I had a Christmas present of a booklet printed around the late 1970s or 1980s.
The title is " All About Snuff And Snuff Taking" published by The Society of Snuff Grinders, Blenders and Purveyors.
Loose inside is a poster for National Snuff Fortnight 1st June - 14th June 1987.
I have three questions about my present.
1/ Is the Society still in existence ?
2/ Is National Snuff Fortnight still celebrated.
3/ On page ten of the article on “How Your Snuff is Made” it mentions most snuffs are matured for a few weeks. " but one snuff on the market bears a vintage label representing four years in a barrel."
Hello Psicko , reviving National Snuff Fortnight would be a great Idea.
If a fortnight was a bit excessive, National Snuff Day would be a great boost to the moral of the UK and EU snuff taking community after all the bad news we have had of late.
Not to mention the potential extra sales for our Manufacturers and Retailers.
I know a few retailers read these pages but wouldn’t it be wonderful if the manufacturers read this post and took it upon themselves to organise and announce National Snuff Day.
They might get away with it as they would not be advertising any specific make, just snuff in general.
Pipe smokers celebrate International Pipe Smoking Day (IPSD) every Feb 20, which is observed in pipe clubs, pipe and tobacco shops, online retailers (who often have super deals that day) and in social media. Some pipe makers release special commemorative editions on that day, and some blenders will offer special advance releases of new blends.
There aren’t nearly as many online retailers of snuff, or snuff shops, or snuff-oriented social clubs, but there is social media. Recent regulations both in the US and EU would make it difficult to do limited releases of special snuff blends. Nevertheless, an International Snuff Day could unite all of us, US/Canada, EU and elsewhere, and the few purveyors of snuff retail online could do their steepest one-day-only discount to encourage big sales (%20 + free shipping?).
That is a great idea ArtChoo. Im not too sure what the laws are regarding advertising tobacco in general, you may need to tread lightly. It may look more sincere if we organised it amongst ourselves on snuffhouse rather than a manufacture behind it, I just know how alot of people out of the loop on snuff tobacco would react if a tobacco company held a celebration promoting tobacco use. Eitherway I love this idea
As snuffers are often keen on history, it might be amusing to set the date to correspond to some important date connected to the history of snuff and/or tobacco.
I wish the dates were known of certain rather important moments.
*The date when Catherine de Medici took her first snuff of tobacco sent to her by Nicot (after whom yadda yadda) and gave her endorsement of the wonderful plant, which in effect opened the floodgates of tobacco becoming fashionable in Europe,
*The date King James of England published A Counterblaste to Tobacco in 1604. This in effect showed us that even a tyrant can’t stop people from doing what they enjoy. James couldn’t prohibit the stuff, so he just raised excise taxes on it. Even that didn’t stop people from finding ways around.
*The date when that huge cargo of snuff stolen from Spain arrived on British shores, kick-starting a market that has not let up since.
So…maybe something more contemporary? A date from the 19th or 20th C. relevant to snuff history?
In the very same booklet that started me off with my questions, there is an historical chapter written by
M.H.F.Chaytor, Managing Director of Wilsons & Co. (Sharrow).
"The man in the street first began to be fully aware of the pleasure of snuff-taking after the capture in 1702, of a Spanish convoy by Admiral Sir George Rooke in Vigo Bay. Among the loot taken was a large consignment of snuff. Much of this found its way to London but the bulk of the cargo was distributed round the ports and coastal towns by discharged sailors who had received it in part payment of wages and prize money. It was of course, referred to as ‘Spanish’ and many people think this to be the origin of the most famous snuff S.P. "
Credit to M.H.F.Chaytor,
“All About Snuff and Snuff Taking”. Published by The Society of Snuff Grinders, Blenders and Purveyors.
I have found the rough date of the action to be in October 1702.
I am sure that a bit more internet searching would reveal the day on which the battle was or possibly the discharge date of the heavily snuff laden sailors was.
Truly a date to be remembered by snuff takers this side of the English Channel and possibly even the Spanish snuff makers who would no doubt have found another lucrative export market after hostilities had ceased. So I think that the date of the Battle in Vigo Bay and our introduction to S.P. would be an excellent date.
Just looked at The Battle of Vigo Bay on Wikepedia.
It took place on 23rd October 1702.
Makes for very interesting reading, real boys adventure stuff.
The funny bit was when a fire ship laden with snuff blew up alongside HMS Torbay and the resulting cloud of snuff put out most of the flames. It must have been pure hell for the sailors overdosing on snuff.
That settles it then as far as i’m concerned! October 23rd will be marked on my 2017 calendars as Snuff Day - if not national, then at leats in my workplace and favourite pub!!