I think the convention idea would be a great event. You don’t have to have everyone sitting around having a pinch and doing nothing. No. Far from it. You could do that yes, and then have events like going out on the drink as a group. You could do so much! I’d say, rent a venue (charge an entrance fee to cover the cost) and have a few stalls from different companys (I’m sure you could persuade a few companys to send some reps with a stall) so you can try and buy their products, provide beers from around the world for people to try and so on. Make a day of it. Then of the evening, everyone goes out on a pub crawl. Make it once a year thing. So much to do. All it would take is a few people who would be willing to commit time and a little bit of money to get the idea off the ground. As for a news letter or something, I’m sure I could be able to help with writting articles. As for products? Yeah, hats tshirts, snuff boxes, it all could be designed if people were willing to put the time and effort in. Just requires people to actually do something about it and someone to take charge. To focus whoever is interested and give a bit of direction.
I came to a solution of one of Xander’s idea to get more people to find out about the Snuffhouse. We could create some business cards or leaflets that everyone could download as PDF/JPG, print them out and bring them to shops where you buy snuff so the shopkeepers could give them to other customers. The same could be done with a newsletter. EDIT: I spent five minutes and tried to create a card, although graphics is not really my thing. http://img521.imageshack.us/img521/2952/snuffhousebusinesscard.jpg
I’ve said before, I think such a thing would be good, could be good, and I think it could be a collective body, like a Union of sorts, especially when confronting human rights attacks. But to get the numbers, and weight, I would not limit it to nasal snuff, as it’s such a small clique, socially speaking. I would redub it, International Smokeless Tobacco Association, and include users, manufacturers, and vendors, of all smokeless, each having their panel/section. Nasal snuff isn’t the only smokeless tobacco being attacked, and vilified. Snus, and various American, and other forms of smokeless too. Having a large unified body of users, vendors, and manufacturers, collectively, would be a greater vehicle to assert our rights, which is under attack the world over. It would also be a way to fight the lies and propaganda, and maybe enlighten people, and end the EU ban, and show that it is indeed a legitimate alternative to smoking, and a historically traditional means of adult use of tobacco.
I second what Tom says! We could really get this thing going, just needs abit of dedication that is all. What say you gentlemen?
Dues: one tin of snuff a year?
I’d rather it not be inclusive of all smokeless types. We’d get hugely overshadowed by the oral users. We’ve already been lumped in with them a la PACT, even though the authors of said legislation are ignorant of our very existance. We are a microcosm of a minority. I like snus, but its just a totally different experience. I’m not in love with it though. If I joined a pipe club, I wouldn’t want it to be a pipe and cigarette club. Now, ISTA, as an independent member of a smokeless federation of clubs, that’s possible. We need our own club first, though.
I agree with Xander without going back to look (and losing this post) doesn’t it stand for ‘International Snuff Takers Association’? most of the world knows snuff as what we do (its just the USA who confuses it) but to help further solve this, Maybe it could be INSTA (international Nasal Snuff Takers Association)? as an added perk, "Insta’ even almost spells something
not my greatest creation, but it was fun to make. Heres a simple business card for the ISTA 
I must respectfully disagree with Tom502, although I probably rant more about the Human Rights aspects of Tobacco Oppression here and in many other places than most tobacco users do. There are pros and cons with being allied with all “Smokeless Tobacco” users. For example, I saw on another thread that the tax on smokeless tobacco in Alberta, CAN has been raised to $.30 per gram. If you bought one can of Los Snus, just the tax would cost you $14.40. If anyone tried to pass a tax increase like that in Texas (where I am), or anywhere else in the Southern U.S. where American Smokeless Tobacco is extremely popular, they’d be disemboweled, drawn, quartered, eviscerated, castrated, cooked and eaten. On the other hand, go to the American Dip forums, and you have bunch of people arguing about the best way of concealing a mouthful of dip from your High School English Teacher. I kind of like the idea of being part of a select minority, large enough to be diverse and interesting, but not so large and amorphous that you get lost in a crowd who haven’t got the faintest idea of what you’re talking about. As far as politics go, snuff takers are never going to be large enough in number to have Political Clout. Even smokers are unwilling to use their Clout, although they are more than plentiful enough to sway ANY election if they voted the same way. Remember, it’s not the majority that rules, but the largest minority that can agree on anything. But what you lose in power, you can more than make up for in focus, finesse and dexterity. I would therefore have to agree with Xander: A shadowy, intriguingly exclusive, international network of nasal tobacco aesthetes.
Not to be Johnny Raincloud, but this has been talked to death for the better part of 3 years. Interest perks, then it fades into the pile of threads, then it perks again. When it comes down to it, I don’t think there are enough people who have the time required to not only get this going, but to keep it going. The startup is the easy part… but who is going to maintain it?
You may be right, Johnny. I would think it takes alot of monitoring, upgrade of software from time to time, design, etc., just to start out. I’m thinking there is much that goes on behind the scenes now on this sight that most are not aware of…(.probably very similar to the little feller behind the curtain in the Wizard of Oz…)
I understand the disagreements, my idea was to get numbers and clout. I think broadly speaking, nasal snuff use is very small compared to everything else. So, if it is a specific niche, which is fine, a small fanzine with adds and commentary, reviews, and news could be done.
@ snuff_n00b If you are willing to put together an e-newsletter for the ISTA, lets start here. We can all pool our talents to contribute to the ISTA initially. @ everyone else Who here is good at writing or research regarding snuff that would want to provide content for the newsletter? Should an executive committee be nominated and voted upon to run the particulars of the newsletter and other association activities? Perhaps an executive board and a couple of online chat meetings are all that will be necessary to get this off the ground.
Honestly, I tend to think it’s a “good” idea, that everyone seems interested in, but no one wants to actually “do”.
@LincolnSnuff I’m more than willing to put it together, besides it being something I’m interested in, it’d give me good practice to
Someone who is inclined, just needs to do it. As far as I know, no one “owns” it.
I’d be able to help out whenever I have the time with writing up articles if that helps?
There we go. So snuff_n00b will make a nice e-zine/newsletter and Snuffin will work on writing up articles. Now we need ideas for content. Snuffin - if you need help with this, post a thread asking for ideas or to bounce your ideas off of other members. I am sure that some members have content that is ready to go, e.g. snuff poems, reviews, links, history, books, etc. that they could send you.