I decided to quit smoking about a year ago because of breathing difficulties. I have been using an electronic cigarette but recently it is making my chest feel tight. So, i decided to give Snuff a try. I have been using snuff for a month now & i am very impressed with the nicotine you can receive from such a small amount of pleasant smelling tobacco. Only problem is, four days ago my sinuses sealed themselves shut. I had carried on using snuff (with great difficulty) until 12 hours ago i realised it is exaserbating the problem. I am feeling a little better now, i am not going to have any more snuff till my infection is gone. I am wondering if anyone else has experienced this and could discuss it to put my mind at rest. I have been a little worried that i have damaged my sinuses
I will have an occasional day where my sinuses lock up. I think it is largely due to allergies. When that happens I lay off snuff and reach for snus.
I would love to try snus but i understand it is difficult to get in the UK.
Yeah sounds like allergies. Is there a reason you think it’s an infect beyond being closed up. I find that certain snuffs clog me up others do not. Poschel snuffs can make my sinus feel like they’ve got concrete in them and I can’t snuff at all. I’ve noticed that unscented snuffs and a few others don’t lock up my nose at all. Also being a former smoker you’re respiratory system is damaged and will be overly sensitive. This should pass and not be as much of an issue with time. (and yes depending on how long you smoked the damage may not have healed yet). Try diffrent snuffs and see what agrees with you the most. There are plenty of snuffs I like the smell of but my nose sinuses don’t like. So yeah it’s happened to me, and I have some of the worst allergies of anyone I know so it’s really happened to me. It actualy is almost not an issue now and my allergies are almost not an issue now (I blame snuff for that). Don’t worry you’ve not done any harm by using snuff. Additionaly as you get better at snuffing and get less snuff in your sinuses (don’t worry you’re sinuses can clean themselves out, that’s one of the things they’re there for anyways) they’ll react less.
I agree with @bob. I would also note that at least for me, unfortunately, most things with menthol will tend to initially make me feel the full size and volume of my sinuses, which is awesome…then they will swell shut and stay for hours… So for me, I have had to initially just avoid menthols, and can now, as I have become more experienced, experiment, and just go slow. On the other hand, I have no trouble with most anything that does not have the wonderful, yet abominal menthol bugaboo. Wishing you the very best of your new found ‘hobby/addiction’ (in a good way) @snuffmeister
Menthols don’t clear me up at all, i just like the sensation. Something like HDT or Shot of Rum clear me up great after a few minutes. I recently went a little while without snuffing recently, and I ended up with a raging sinus infection that lasted almost two months. I started snuffing regularly again and it’s gone. It still sounds counter-intuitive to me, but it seems to work with the way my sinuses are built.
Very common, but if it has just happened where before you were snuffing without any problems a visit to the doc might be a good idea.
Grind up some horse radish root in vinegar and have it on some roast beef, if your sinus don’t clear within the first three bites go see a doctor you have a problem.
I havent had any snuff now for about 30 hours & i feel a lot better. I believe my trouble started through overuse of Menthol snuffs and the fact i have been constantly snorting & blowing my nose for a month. Im going to lay off the Menthol for now & stick with SP’s.
Try flushing out your sinuses every few days with a neti pot.
@howdydave Just got one today, works a treat. Never heard of them before i started snuffing!
Every now and then my sinuses will clog badly after a heavy day of snuffing (just happened actually). When this happens, I find that 6 Photo Natural with clove added (flavored to taste) reduces the swelling and allows me to breathe more easily. I discovered this quite by accident and it may only work for me… might not hurt to give it a try.
What if you get a lingering dry, hot, burning situation in a nostril? I’m just curious, I showed it to my doc, who said that it looked a bit redder than the other, then more or less said to just give it time. Have any of you experienced this? I remember reading a book about Ayurveda which mentioned using herb-infused oils in the nose, anybody know how it’s done?
Got URTI for 4 days and now my doc tells I get sinusitis. Nose clogged and runs. So because it is an infection at the sinuses, it must be cured by antibacterial spray and pills for 5 to 10 days. Previously I thought that my nose runs and clog due to snuff, so I hope that after treatment it’ll be ok to take snuff without need to blow every time after sniff. I hate sniff 
Also, HDT, quit, irish high toast dry my nose inside pretty good.
I used to have chronic sinus infections due to my left nostril not being able to drain properly. Snuff seems to get up in there and suck up the moisture or something. If I snuff regularly I don’t have infections. I took a break from snuffing for about a month and my sinus infection returned within a week. I’ve even stopped using my Sinus Rinse. Nothing against them, it just doesn’t seem necessary
@Mr.O – There are all sorts of herbs that you can put into the water in your neti pot to flush through your nose. The ones that I currently have on hand are: Valarian, Brahmi, Sandalwood powder, Tulsi, ground ginger and ground sage. Go to an Aurvedic medicine site and find out what can be used and the benefits of each additive. I got my ginger and sage from the spice rack at the supermarket, the rest I got from the Aurvedic section of an Indian store. If you are currently taking any medications, check with your pharmicist first.
Sesame seed oil is recommended for the nose and sinuses especially after a netti rinse. A general method of application would be to drop in while tilting the head back. I have shmalzed a Scotch with sesame oil with good results.
I stopped snuffing for quite a while, 3 months I think (because I started smoking again) Now I am back on the snuff and am cigarette free again. But I think I had the same problem you are having. Upon returning to snuff, maybe a week or less into it, I got a nasty sinus infection. I gave it a rest for a couple days and then started snuffing again and now i’m good. I think it is a concept similar to like if you are exposed to somthing then you develop immunity, like how kids get chicken pox once and then they are good for life or at least a long time.
Thank’s HowdyDave and Juxtaposer! I don’t have a neti pot as of yet, it would be easier, I was thinking, in my situation to make a batch of herbalized oil and to keep it in the fridge than to prepare a neti every day. It’s complicated to explain, but it would just be much easier in my situation to do that and to use a saline spray bottle for irrigation. I was thinking to add to the oil mild herbs perhaps such as: mint, chamomile, sandalwood, lavender, maybe Gotu Kola if it would infuse well. I think I just need ones with cooling and soothing properties. I’m wondering how the infusion is done, does one just heat up the oil and pour it over the herbs in a jar then let it sit for a certain length of time? Or is it a long infusion at room temp or done in the fridge? Must go buy some sesame oil and do some research online here then. Also thinking maybe a paste made from slippery elm powder? Thank’s again folks!
I use powdered gotu kola as an herb snuff base. It’s nice stuff. I also have an echinacea and goldenseal mix I use to clear up the sinus infections that I will sometimes get due to the volcano ash that comes around when the trade winds get cut off by weather events.