I saw the post about snuff in films and thought this would be a similar and interesting topic. In fact, it is because of the following novel I will discuss, which I recently reread about 3 weeks back, that I began snuffing. One of my all time favorite novels features a snuff taking bounty hunter who partakes of Mrs. Siddon’s No. 3 & 4 Snuff and Dr. Johnson’s Snuff. The Sergeant he works under partakes of some Specific No. 1 Snuff. I was curious if these were real snuffs and did a bit of online research and discovered that all 3 were made by a now defunct company called Freeman & Gossage, Inc in San Francisco, CA. Published in 1968, the novel took place in the future, 3 January, 1992 - 4 January 1992. The Android (or Andy) killing bounty hunter’s name was Rick Deckard and the novel was written by Philip K. Dick and was titled Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?. This is like the copy I have. I just love this cover. It is an absolutely brilliant story and if you haven’t read it - READ IT NOW! It was made into a Ridley Scott directed film starring Harrison Ford in 1983. The title was changed to BLADE RUNNER and there are no scenes of anyone partaking of any snuff. Blade Runner is one of my favorite movies. Perhaps you would like to share a novel you’ve read that has one or more snuff taking characters? Grant
Some of Sir Terry Pratchett’s novels have characters partaking in snuff, such as in “Moving Pictures”. The novel it’s most prominent in is (stick with me because this is a rather abstract name) called “Snuff”. That, by far, has the most events of any character taking snuff.
Thanks for the info, The_Persian_Slipper. I will research that book a bit later and see if it is something I might be interested in reading. I hope it will be. I recognize the author’s name but can’t place him offhand. Excellent title though.
Henry James’s The American has one character who takes snuff.
Thanks horus92. I’ll check it out.
I realize that as people post about such obscure things as snuff taking in novels they may not remember the name of the brand or brands that were used and, in fact, the author may have described said snuff only in a general sense, but if you do know the names of the snuff in the novel, as per my above post, and could include those, it would make for some interesting insight into what was available during the time of the books publication and perhaps what the author himself was enjoying while he was writing the book. I did read somewhere here on Snuffhouse yesterday that Philip K. Dick was quite the snuff user and I had assumed as much. Dick lived in San Francisco where Freeman & Gossage, Inc, the maker of the 3 snuffs mentioned in ‘Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?’ was located. He, no doubt, used these snuffs and in one part of the novel he has the main character, Rick Deckard, tossing away a tin of Dr. Johnson’s snuff after taking some and then thinking to himself how foul the menthol in it smells so early in the morning. I’d fathom a guess that Dick himself had probably done just that prior to writing that bit. He certainly looks like a snuff taker. 
If I had one of those neat photo image enhancing devices like Rick Deckard uses in the movie ‘Blade Runner’, I could probably zoom right into Dick’s nose there and see some little brown bits of Mrs. Siddon’s No. 3 & 4 Snuff. Think I’ll have some snuff now and try to write the next great novel. Wish me luck. I’ll need it. I had trouble composing this little rambler-what with the black and white Boston TERROR barking nonstop and the cacophony of noise from the humans with whom I share this residence. Time for some snuff…
That’s the first I heard of Freeman and Gossage. I think I remember reading that Philip K. Dick used Dean Swift, which made a splash in the US in the late 60s but never got beyond subculture status. There are some more threads on this f you go digging in old threads from years back. Terry Pratchett’s Snuff only came out last year, and I’m not too familiar with it, but I do know that it was the most recent in his Ringworld series. The names he uses for snuffs are fictitious, but the names sound as if they could be from one of the older English companies. Clearly he has a good understanding of English snuff, and we presume he’s a snuff taker as well. I don’t remember what they are but again, look in the cellar and see some more threads on this. Actually when you get into lots of 18th and 19th century literature, snuff is pretty common: almost so common as to not be worth mentioning. I’m sure some names were real and some fictitious. All throughout snuffhouse you will find tidbits of snuff mentions in various books. It might be nice to have them all compiled in one list though.
Thanks Xander - very interesting. :-bd
Time for somebody to start writing about a snuff sniffin’ Private Eye! Sam Spade, Philip Marlowe, Richard Diamond, Barry Craig and all those super sluthes from the '40s and ‘50s were cigarette smokers – even Sgt. Joe Friday when he was on the radio! Maybe we can get detective Joe Gunther to hire a snuff sniffer for the Vermont Bureau of Investigation! Who’s gonna’ call Archer Mayor (the author of the Joe Gunther series?)
Has Crumbs of Comfort ever been mentioned in a novel? It might just be a brain tumor, but I am inclined to believe that I once read a book in which Crumbs of Comfort was mentioned on several occasions. Needless to say, I can’t, for the life of me, figure out in which book or story I may have read this. If I’m not simply imagining things, it may be in one of H.P. Lovecraft’s stories or in one of Piers Anthony’s “Xanth” volumes. Or perhaps it could have been mentioned in the “Bartimaeus” trilogy, as the author and the plot both inhabit the UK. I do know that the term “Crumbs of Comfort” is not exclusive to the name of a snuff. But have a feeling that the literature in question used the term to describe the snuff.
Had to dig a while to find this thread… I just found another one! Allan Quatermain by Henry Rider Haggard Allan Quartermain’s Zulu warrier sidekick (named Umslopogaas ) often offers a pinch of snuff to Allan – which he gladly accepts. Umslopogaas uses a spent brass cartrage as his snuffbox. We are usually told that Umslopogaas takes the snuffbox “from a slit in his ear where he always keeps it.” I assume that the Zulus on the African Veldt make their own snuff…
Thanks for the info @howdydave - I’ll look into it. :-B
Keep in mind that there is nothing extraordinary about this. The Allan Quartermain stories are Victorian literature.
Michael Crichton’s “Pirate Latitudes” is a novel, the last published Michael Crichton novel I believe, about a so-called “pirate” named Captain Charles Hunter and his efforts to steal Spanish gold in 1665 Jamaica in it’s capital Port Royal. The English governor of Jamaica uses snuff throughout the book and he describes the snuff use in various ways for example, using snuff to overcome the horrible smell of the streets of Port Royal and to “pique his appetite”. It is a great book and I highly recommend others to read it.
@howdydave did they make a movie from that book or a movie with a character named Allan Quatermain? I remember watching a movie that sounds a lot like that book.
After further research @Xander I discovered that Freeman & Gossage received a trademark for ‘Dean’s Own’ snuff 7/19/1966. Registration Number: 0811254 Perhaps at some point, Dean Swift was born out of this? The snuffs mentioned in “Do Androids…” trademarks and patents dated to around 1963 and 64, 65 etc if memory serves me correctly. Maybe, Dean Swift was a name brand owned by Freeman & Gossage? Ok, here we go: DEAN’S OWN SNUFF Owned by: FREEMAN & GOSSAGE, INC. Serial Number: 72192701 MRS. SIDDONS’S NO. 3&4 (mentioned in DO ANDROIDS DREAM OF ELECTRIC SHEEP) SNUFF Owned by: FREEMAN & GOSSAGE, INC. Serial Number: 72192702 BOSWELL’S BEST SNUFF Owned by: FREEMAN & GOSSAGE, INC. Serial Number: 72192703 DR.JOHNSON (mentioned in DO ANDROIDS DREAM OF ELECTRIC SHEEP) SNUFF Owned by: FREEMAN & GOSSAGE, INC. Serial Number: 72192704 SPECIFIC NO. 1 (mentioned in DO ANDROIDS DREAM OF ELECTRIC SHEEP) SNUFF Owned by: FREEMAN & GOSSAGE, INC. Serial Number: 72192707 A bit more: DR.JOHNSON Goods/Services SNUFF Owner FREEMAN & GOSSAGE, INC. FREEMAN & GOSSAGE, INC. 451 PACIFIC AVE. SAN FRANCISCO, CALIF. Status This registration was not renewed and is considered to be expired. Filed 1964-05-05 Registered 1966-12-06 Serial No US72192704 I wish I could find some of these old tins - on ebay maybe? Then we could learn more about them. What became of them? etc. I will look into this more when time permits. I’d like to be able to get some of these older snuffs and try them. lol =)) Ok, this should clear things up: Logo: DEAN SWIFT Serial Number: 72192708 Status/Status Date: CANCELLED SECTION 18-TOTAL 12/27/2005 Filing Date: 05/05/1964 Registration Number: 0801214 Registration Date: 01/04/1966 Description of Goods/Services: SNUFF Owner(s): POOLE, WADE H. BOX 2009 SAN FRANCISCO CA 94126 FREEMAN & GOSSAGE, INC. 451 PACIFIC AVE. SAN FRANCISCO CA 
Thanks @md363. Will give that a look and see if it will be something I might enjoy reading.
I think Wilsons of Sharrow owns the trademark now. Presumably they bought it when the TM expired, since they had all the recipes and were making under contract previously. As to some of the brand names, yes search ebay, you may find some of them. There is a “Specific” though not a “Specific No. 1”. There is a “Dr. johnson.” The others may have been trademarked but never made into snuffs. I’ve not come across them, but I see things that surprise me fairly often, so they could be out there.
Ok, @Xander, thanks for the info. Perhaps it was always made in England? Made in England and tinned in San Francisco perhaps. I think I was wondering was it always called Dean Swift or did it begin as something else. I think I actually tried some Dean Swift many years ago but haven’t yet tried any on this recent adventure. Do they make a decent toast or an Sp type snuff similar to WoS Morlaix? Those along with Fichtennadel are my current faves but I want to try a few scented toasts and some menthols soon. I’ll get some Deans on my next order no doubt.
@md363 Are you thinking of ‘The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen’? Graphic novel by Alan Moore, filmed a couple of years ago.