Tobacco is a North American plant, there was absolutely no tobacco of any kind anywhere in Europe before the discovery of North America. What ever the Romans may have snuffed it sure wasn’t tobacco.
I do believe he has a good point Vathek!
Regardless of the historical derivation, I propose we adopt “Satisfactorily Piquant” as the official Snuffhouse meaning of the SP designation, on the grounds that it is the only meaning that actually provides a description of the group of snuffs in question.
PipenSnusnSnuff - A noble proposal! Although I kind of stick to the Spanish tale. This is quite an old Urban legend conundrum concerning snuff. I do like the fact that it is quite descriptive. SP snuffs are a joy, and the ability to try so many variants is truly amazing. I for one have tried so many, but just this week was able to try the SP No1High Mill from Kendal, and was once again delighted with something familiar yet unique. Viva la Difference!
I’m pretty sure that it was 2 random letters placed together for the express purpose of starting Saturday night pub fights over their secret meaning… :^)
WTF is going on here. Juxtaposer talking sense and Vathek making things up? Have I stepped into Bizzaro Universe Snuffhouse?
Funny shit eh?
First I’ve ever heard about Romans taking ‘snuff’, - as noted, can’t have been tobacco. where are the citations for that? (‘Paulatim’ suggests in small amounts to me rather than slowly, though I’ve little Latin and less Greek. Pulling our legs?). I’ll go with ‘Splendid Pinch’, since apparently it’s anyones guess.
I like the first explination I ever heard. Which was that no one knows what it stands for, because it did not stand for anything. It essentialy a ledger code or nothing more or less then a product code or a shipping code. Sort of like 1Q by lane, which was called I.Q. at my local. I still think that is the most likely explination. It doesn’t feed the mystery like other theories but it does explain why no one can find a solid meaning of S.P.
Lots of great tales being told here. The explaination that I have heard most often was that SP stood for either “Spanish” or “Spain” and was branded/seared/burned onto wooden cargo barrels in the days of sailing ships to signify their destination. Whether or not that is the real story is anybody’s guess.
Actually, the Romans were very heavy cigarette smokers. Julius Caesar got through 4 packs of Marlboro red in one senate meeting once. Cicero quotes him as saying ‘I love a tab, me’.
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… intra bonun et in hoc bene Superbus Primam bonum quod dicit snuff estis…’ Tacitus, Ad Baccium. Woof Woof.
Snuffster that is a common misconception. His brand was larame ultras and romans were more into chewing tobacco, can’t expect anything else from the culture that invented the mullet.
Roman Centurions were notorious for their massive consumption of Macanudo’s. I’m sure I read that in Tacitus’ The Annals.
no, no, you guys got it all wrong, the Romans couldn’t get enough of that fine Cuban Habana.
yeah shows what you know! Romans called cigarettes pipes!
Well at least they had the sense to make wine in lead vats!
@howdydave is that like people are talking hear. Ship High In Transit.
Nihil carborundum illegitimati!
Wilson’s own site quote the Vigo battle as the source of SP. This has been accepted and passed on as truth without question. Snuffmen, like pre-Reformation ecclesiastical orders , speak as ones with authority, they sayeth and you believeth. “The booty from the captured Spanish galleons included a large quantity of snuff which was subsequently sold in London. Referred to as “Spanish” by the clerks, they soon abbreviated this to “SP”, thus originating the name of the most popular blend of all.” http://sharrowmills-online.com/company/snuffs.html This might be so, but what and where are the original sources to confirm this? All early sources I’ve seen to date state that the 1702 booty was sold in England as “Vigo Snuff” at three or four pence a pound, and described as “gross snuff from the Havannah“. The book ‘Social life in the reign of Queen Anne: Taken From Original Sources’ by John Ashton, for example, details the Vigo operation and its commercial aftermath but makes no reference to either ‘Spanish’ snuff or the alleged abbreviation (pages 158-159). The only references to S.P in contemporary clerical documents allude to the mundane S.P ledger (sales and purchases.) Likewise, the exhaustive book ‘Dictionary of Traded Goods and Commodities, 1550-1820’ lists 4,000 products including many snuffs, but not S.P. Neither is S.P mentioned in Hassall’s magnum opus of 1854 or the surviving accounts of Fribourg & Treyer prior to 1920. The Vigo story might be true, but can anyone actually provide a reference to S.P snuff prior to the 20th century - let alone 1702! Would be very interested to read it.