pre-snuff days in an instant.

@Aamon most countries require actual testing for any “cure” claims a product makes - this is generally not cheap and so puts a lot of people off.

For me personally snuff tobacco helps a wee bit to maintain hay fever in acceptable levels. Unfortunately this year coniferours trees are blooming so even increased amounts of snuff are not much big help, but I am not forced to use any antihistamine this year, which could change when rape-seed start blooming. In that time almost everything is covered by pollen.

So snuff helps, but is not an universal cure. Jack

I think that the help for hay-fever is because snuff coats your nose and blocks the histamine receptors. But I do feel it helps. Also snuff like OSP flushes out my nose. 

I’d think you were right about the blocking but despite the people around me complaining about allergies this year and despite that I’ve not been bothered very much. And two reasons that says your theory maybe wrong one I used to have the worst allergies bad enough to ruin a few days spent being miserable and I’ve been out of snuff for several months (order on the way).

Here’s my experience. I used to suffer terrible hay fever, pretty much from Spring until Fall, and had to gobble decongestants and anti-histamines on a daily basis. In the course of some research and diet experiments I discovered that some foods are very inflammatory, and as a consequence can severely exacerbate allergies. For me those were wheat, peanuts and milk. I drastically reduced my consumption of those and experienced a reduction of symptoms. But what really finished off the allergies (except some brief irritation at the peak of ragweed season), was tobacco. Daily use of snuff, swedish snus and pipe tobacco, plus occasional cigars. Tobacco is known to be anti-inflammatory –
 well, I hardly use diphenhydramine anymore, except when I want to exploit the drowsiness side effect.

It does indeed seem to be about 20/80 split on who has benefited and who hasn’t.  Very interesting.

Glad that it does help those 80%, though - hay fever does not look fun.

@Effy, it is also probably dependent on the location and they type of pollen in the air. I usually get it worst in the fall.

Part of a large newspaper advert from  1933.

GAWITH HOGGARTH & Co.

VYTAX SNUFF     

 The new Vitalised Health Snuff relieves and prevents Influenza, Catarrh, Asthma, and Summer Colds. 

I assume summer colds refers to hay fever.

I wonder why the health services wastes so much money on anti Influenza injections, inhalers, tablets and such like? 

All you need is a tin of snuff.