Hello everybody, I’m Grunt, new to the community. I have been dabbling in snuff for a few years, I love the stuff but I have a few questions.

I have an attraction to indian snuffs, Love them! White elephant has a great texture, and I have heard good things about Cheeta and Dholakia white snuff,

and was wondering if anyone could tell me the difference between White Elephant, and other white snuffs as far as texture, grain size etc taste / smell.

Have been a big smoker for awhile ( until I quit ) and moved on to other smokeless forms of tobacco ( finally. ) However I have run into a problem ( probably from years and years of smoking. ) My problem is when I take some snuff I have a HUGE increase in tinnitus, I wanted to ask others if this is normal / how to avoid it. It got to the point where I had to stop snuff for awhile ( which did not make me happy ) and I want to get back into it again and thought no place better to ask than here.

So to summarize

Are there any white snuffs that are easier to take than White Elephant? 

Has anyone experienced increased tinnitus while taking snuff? ( How to avoid ) 

And if all else fails, can I take the white snuffs orally ( dentifrice ) as they do in India, and would this work for nicotine absorption?

Welcome to the community.

No idea about Indian snuff.

I have not experienced tinnitus while taking snuff. However the nostrils and ear canals are connected, people get tinnitus from nasal congestion, so that makes sense if you are getting nasal congestion. Not sure how to avoid tinnitus caused by snuffing.

Tobacco is absorbed through the oral mucosa and probably other mucosa. If its tobacco, it will work for  nicotine absorption. If they do it in India, not sure why it wouldn’t work elsewhere.

Apparently nicotine as well as caffeine can be ototoxic and cause tinnitus or aggravate it. My guess is since you were a grunt in the military you may have tinnitus already from the guns and other high decibel stuff, and that snuff exacerbates it.

Yes, the snuff itself did not create my ear ringing. It just made it absolutely much worse, almost to an alarming point. ( It’s better now ) and I have been off snuff for awhile which is disappointing.

I can’t blame nicotine, because I have used nicotine in many different forms, and it has never done this. I believe it to be my fault, poorly sniffing the snuff too high up ( especially with snuffs like WE ) and getting it near my ears. 

Any tips on how to approach very fine snuffs without getting it too high? I also do not like dip because I hate spitting it out, and my wife probably wouldn’t like it either. So I don’t know how orally taking snuff would be different than dip itself unless I didn’t have to spit it. I’m assuming rubbing it on my gums I would have to then spit it out, but I really enjoy snuff and want to find a way to safely take it so I can begin taking it again. Any comments would be greatly appreciated, I feel sort of lost at the moment with what to do.

Grunt, if i can make a suggestion, don’t put your white snuff anywhere but your nose. Go out and get some plain American scotches and put your white away for a couple months. I suggest this because it’s what I did. I could get the white to the right place using tricks but it was a pita not snuffing naturally. Well after going thru maybe a couple hundred grams of slightly coarser snuff one day I decided to try the white again and noticed somewhere along the way my body had taught itself how to take whites. It wasn’t anything I set out trying to do, but using progressively finer snuffs just allowed it to happen naturally.

Thank you for your response snuffsahoy, much appreciated. 

You’re right, I’m so focused on the white snuffs I should probably get to practicing with coarser stuff. I mean if I can’t get the coarser stuff I can’t do the finer stuff anyway.

From what I remember Viking blonde was just so fluffy and easy to take, then I went right to the whites and probably paid the price for it. 

I’ve also been eyeing swisher honey bee… might give it a try.

Do you have any suggestions of specific snuffs to try and train my nose? Even in my prime I was never a HUGE snuffer, I would just take a few pinches here and there and it was a fairly peaceful experience.

I wouldn’t discount nicotine as a factor. My tinnitus gets worse when my nicotine levels are high. It’s one of the ways I self regulate. When my ears start ringing or it worsens it’s time to back off the nic a bit. Maybe the white snuffs are just to high in nicotine for you. 

You could be correct mick it’s just I vape and I smoked so much cigs a day and never had the power of the tinnitus I had when I fooled around with snuffs like WH ( even though I love everything about the white snuffs ) and it continued for a long time after I even stopped snuff.

I wouldn’t put it beyond me to be snuffing wrong, thus getting that dust way into my inner here tube, I was taking WE off the back of my hand… looking back I should have probably been using the pinch method more.

Viking blonde was always a dream to take, and reminded me of hay.

41 photo yellow lily is a white snuff and it has a lower nicotine level. It is also less expensive. You can try to hydrate your white snuff; a little moisture swells the fine snuff and makes it easy to use. If you want to use tobacco orally I suggests you try Snus in a regular portion. Or a loose snus that is not extra strong.  

How is the grain size of 41 photo lily compared to White Elephant? My snuff goal would be to be able to take WE, as it is my favorite snuff. Would you guys recommend the pinch method instead of the back of the hand for very fine snuffs? Or how do swisher snuffs compare with white elephant? Thanks for your time.

I second @bigmick  My tinnitus rears it’s head when I overdo snuff, so I also consider it a way to self regulate.  It’s my built-in klaxon, warning of impending nic overdose. 

Although We do not recommend,but Snuff is predominantly used as a dentifrice in India , both mentholated and plain snuffs are used for rubbing on the gums and teeth. It is the reason why Indian snuffs use less of menthol as compared to European snuffs.

If someone uses snuff as a dentifrice do take care to rinse the mouth after use 

Just wanted to thank everybody for their time. I am going to take the communities advice and NOT use any snuff as a dentifrice. Don’t think my wife would like that either.

Before I was taking snuff from the back of my hand ( including the WE ) and I feel that this was probably the wrong method. When I return back home I am going to try to order just one or two snuffs that are very easy to take and use the pinch method instead.

If I practice the pinch method with easy to take snuffs like viking blonde etc, and I don’t get any ear pressure or increased tinnitus I will try the white elephant again. If I can’t, well then I guess sad day for me and my snuff allure. I’ll research more methods of trying to keep snuff in the nose only ( moistoning the snuff, etc, ) as I really do think all my problems stem not from nicotine strength but from me not taking snuff properly ( thus sending it into my sinuses and beyond. )

I’m so curious on who started using tobacco to brush their teeth…what a strange thing to do. What is the point?

You know, it sounds crazy, but I’ve tried it (once) and it does work pretty well as a dentifrice. I’d accidently bought some moist snuff (Super Chetak, perhaps? I don’t recall exactly) and found out that’s how it was meant to be used. Nice, wet, black Indian snuff. It goes on black, but with a little brushing and rinsing, my teeth felt and looked clean, and my gums felt awesome with the nicotine tingle.

Knowing the risks, though, that was my one and only try. Pleasant and at least somewhat effective, but probably not something to make a habit of.

I’m not sure which white snuffs you’re talking about, but some Indian “snuffs” are actually gul, which is used almost exclusively as a dentrifice at least in Bengal (where you also get snuff). It doesn’t help that they look identical in powder form (the labelling is different, generally), but I’ve made the mistake of putting Gul up my nose and it wasn’t pleasant.
Part of this is probably the amount of lime and banana leaf ash added to the tobacco, which makes it readily available to the bloodstream when rubbed on the gums, but it is also harsh. feel like I might have had tinnitus like effect from gul, but it’s been a while now and I don’t live in India anymore.
What I will say is I don’t remember this sort of effect from sniffing other Indian snuffs, and yes there are people who do use those nasally

I did not know that GUL snuffs were meant to be used orally. I’ve found that I quite like White Horse GUL as a nasal snuff. I generally mix it 1:3 or thereabouts with regular White Horse. I like the scent and nose feel it adds.