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Indian snuffs in the US

S

With such large communities here I am perplexed why I have not been able to find any Indian snuffs at small kiosk types stores that might not follow local regulations as they should. I went around Jackson Heights, a neighborhood in NYC with a very large south Asian population and was not able to find anything. Has anyone had luck via such avenues?

N

In the past US snuffers were finding Indian snuffs at Indian food stores, try looking in all the Indian/Asian specialty stores.

B

You should be able to find snuff at Gujarati / Patel owned stores.

S

I shall try again…probably went to 10 or so places last year looking.

V

@snuffandsympathy, I don’t know how the things are in the USA, but most (if not all) “exotic” tobacco products (like nasal snuff, naswar, khaini and raw tobacco) in the UK brick-and-mortar stores are sold under the counter.

I was visiting the UK recently and asked for Chaini Khaini for a quick fix at some corner shops (7 or 8), mostly operated by Indian/Punjabi folks. Most just stared at me, almost frightened, and shook their heads, but a few recognized the Chaini Khaini sachet I presented and kindly (smiling) explained that I won’t find “cheeny keeny” in that part of London. Kind of a bummer, because I spotted some empty ChKh sachets on the pavement in a vicinity and had high hopes.

My bro had a better luck last summer. He found some shops in NE London carrying decent naswar, white snuff and ChKh. He even learned to ask for those products in Punjabi. I was given whereabouts, but being short of time didn’t go to that particular place…

S

@volunge I know exactly the nervous looks you are talking about. For some reason I often get mistaken for an undercover cop. I am not that hopeful that I will have any luck as many of the former Indian businesses are now run by Bangladeshi or Pakistani but I will see, pan stalls seemed like the obvious choice for me but those did not pan out (pun intended)…