First off, let me apologize in advance if this subject has been discussed. I swear I spent a good hour looking through old posts in search of an answer. I recently began using snuff and as many newbies, I still haven’t gotten the sniffing technique down. Almost every time, I sniff (not snort) some down into my lungs. Maybe due to snuff or perhaps just bad timing, I just came down with a nasty upper respiratory infection. Do any of you think this could have been caused by the snuff? I’m determined to get over this infection and resume snuffing, but am a little apprehensive about it now. 
I only got to experiment with snuff for about 2 weeks before getting sick and I don’t believe I was going over the top with it. We are talking, maybe 10 super small pinches a day. I have quite the collection of snuff so I am really hoping to hear that it wasn’t the snuff. Any ideas??? I’ve also read about the automatic box but have only found it on Rajek’s website. I can’t justify spending darn near $25 just for shipping in order to get this.
Any chance its just a coincidence, are you just quitting smoking? I’ve never read anything on these board regarding upper respiratory infection.
Haven’t heard of anyone getting a respiratory infection from snuff. But there are some techniques you could try or you could just switch to a more moist or more coarse snuff until you become more familiar with it. These are the basic techniques I’ve posted before that you can try if you have trouble with snuffs. This technique is used if you just can’t keep the snuff out of the throat no matter what you try. With your right nostril you could try having the pinch in your right hand and when your pinched fingers reach the nose, reach up with the middle finger and press slightly on the outside of the nostril (on the side of nose not the top) closing the nasal passage slightly. But give these techniques below a shot! Well not everyone is the same. For me I take a pinch & bring it up until my thumb nail and index finger nail just touch the inside edge of the nostril. Then I give a quick light sniff while kind of flaring my nostril by raising the side of my upper lip that I’m taking a snuff on (kind of like the face you would make if something smelled bad). You need to sniff rather than just breathe in. You might try holding the pinch kind of tight and only releasing small amounts at a time & at the same time rubbing your two fingers together. You can also experiment with your head position, sometimes it works by touching your chin to your chest when you sniff. Also turning head left or right. Something else that works is filling your lungs with air before you sniff. You can also try breathing on the snuff like you were fogging a mirror before you sniff. This adds a little moisture and weight to it. Or lick your fingers before taking a pinch. Now one more thing you can try that works for people is bringing your fingers up to nose enough to restrict the air flow. This also creates turbulence so the air & snuff just doesn’t shoot straight down the nasal canal. Also mix around with the amount of force you sniff at while doing this. Sometimes a short fast harder sniff works for people
I think i know you from snuson. I had a bad upper respiratory infection once i quit smoking. I had never used snuff then. Ive been snuffing everyday for the past week and a half and feel fine. My nose needs a lil cleaning because seems like i can never get t he snuff out of there. Also, i have probably gone through 2 boxes of Kleenex too. Seems i still have virgin nostrils. I think you may have just contracted the infection due to changing in seasons or by mere chance. I dont think snuff did it.
When I quit smoking, I had several nasty side effects, like head aches, blisters in my mouth etc. These went away after a while, and were probably withdrawal symptoms related to the many active ingredients that develop when burning tobacco. I take a lot of snuff - and even suffering from chronical hay fever, snuff never provoked an attack or made my hay fever worse (during season), so I think your infection is incidential. Cheers.
Like others, I find that I get fewer colds and my hay fever is much less severe now than before I started using snuff regularly.
Ermtomy - I took prescription medication against hay fever since I was 15 years old. Now I’m 45 and since I began taking snuff about a year ago, I haven’t taken one single pill!!
Nice one Viking! I’ve had hay fever since I was 20 (I’m now 52) and while I still take some anti-histamines between April and June (it’s the oil seed rape pollen that gets me) I feel far better in those months now than I ever used to before I became a regular snuff taker. Snuff, the “new” wonder drug! I guess Jean Nicot was right!
I just came across this reference, http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0044813.html Seriously, I had no idea of this! My own example definitely seems to confirm this!
Whoa! Did I understand the freepatentsonline website correctly? The patent is for a snuff saline nasal spray???
Nah it’s for fun.
Amonia can help you be more susceptable to resprtory infections maybe that was a factor.
Ha bigblue1, yeah when that commercial comes on tv for that allergy blocker you rub on the outside of your nose, I laugh a little inside.
I never had any issues with upper respitory infections when I started snuffing a little over a year ago. I would think that its more likely related to the quitting smoking. It’s probably a good sign of healing.
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I remember coughing like never before, when I came off cigarettes. It was bad before I quit, but became worse for a while after quitting, then went away!
The reason why one starts coughing when you stop smoking is because the microscopic sized “hair” in the bronchial tubes, who’s function it is to get rid of foreign objects, becomes “alive” again. Smoking causes this little hair to get plastered down after some time. When you stop smoking, they start functioning again and that’s what causes the initial coughing. You might notice some bad looking stuff coming out while coughing. This is portions of the tar “coating” in your lungs!! Snuff does not leave any such problems, so please stick around!!
I believe I did get sick once from inhaling snuff too deeply. It was going into my lungs and I had a minor problem for a while, kind of a croupy cough. No fever or other symptoms. It went away after several days. I am now much more careful about snuffing gently, especially with powdery snuffs.
Sprangalang, as long as you don’t find any traces of snuff in your underpants after taking a deep snort, everything is OK!!! I also had BIG problems with the powdery stuff and stayed away from it for a long time. Now I know to handle it with care and I use it frequently without a problem. In fact, most of my favourites now are fine snuffs. Once you’re used to taking all kinds of snuff, you will really enjoy it. Snuuf is lovely.
Pieter - yes exactly so. It is part of the body’s process of healing itself the best it can. After 7 years with no smoking, your lungs are almost in the same state as if you had never smoked. Good reason for optimism 