We’ve not had one of these for ages and have a ton of new members so…how/why did you start snuffing? My own introduction to snuff was a bit odd; I found an old SP tin in my Dad’s shop, part of which was an engineering buisness and I think it had just been used to hold pins or something. I was about seven and completely intrigued. By hook or by crook I managed to get hold of a couple of different types and I am either ashamed or proud (not sure which) to say I took my first pinch at seven years of age. It blew my head off but of course it threw a switch somewhere! I didn’t take it often but managed to get a little collection going as I loved the tins. My parents - both lifelong teetotal non-tobacco users didn’t really have a clue what it was (I used to wonder how they got their fun in life but I’m one of five so I guess that’s the answer) and shopkeepers didn’t bat an eyelid when selling to a kid in those days. By my teens I was a regular user but this faded out when I started smoking. I’ve used it on and off then for nearly 30 years. When the smoking bans came in for bars and workplaces in the UK in 07 I just decided to make the switch, and used Toque and Wilsons to do so, being surprised how easy it was. So, that’s me, how did you start? (Some of these comments may be used on the Toque website - just let me know if you don’t want that to happen.)
I started using snuff a month ago and I’m 32. How I first found out about it was reading about it on the internet, then I went shopping at my local smoke shop and online if I couldn’t find a certain brand. The reason why I like it is because it seems just as relaxing as taking up a pipe even though I never took up smoking. I guess what intrigued me most about snuff (and tobacco, in general) was when I was was 19 years old, I’d go into this one used book store in my hometown and the owner always smoked a pipe. The scent of the tobacco would mingle in the air and I never could tell what brand of tobacco the owner smoked, but it had this nice mild scent. It made browsing for used books more pleasant because the atmosphere in this certain book store was always relaxed and easy-going. I don’t know if the owner ever used snuff because I never had the nerve to ask, or even ask what brand of pipe tobacco that he smoked, either. Different brands of snuff always take me back to those days. Even though I am a non-smoker, I do miss the days when people could smoke anywhere that they felt like.
I have no idea how I started. It is lost in the mist of time and a touch of mad cow in my brain.
Nice post Kate. I guess you are in the minority of snuff users here because you weren’t a tobacco user - so not a nicotine junky like the rest of us - before you started. I expect you don’t use very much at the moment, do you have any concerns about addiction? For the rest of us we’ve mostly just swapped one nicotine vehicle for another and to the best of my knowledge the only other member who started as a non-tobacco user was Lazarus. Rest assured if you are going to take tobacco its many, many times less harmful than smoking. I used to smoke a pipe - still do on occasion - and in a way snuff is very similar. A good pipe tobacco is all about flavour which is what a good snuff is about. Cigarettes are nothing more than an urge satisfier. There are certain snuffs that take me right back to various points in my life like you. Welcome to snuffhouse kate.
That’s cool too Nachman - snuff is probably the only thing I can give a decent history for, having my own mad cow.
Well, I’m a complete Johnny-Come-Lately with snuff and snus; until I read about Jaap Bes and this site on Wired a few months back, the only thing I knew about snuff was watching Daffy Duck as the Scarlet Pumpernickel taking snuff and sneezing rapid-fire (anybody else remember this one? heheee). But we recently had a daughter, and while we’ve always smoked outdoors and quit smoking in the cars, I decided I didn’t want to smell smoky all the time around her or be jonesing for a butt when I’m taking care of her and can’t step out. So I made the leap! I still do enjoy a butt now and again, but I’m a snuffer/snuser now.
My first experience with snuff was probably around 12 years of age. It was in a little town just over the NC SC state line called Saluda NC. A buddy of mine and I had walked down to the Pace General Store and bought a can of Sweet Scotch and a can of Happy Days dip. On an old logging trail leading back up to the road to the mountain house, we sat down to try our contraband (as you are about to see things do not go so well for the hero of our story). First the snuff. All I remember is that we blew our heads clean off. Two boys running around, eyes watering, going “omygosh omygosh” I remember as the pain began to subside lying back on the bank of the trail and my friend saying “That was horrible. Let’s try the dip” About 3 minutes later and a few hundred feet up the trail and we were both back on the bank enjoying a whole new sort of misery. My next experience with snuff was in college. A friend of mine and I had gotten into a practical joke war. It seemed the battle was going to drag on endlessly to no resolute conclusion. Thus, employing the logic of Truman, to bring a swift end to the war and to save countless lives, I developed and employed the college version of the A-Bomb. Here’s how: I went and bought a can of Honey Bee snuff. Made a paper funnel and poured the contents of the can into the two air vents of his car closest to the driver seat. Aimed both vents inward, then turned the air, radio, and wipers on high. Next I went and hid in the bushes with half the dorm. Folks I am here to tell you that when he turned the key to start the car it was like every window was instantaneously covered in brown paper bags. The car was opaque brown. He came falling out of the driver’s side door eyes red and watering, sneezing and yelling inbetween the ah—chooooose, “I’ve been gassed! I’ve been gassed.” Now in my defense……O never mind.
I wanted to quit smoking, and never had any luck. When the price of my roll-ups more than doubled overnight, I decided to take the plunge again. I wasn’t into making the old man miserable by living with a seriously jonesing bitch, so I did some research on harm reduction nicotine replacements, and I was led to snuff. Been happily smoke free and snuffing since April. Now if I could only get my other half into it. He still smokes, but he’s nice enough to step outside since I no longer smoke.
I started out of curiosity alone. I smoked my first cigarette, which was my first intro to tobacco at 14 years old. The fields behind my house, as a kid, were a sort of place to play. There were swamps and a pond, etc. Well, after school I’d hang out with a friend named Paul. One day he produced a box of Marlboro Reds. I was surprised and fascinated. Of course, he offered me one and I obliged. I didn’t inhale at all. Now, I know that some nicotine was absorbed albeit a paltry amount. This happened for a week or so and then I started buying my own but I went to Camels (honestly, cos they looked cool in the packaging…I was 14). I then got into walking the family dog happily every night and had a smoke before I went to bed. In college it was a pack a day from then until I was 29. I went off of them cold turkey for six months. Then I started dipping. I knew is was going to be a landslide about thirty seconds after I took the first pinch and I did it out of boredom. The dip tore my gums up after a few years so I found Snus. FANTASTIC stuff. Well this got me off of dip and most importantly spitting. It wasn’t good for my constitution. I still take a few snus every day. I started the snuff, again out of pure curiosity. I’ve come to the realization that I have a relationship with Mr. N. that is not going to end right now. Reading that nasal snuff was perhaps less harmful than even snus it was a no brainer that I was going to try it but it took me months of reading and looking at it online every time I ordered from the site I usually get my snus from. I finally broke down and ordered a Toque and a Wilsons’s of Sharrow. Unbeknown to me at the time they were both the same type/style. The waiting got the best of me so I found a shop in a nearby city so I journeyed there to get myself some snuff. I didn’t want menthol and the guy that worked there was little help. I bought WE Garrett scotch and Brutons. The first one almost made my eyes bleed. I was fascinated by the experience. I’m a glutton for that type of burn (or at that time it was pain) so I hit it again. After only a few times I learned to respect the fine grind of this snuff and the fond love I had for the back of my throat. A couple of days later I got my order of the European brands. It was this past June I think and I opened the 25g Toque tin and brought my nose right down to the surface of it. I was almost taken aback by the ammonia scent for a second but I remembered reading how that was considered a good thing. With the first pinch of Toque Original I smiled a very big smile. I took a deep breath, actually I took a couple of deep breaths and almost chuckled a bit. It was wonderful. I then tried the WoS Best SP and that only solidified things more. I was going to be a snuffer now too. I still have a good bit of that WE Garrett can but I’m working on it with diligence and pleasure. There’s enough varieties and tastes in snuff to keep it very interesting indefinitely. At this point I’m snuff and snus only (maybe the occasional cigar) with probably 50/50 as far as nicotine goes as there’s a healthy amount in snus let alone sterk snus. Wow…that’s a long story if you’re still reading. Ha!
Well, my first memory of snuff comes from when I was maybe 7 or 8. I didn’t try it at that time, but I remember taking a trip with my grandparents to go and visit my Great Grandma in Nebraska. She lived in an old farmhouse near Wahoo. While the house itself was overwhelmingly cool, I remember going into my my late great grandfathers shed out back and finding about 10 empty glass bottles of Levi Garrett. I didn’t know what they were, but I thought they were so cool I brought one back into show my mom. I don’t really remember what the explanation was, but in the end I was allowed to take an empty bottle back home with me. That was 24 or so years ago and I don’t remember what happened to the bottle. But, I remember it sat on a shelf in my bedroom for a long time. I wound up getting started on dip and chew around 9th grade while playing baseball. I remember seeing scotch snuff at most the stores where I purchased dip, but never bothered to buy a can until later on in college. I just thought it was for dipping though, a softer alternative when you got tired of Copenhagen, never even tried to snort it. Years later, around 28, I was offered some McChrystal’s O&G by an acquaintance in a bar in Anchorage. I was already snockered, and while I think it was a pleasant experience, I quickly forgot about it and didn’t bother seeking it out. Then, almost a year ago I discovered snus. After making a few orders on the northerner, I ventured into the snuff section. Seeing how cheap they were I ordered about 10 one day on a whim just to try it out. The rest, as they say, is history. There were certainly a few that I didn’t like, and it took me a while to get my technique down, but I took a fancy to it pretty quick. Within a week or so, I was back on ordering more to try. Now, I’m pretty much addicted to the collecting aspect. Even though I snuff throughout the day, I seems to take forever for me to finish a tin. But, I do use a large variety so that’s part of it. Anyway, at some point I need to start my list, I’m pretty sure I’m well over 150 now and it hasn’t even been a year yet. Well, it looks like I’ve rambled on enough about what should have been a simple answer.
Very cool responses and Snuffegnugen - the longer the better, because its all truly fascinating. I thought I was alone in getting into N at an early age but it seems most of you guys were experimenting by a nearby creek or field at about the same time as well. Sniffs - nice one.
@ Snifs: That was too funny. Best practical joke ever.
Snuffster, In answer to your question, your correct, I’m not a nicotine junky. I don’t use very much snuff because I’m a just beginner snuffer. I’m not too worried about becoming addicted as I imagine that I will be sooner or later. My favorite is Gletscher Prise with Columbia Oil. I like the sharp scent of the menthol and seem to prefer that over Gawith Apricot, and Ozona Orange, which are two other favorite snuffs of mine. Thanks for the welcome! - Kate
My story, long and dull: I started smoking at age 12 since both my parents were heavy smokers and cigarettes were always left available around the house. Eventually I just got too curious and started. I got curious about dip when I got to college as many more of my schoolmates used it. Again my curiosity got the better of me. I was 18 then. None of them, however, could explain why it was officially called ‘snuff’ though no one actually called it that. One roommate I had told me that proper snuff still existed and was much finer, but he knew nothing more. I never used it to stop smoking, I just did either one, depending on my mood or the location. When I was either 19 or 20 I finally found some in a shop while visiting Jacksonville, Florida. I bought two tins, both Helme (Swisher). I don’t remember which two they were but looking at my snuff collection today (trying to remember from the pictures on the tins) I think they were Railroad Mills and Three Thistle. I am pretty sure it was not the sweet varieties. I got them mainly as a lark, and tried them when I was in private. I really can’t remember much about my first experience, but I know I tried several times and it really didn’t impress me. I finished off the tins by using them for dip, but didn’t think they were all that good that way either. Eventually the store at my school stopped selling dip, so I gave it up and in hindsight don’t regret it, though I craved it for awhile at first. Smoking was my first and true love so thats all I wanted or needed. Several months out of college (1995 now, and I was 23) I was travelling again, and this time visited a fancy tobacconist in Halifax, Nova Scotia. This guy was loaded with snuff and I got curious again. He was well stocked in G. Smith & Sons snuffs, so again I picked up one on a lark. I got a little glass bottle of Smith’s Lemon. I tried it right away and again a few times afterwards, then put it away and forgot about it. It really didn’t seem to do much for me. After that I got the bottle out once or twice a year and sniffed a little, then got freaked out about how I was going to get it out of my nose again. I never seemed to notice the nicotine either, being a smoker. This past January I got that old bottle out again and thought if I did a little research on the internet I’d figure out if I was doing it right and maybe I could get to like it if I knew what I was doing. A google search for “how to take snuff” eventually led me here to Snuffhouse and I found more than I ever expected. From this forum I learned how to take it properly and also it resolved all squeamishness I had over it. I soon discovered that there was a vast variety of types and flavors and began to collect them. Now I have tried nearly 300 and am still going. Some I don’t care for, most I do, and a few are absolutley wonderful. Somehow, without me fully knowing it, I gradually lost intrerest in smoking. I bought my last pouch of RYO in March and finally finished it a few weeks ago. The forum did entice me into trying snus and pipe smoking, but these are more a supplement to snuff and in their own way eased me away from cigaretttes. I’m quite surprised how little I miss them and without even trying to quit. A year ago I would not have even considered the prospect. Snuff has changed my life. Its now a passion and a hobby. I never thought I’d find a hobby in tobacco but the history and the variety of snuff, as well as the good people of this forum have really been what got me started. Thank you, Snuffhouse! I still have that bottle of Smith’s Lemon. Not much left now, but its a treasure and a symbolic reminder.
I bought a can of Garrett at a cig shop in the mid 80’s. Tried about 3 pinches, sneezed, gagged, tossed the whole tin and promptly forgot about powdered tobacco until Roderick stepped into my life on snuson and offered free samples. I played around with those two samples for over a month trying to figure it out. Once I ran out I knew I had to buy more. One order of ten 10 gram tins later I’m hooked. That was a year ago. So, to shorten up the whole story even more, I blame Roderick. So does Mrs.Bigmick. It’s probably a good thing he is not in the US. LOL
LOL Mick. So does Mrs. Xander. She told me last night Cheese & Bacon is the best Toque snuff. I think she needs her head examined. Blech!
Mrs bigmick refuses to put “that dirt” in her nose. She does use snus sometimes, and smokes 2-3 cigs a day, so she puts up with my other addictions. I’m still waiting to try the C&B. I’ll probably love it.
Great posts guys - Xander, that is anything but dull. I see in you the makings of a Troutstroker! Bigmick - you are right to blame Roderick; I think he’s single handedly started a snuff renaissance, God bless him!
Great reading here!
Yep, its good to have one of these threads every once in a while, the different yarns are always fascinating!
This guy helped me work up the gumption to try it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwZeuW3B\\_c4&feature=related Is he a member here?
Ive just watched it - and I don’t think so. He’s not on the ‘faces of snuff house members’ and I don’t recognise the screen name. However, he certainly knows (no pun intended) what he’s about so it is possible he resides here under a different name? Would seem odd for an expert who posts on youtube not to also be involved in something like snuffhouse?
That video was like watching a kung fu movie that’s been dubbed over in English. The guy in the pictures lips are moving, but I don’t think he’s the one talking unless he is a ventriloquist because several times his mouth is closed and he’s in the middle of snuffing but still talking.
Well, Neither of my parents used tobacco in any form. My grandfather was a heavy smoker his whole life and used to work at a printing company that made cigarette pack labels around the time of the Depression. There was always uncut sheets of label paper around my grandparents house, mostly of Lucky Strike, which I always loved the design. Well, about twice a month when I was a young lad, my Father would send me and my three brothers out along our street for about a half mile on either side, to collect trash and bottles and anything else we found. It was very wooded along the country road and I suppose folks thought it to be a good place to throw garbage. Besides finding some nice old bottles and the occasional skunked-out beer, we would find a pack of cigs from time to time, maybe that some one threw out trying to quit. We would promptly hide these and smoke them at a better time, or , as usually happened if they were wet, lay them out in the creek tunnel that went under the road so they could dry out. Almost 90% of the time they were Virginia Slims or some type of terrible menthol. Well, I went from there to buying my own and smoking real cigarettes, mostly Luckies early on. I’ve had stints with dip and chewing tobacco, which I still enjoy, but my love was always cigs. Then one day when I was about 18 years old delivering chicken in Cincinnati, I saw some colorful round tins in a very poor neighborhood store. I was attracted to them , mostly to find out what was inside, I suppose. I remember finally buying one and, upon opening it and expecting to find some sort of dip tobacco, and saying to myself out loud, 'What the hell is this?!!" Now that I’m a bit older and I had smoked for some 23-24 years, I realized I really had to minimalize the risk of my health going bad, especially after having 4 children and claiming I would quit after each one was born!. I happened upon this site and lurked around for awhile, doing some research and thought I would give snuff another try. Now I can appreciate the US snuffs that I swore I’d never try again , but was also introduced to some of the many English and German and Indian snuffs that make snuff so interesting to me. But I can say beyond a doubt, if this site didn’t exist, I would still be smoking full time. Even the days or visits I don’t post anything, seeing all the information, joking, articles, and reviews of new and coming snuff on this site keeps me committed. For that, I don’t know who to specifically thank, but I am very thankful. (And thankyou Snuffster for starting this thread. There’s some nice stories on here)
I came in contact with snuff when I was 12 years old. The good old Gletscherprise was available at every little store here in germany. With 3 or 4 friends we emptied the box in one day with many tears in our eyes, sneezing all around our village. 2001 I went to the octoberfest in munich and there it was common to snuff the schmalzler while drinking the watery stuff they calll beer. In 2004 one of my chiefs at the army in afghanistan at ISAF HQ was a american LtCol. He was dipping Skoal Straight. I asked him if I can try that stuff and he gave me the can. My first pinch in my life taken in the desert about 45°C hot, 2000meters high and the dip was shaking my body !Hehehe! After two minutes I had to sit down, sweat was running down my face and i had to spit it out after 5 minutes cause i felt sick. But I loved the taste of it and tried it the day later again, just with a smaller pinch and it worked. On that day another Officer of the Liasion-Officer-Cell(My working-group) saw me throwing in my dip. He was norwegian and came to me and said while my US-Boss was beside me: “Throw away that american shit! It’s full of nasty crap. Here take snus, 100% natural and better for your gums!” I took the can and the fight started between USA and Norway who has the better smokeless tobacco. After they have finished their dispute, Major Korsgard showed me how too bake the prilla and put in. The good thing was that in the norwegian camp in Kabul you could buy snus(for 1€ per can). And there my smokeless-carreer started After 7 months back in germany I searched for info about buying dip ans snus in germany and found the german smokeless-tobacco-forum and there I got contact again with snuff. From this time I stopped smoking with snus and dipped once in a while and my snuff stash was born and is growing and growing!
I started smoking cigarettes at the age of 12, one cigarette per day. AS from 14, I regularly smoked about 4 a day and I also bought me a little pipe. I bought my first tin of Singletons Menthol, also at the age of 14 but only used it on and of. When I started working a t the age of 17, I started smoking a packet of Lucky Strikes a day, no snuffing. It went up to 70 Chesterfield per day plus some cigars and/or pipe. I could not/would not handle it anymore. I then went to Smokenders and on the 14th of February 2007 I quit smoking. After about 2 months I found a thin of McC O&G in a drawer and tried it. And that’s where my true snuffing career started. Snuffing is so much more gentleman like, I have so many flavours to chose from, it’s less expensive and harmless to my body. I’m snussing a bit on the side but that’s not serious. I love snuff.
I originally heard about snuff when I was 17, and of all the places from a class called Drugs in Society. On the lesson covering nicotine they briefly touched snuff in passing, not even describing what or was or how it was taken, but something about the mentioning of it made me curious, so I googled it, and the rest is history. P.S.: I am glad someone finally posted a topic such as this, I was eventually going to want to myself, thanks for saving me the trouble snuffster.
Might I add, this place has been a valuable resource to a n00blet like myself.
I heard a commercial on the radio for mint (oral) snuff pouches. Since I desperately wanted to quit cigarettes I started researching snuff and came across nasal snuff by accident. I remembered me and some friends playing around with dry snuff as kids, using it kind of like sneezing powder. My first order was 2 tins off ozona and I quit smoking about 2 days later. I truly couldn’t be happier!
@kate. Try the Lotzbeck Vanilla. It will remind you of that bookstore for sure! It takes me back to the times I’d hang around the local tobacco shop absorbing all the wonderful aromas.
Thanks for all the great posts folks!
Nice post, thanks Avid.
Was introduced to snuff by an uncle who had been an inveterate snuffer and cigar smoker since 1920, and was instantly captivated. The curious thing is that no-one in authority seemed to object when, as a child, I was buying it and using it daily. From the age of eleven I continued through school with a snuffbox, taking it from my waistcoat pocket as and when I felt like it with never a reprimand from the masters - even in lessons. Get caught smoking, however, and you would be up for a head’s flogging. This is another reason why I’ve always considered snuffing to be a safer option.
I started smoking dope and cigarettes when I was 13. I did it mainly because my friends did. I quit smoking dope 3 years later, but still smoked cigarretes and chewed. My stepfather was diagnosed with cancer of the mouth around that time and had to stop chewing his two daily cans of skoal finecut wintergreen. He knew how much I liked trying “Higher Class” tobacco products and purchased me 10 various med-high quality cigars for my 18th christmas. My mom says he did it just so he could start smoking them as well! I started snuff just this summer, I was looking around for apartments for college downtown and stopped in a cigar store with my step dad to get some cigars. I found some snuff and always wanted to try it so I bought an old metal tin of Lorrilards sweet and a gawith cola. I hated the cola but loved the Lorrilards. It all took off from there. Its been about 4-5 months and I have amassed a sizable collection of about 65-70 different snuffs. I also smoked 2 packs of cigarettes a day, and now smoke THREE. It’s just like Xander said, I didn’t even realize it was happening until I started saving a lot of money. When my last bag of MYO/RYO runs dry im done with smoking. At the rate I’m going though it could last me another year!
I took a pinch from my guitars teacher tin (not a good one, never discovered how to play it properly ) while he was at the bathroom when i was about 15 years old.
I had the luck of living near a wonderfully masonic smoke shop.
I started smoking cigarettes to improve my thought process while writing my thesis in religion and philosophy. Long after I stopped smoking cigarettes cold turkey, I started using Nicotrols for the nicotine. Later cigars, then pipe tobacco, and now snuff. At a pipe tobacco forum, in a thread about morning smokes, someone saying he uses snuff in the morning rather than smoking gave it legitimacy. I smoke only slightly less than before, but am snuffing all through the day as well. I haven’t smoked a cigarette since 1996, but have no intention to quit smoking pipes and cigars, or snuff. I stack high nicotine snuff on top of high nicotine pipe tobacco. The more the merrier. When did it all start? I have an addictive personality. My father didn’t smoke or drink, but he was addicted to playing Bridge. My second conscious addiction was to playing Chess. I was addicted to studying it, as much or more than playing. Day and night, on the bus, in my sleep, in the elevator between floors. I loved the audible psychic ‘crack,’ when an opponent would realize, too late, that it was hopeless. I’ve seen people absolutely lose their mind behind a game of chess. Requiring hospitalization. Some people, like me, take whatever they do to an extreme. Fortunately, I never lost sight of it being a game. Perhaps addiction is a normal state of human affairs. Perhaps successful people have been able to have an addiction to an activity that is contributing to their success. Fear of failure. Fear of lack. Perhaps the stereotype of the addicted artist, is due to an ability of a substance to calm and focus their mind toward a state of creativity. So often the person is consumed in the fire that causes their ‘mind to grow heated.’ The baseball dugout lined with cups, or the mind of Coleridge reflected in Poe, Picasso to Gabriel García Márquez. Perhaps, the best addicts don’t need any substance to get hot. Unfortunately, I’m not one of them. So nicotine, it is.
hey Herzl thats the best encouragement I’ve ever gotten thanks.
Smoking grass in college in the 60’s. They told me it would lead to harder stuff and it did, snuff. Odd, I never noticed baseball players removing their cups and placing them on the dugout wall. : )
In 11th grade I learned of nasal snuff when “reading” a book called Things Fall Apart. At this time, I was dipping Kodiak smokeless tobacco regularly and was open to additional options for that nicotine kick. I found some W.E. Garrett Scotch Snuff at Walgreens while scouring the pipe tobacco section they often have there. I was underage at the time, but I don’t think they knew what it was and as such did not ask for ID. As is to be expected, the buzz was remarkable. I started carrying snuff in empty chapstick containers. They didn’t stay closed well. I didn’t really seek out other methods to carry snuff, so I gradually fizzled out on taking snuff. About 10 years ago I decided to start researching nasal snuff online. Some of the first non-American Scotch snuffs I tried were Polsch’s whole range and McChrystals O & G I found at local tobacconists’ shops. I only dabbled in these snuffs for a few months at most and continued alternating between RYO cigs and dip/chew. A few years later I started using the internet to research tobacco products. I discovered Wilson’s of Sharrow at an online store associated with the Sheffield Exchange and ordered most of their selections. Examples of ones I tried are: Crumbs of Comfort, one of the SM range, Aniseed Extra, Raspberry, and Best SP. I tried F&T HDT, Princes Special, Bordeaux, Seville, and Kendal Brown too. I think I also tried a few from SG and GH, too. I remember also obtaining a Snuff by Post leaflet thing that WoS had. I recall sending it in and waiting like 4 weeks without a package, thinking a bill would be included with the snuff or something as the leaflet was unclear to me in terms of payment. I received a call around this time from a very professional representative from the Sheffield Exchange inquiring about my Snuff by Post order. He said that WoS had contacted them and were, I think, not shipping to the US. He was gave me his contact information and was willing to assist with my request, but I didn’t follow-up. My experience with the Sheffield Exchange was a positive one and I continued my exploration of snuffs and how to get them. Further exploration led to ordering Tom Buck and Raspberry in half drums from McGahey Tobacconist online. Mr. McGahey was very pleasant to deal with and even personally answered a few questions about snuff. After an over 5 year hiatus, I am back. I have nearly completely quit using dip/chew thanks to using nasal snuff. This is pretty significant for me since I would practically have a dip in all day long (upper lip). So, in conclusion, I am quite glad I started, and pleased to once again enjoy the wonderful world of snuff!
@ Herzl: Bravo! For more than 10 years I was a student at the University of Diner. Any given night, you would find me propped up at the counter of my local haunt with a cup of coffee at one elbow and an overfilled ashtray at the other, reading voraciously. How does that tie in with addiction? Any night I missed I was VERY distraught. Only after my daughter was born did I finally realize the virtues of staying in and maybe not smoking myself silly. Still miss it a lot, but now that I’m only an occasional smoker, I’m not sure if I want to head back out to the restaurants at night…don’t want to be smoking fulltime again…
Fascinating stories and insights. We fret a lot about addiction in this day and age, I’m firmly addicted to snuff but completely ok with it. This is one addiction I will never attempt to break, it’s just too nice and what other habit lets you jaw about it like this? Long live snuffing.
I started, like most people in Italy, where I want to school. Just for tring something new. At those time the only snuffs avaible was Poschl ozona classic and cherry, sometimes singletons, and I did’nt realize there is world of snuffs around me before I was 20… Well I was quit to take snuff but some years ago I start again. Now whit my new girlfriend (and I hope soon) -my future wife that is entusiaxt of the menthol scent of snuff, I consume so munch more…and still knowing more kind of snuffs…
Hey Lore, are there many snuffers in Italy and is there any Italian snuff?
Quote snuffster: No there are not many snuffers in Italy, altrhougth snuff is increasing popularity among young people.
I started in 1986. I wandered into a pipe store when I was 16 and was fascinated by the whole reliquary vibe. All these old-timey products that didn’t seem to have changed in a million years. They had Rumney’s mentholated snuff in the red clamshell box. I loved that stuff. We used to do lines in class, much to the consternation of our square classmates (this was the extremely straight Reagan 80’s, even having curly hair was considered horribly wierd, so snorting brown stuff off a desk, well…) The funny thing is, Rumney’s was the only snuff around in those days, except for the ubiquitous Americans such as Bruton, Top, etc. Nowadays, I can barely find a mention of it among snuff afficionados. I remember seeing old black ladies buying scotch snuff and wondering how it was possible to go through even half a can in a lifetime. Then I found out they put it in their mouths, not their noses. My friend’s maid had brown stains on her smock from the drool. Fast forward 23 years, and i’ve re-discovered snuff, thanks to paypal, internet, and marvelous websites such as this.
I’ve always been into different things and after picking up pipe smoking last year I started to get into the whole British tobacco culture and about a month or so ago snuff was on its way to my home to discover.
For me, it all started with a single pinch from my father… We had been out shopping at North Weald Market here in the UK as my father used to go there when he was a young lad and wanted to take me and my brothers. Whilst there he bought a little tin of snuff. Mentholated I believe it was. When we had got back to his and his fiances house, he let us all have a pinch. It blew my mind. Fast forward to 2009 and I hadn’t had any since however one day I was sitting at this very computer and something just clicked. I thought of going and buying some. So I looked up G. Smith & Sons online and popped along to their shop on Charring Cross Road. I bought a despenser of Pocshl Lowen Prise and a 25g tub of George IV (for which I had heard good things) which came to a eye watering £10 something (they are rather expenisve there, worth a trip though). So that is really when it started. 16th December was the start of which has been a lovely relationship thus far. My collection has also grown in just over a month to 19 different tins.
Great stories everyone! I started smoking around fourteen in Virginia and had a friend who dipped. I remember my first cigarettes causing nausea but I did it anyway. I remember my friend showing us how hardcore he was by swallowing a pinch of dip. I never did try dip until I moved to California around 17. I’ve dipped off and on since then, mainly to try quiting cigarettes. Never worked. I just don’t like spitting in a cup. Nor did any of the women I was around. I quit smoking once with the patch but that didn’t last long. I eventually settled into a night smoker. I didn’t really try qutting for about 7 years or so because my doctor told me I probably wouldn’t get cancer at the rate I was smoking. One time at the pub they gave me a free box of snuff, I think it was Gleischerprise. I tried it but didn’t really feel anything and thought it wasn’t worth it. Over time though cigarettes started getting old and I hated smelling like them. Also, my lady kept riding me every night about it. I couldn’t enjoy a cigarette without some snide comment. Meanwhile my ten year old son thought I had quit smoking long ago. I hated living that lie. Cigarettes just started getting in the way of everything. One day I was walking around and happened to see the add for Camel snus. I already smoked Camel cigarettes so I thought “What the hell is this?” I tried it. It was kinda gross. Then I went online and found out that snus wasn’t new and there was better products out there. On the same website as snus was snuff. So I ordered some with it. I remember trying it and it was pretty tasty. So I stuck with it and there you have it. Another ex-smoker, new snuffer. I still struggle a little with getting enough nicotine with snuff but I’m probably still addicted to cigarettes in some strange way. But I ain’t goin back. No way!
@wildhorsesmane “I still struggle a little with getting enough nicotine with snuff” Order some Taxi Red
You will never get the nicotine hit you get with cigarettes but used regularly throughout the day - which is how Ive got smoking doen to almost zero - you reach a perfectly ok mainatenance/comfort level. No doubt something to do with blood nicotine levels. In terms of ritual, I find snuff just as acceptable when I hit trigger points.
I have an online friend who lives in Sweden, he mentioned a few times that he used snuff. I never thought about going out and finding any, but one day I was at a smoke shop and noticed a tin of Gawith Apricot. I figured “What the hell” and bought it. I enjoyed it, but it never became something I did regularly. In fact I even forgot I had the tin. About a week ago my girlfriend and I decided to rearrange the bedroom and I found the tin. It was still good, even though a little dry and burned quite badly. She asked to try it and she liked it, so we went out the next day and bought each of us a new tin, hers was the Apricot, and I bought Ozona President. Since then, we’ve about cut in half our cigarette consumption. Now I’m looking into buying off the internet to branch out and try other brands and flavors.
When I was 15 I rode to school in an older classmate’s Jeep. He smoked everyday on the ride to school and the ride home, he always offered me one each day and finally after about a week I got curious and took one. It was a Marlboro Red and I (who was never around people who smoked) just puffed on it. He looked at me and said I was doing it wrong and told me to inhale. I complied and went into a coughing fit. I thought it tasted like shit and burned but the buzz that came with it just felt really good. I bought my own packs through older friends from school and have been smoking ever since. Around my junior year of college I was in a history class and we talked about the lifestyles of the British around the 1700-1800s time frame. We discussed the use of tobacco back then which led me to snuff. I did some research on it and found out it was still being produced. I went to my local liquor/cigarette shop and found some aniseed extra along with W.E. Garrett Scotch and Sweet Scotch. That summer my family and I went to charleston south carolina for a wedding. During the car ride I couldn’t stop for cigarettes often so I used my snuff which I had only taken a few pinches out of. That was the beginning. I recently decided to stop smoking due to the tax hike on ryo tobacco (over 2000%) and the first two attempts to quit were failures. I tried again but I found this site and started to read other peoples experiences and started to use snuff and snus to combat my cigarette cravings. I now am down to 4 cigs a day (from over a pack) and will be slowly weening myself off of those four. I hope to be smoke free in about a month. That was a long story, so if I made anyone fall asleep I hope you had pleasant snuff dreams ;^)
Nice to hear your experiences guys. It’s amazing how snuff can help to cut down the smokes and even stop them completely. Carry on as you are and you will be able to make a permanent switch to snuff.
I went to school in Scotland in 1970. During that time, on an illegal excursion to London, I wandered into Smith’s Snuff Shop. I don’t recall much other than that I was offered a sample pinch of Red Cardinal and loved it. I bought several small glass jars of that and Carnation, maybe an SP also, oh yeah, and some Dean Swift. Back in Scotland, I found Rattray’s in Perth, about 25 miles from Aberfeldy, where I lived close to. At Rattray’s they also carried Smiths, and DS. I asked Mr. R which ones he recommended, and he selected a number of nice snuffs for me. I also rolled my own cigs, and bought a tin of Golden Virginia and a tin of Old Holborn. This was way back when I was 16, so I never worried about smoking, or health for that matter. I smoked cigars for years, gave up cigs, dipped Copehagen and Oliver Twist, then gave up almost everything tobacco related … then…something I read online about snuff…I don’t recall what, but that got me into my local tobacco shop where I found Silver Dollar, WE Garrett. I was back to snuffing, found MS a few years ago and began collecting and taking it. Now I am an addict for sure, but like some other posters, I enjoy it, don’t want to give it up unless ordered to do so by a doctor, so I rarely go the doctor. Snuffs my favorite addiction, after years of serious drug abuse that almost killed me, I have reached the age of reason and gone back to something I really liked as a young person.
Oh I almost forgot…back in 1969, in the summer of love, I discovered this snuff my sister had, called “cokesnuff”, I recall that it came in a tin with a rotating cap and tiny hole. Thinking back, it was a lot like Dean Swift raspberry, I didn’t like it much then…
I remember coke snuff[1971] but I am sure it had no tobacco in it, When I had got some Snuffy weiss it had triggered that memory. The local drug store had Levi Garrett in the big brown jar I was also into Red Man leaf at that time then mother nature hit the seen and I picked up menthol cigarettes to hide the stench, I also carried pipe tobacco and my snuff was just on the back burner until those days came to pass.early 80 I was D.Free but tobacco have always been my companion
For me it was peer pressure :)) A few stand up fellow over on Stogie Friends (can I mention another forum?) are snuffers and one in particular that I call a good friend was raving about Toque Cheese and Bacon. Cheese and Bacon AND nicotine? Together? How could I resist! A quick order to Mr. Snuff and I was a goner. Simple as that and loving every minute.
After the third time an asthma attack landed me in the emergency room and almost killed me I decided to quit cigs. I heard about nasal snuff from a few places, most recently at the time being the book Dead Names: A History of the Necronomicon. It interested me enough since my wife was tired of finding random bottles of dip spit laying around, so I googled nasal snuff, found it was still in use and that people sniffed the american scotch snuffs like my grandmother used to dip. I bought a tin of Tube Rose and Superior from Food Lion and was surprised how well it worked for me. So I joined snuffhouse and the rest is history lol.
I picked up a tub of GH Cherry while buying cigars online. i havent looked back since.
I had recently been thinking about it, when a friend on another forum decided to try it. He got a plastic tub of JHW Sp No 1 from yet another guy on the forum, but he didn’t get on with it. I mentioned I was interested and he forwarded it onto me. I tried it, and decided to see what other options there were, did a bit of reading and was flabbergasted to read about JHW (originally) and WoS being in Sheffield, after living there all my life and never knowing about them. I ordered an assortment of 5g tins from Sharrow Mills, and as my interest grew I found this place. My wallet has been crying ever since
I bought a tin of snuff when I was about ten, at a recreated ersatz coal mine in Australia, one of those living museum jobs. My friends and I took it for a few days until someone’s mother confiscated the lot. I remember being lectured about it, but it was considered a fairly laughable and minor misdemeanor by my parents, not in the sane class as smoking, for which I would have been seriously disciplined. Forgot all about it for 35 years or so, until I came across a thread on it on a pipe forum. I expressed incredulity that it could satisfy anyone’s nicotine needs. The regulars chided me and suggested I try some. I ordered a tin of toque quit and loved it from fist sniff. I never intended to give up my pipe and I’ve never said I will. But from around eight pipes a day, I hardly ever smoke now. I just prefer snuff.
It was three years ago. We - me and my two friends - were going along the river (Brda in Bydgoszcz) to meet our friend on his birthday party. One of them - Tomek - proposed me something. He said it’s nice, ir refreshes, etc. So I took it up to my nose and snuffed. That was Alpina. I got in love from the very first time. I kept on at him all day to give me some more. On the next day I bought my first own snuff - Ozona Cherry. After some months I made my first order (Bernards, Woses), and so it’s been going for the last three years.
I have always really been into trying different forms of tobacco and was absolutely sick of smoking cigarettes. I was alright into Snus, cigars, and pipes so I figured after years of wanting to try snuff to do so. I went to one of my favorite cigar shops that happened to stock Silver Dollar. Spent about a go six months on that alone, then I finally decided to place an order with Mr. Snuff and the rest is history, lol. I have only been a snuffer for about a year and two months, but I absolutely love it. Snuff and cigars are probably my favorite forms of tobacco so far.