So far, my favorite is “Smells Purdy”…
The Pollard Claim Questioned. Here is a trade-mark case of 1878. 62O. Ex parte Sales Pollard & Co. [T. M. A. 1875]. July 8, 1878. Jessel, M. R. “ON motion by the registered proprietors of a trade-mark on snuff, consisting of the letters " S. P.” (the initials of the firm), which they had discovered, subsequently to registration, to have been in common use for many years in the snuff trade, though used originally by themselves : Leave given to rectify the register by striking out the mark in question. " http://www.ebooksread.com/authors-eng/rowland-cox/a-manual-of-trade-mark-cases--comprising-sebastians-digest-of-trade-mark-cases-ala/page-30-a-manual-of-trade-mark-cases--comprising-sebastians-digest-of-trade-mark-cases-ala.shtml
PhilipS, I thought you argument was excellent and I really thought you might have found something we’d all missed. Hard luck! I suppose it could be likened to a company called Micro & Soft trying to register the Trade-Mark “Microsoft”.
Roderick - we don’t know (as yet) when Sales & Pollard started using S.P although, of course, they couldn’t register it themselves as a trademark in 1878 for the reason given. The law, as I understand it, is first to register as opposed to first to use. The next task is to see, if possible, whether Sharrow has also attempted a trade-mark on S.P and been refused for the same reason.
Thanks Philips once again for that interesting information. I have the Complete Oxford English Dictionary in microprint. It’s a good read under snuff with much interesting material. It mentions Spanish and Italian sorts sold under those names by English merchants very early on. No reference or clue as to SP under ‘Snuff’ though. Under the lengthy and detailed entries under ‘Spanish’, we find just one tiny, but perhaps telling reference to snuff: ‘Spanish snuff, usually PLAIN SPANISH obs.’ My money at this point is on ‘Spanish Plain’. Surely the idea of plain has occurred to everyone - but it is seems significant that the OED in its only Spanish reference to snuff links it to the word ‘Plain’. Apologies if this is either obvious or disappointing to anyone.
I heard that SP was short for Special Plain … ? No idea if that is correct or not lol, but it made good sense to me 
Wouldn’t Special Plain be something of an oxymoron, though @MikeMoose? Surely, those are two mutually exclusive categories.
LOL, now that you mention it, that makes more sense than Special Plain . DAMN… I thought I had it all figured out
The Sales & Pollard trade-mark case over S.P snuff is cited in ‘The Yale Law Journal - Volume 20 No.1’ of 1910 as an example of terms held publici jurus. The text explains that - “Publici jurus words frequently used by tradesmen in a certain line of goods are said to be common to the trade. Of course, the true test is whether the use of the word “has ceased to deceive the public” as to the maker of the article and whether the word is current in the market amongst those “who are more or less directly connected with the use of the commodity to which the word is applied”. “Where three people use the name and at least two of them innocently, there is no proprietorship.” http://www.jstor.org/stable/785041?seq=7 The most telling words are - “the true test is whether the use of the word “has ceased to deceive the public” as to the maker of the article.” If the public was sufficiently deceived in 1878, the year of the S.P snuff case, then it is unlikely to become enlightened in 2011. Why couldn’t the idiot who started the manufacture of S.P have used a proper name instead of bloody letters! Take your pick - SP(anish) Spanish Prize Spanish Plain Sharrow P(lain)? Sheffield Pride Sales & Pollard Sed Paulatim Senatus Populus Smells Purdy Self Propelling etc …
I like Spanish plain however, Spanish was “prized” over any other snuff. In George the thirds reign snuffs were known by their country. Spanish French Italian Etc,etc…
The Sharrow Mills website says that Joseph Wilson started making SP in 1760.
Good find Juxtaposer. That pre-dates a lot.
Unfortunately there is no detail or citation, or date given for ‘Plain Spanish’. That OED is a bit of a rush job isn’t it. ‘Plain Spanish’ was at some stage a usual description of a known sort, or so it appears. The English maunfacturers would’nt want the abbreviation ‘PS’ on their vats and bottles, that would be untidy - It then became Spanish Plain (SP) rather than Plain Spanish. I would expect Plain Spanish to be have been around from the earliest times. (I see that the Irish and Scots used snuff before it became popular in England (around 1680 according to the OED). Scottish Plain or Scotch Plain might not be wrong. Mutter mutter mutter.) Is there such a link between Scotch snuffs and SP? I’ll stick with Plain Spanish and now I will correct people when they say ‘SP’. I’ll say ‘Shouldn’t that be PS?’
‘Plain Spanish don’t ye know’.
it’s a joke about spainards. Even the plain ones smell like citrus.
Outrageous remark. Don’t be so callous about lemons! Let me put you straight fellow snuffer - Rule#17-5.3-'Treatment of Lemons.
LOL! @bob & @petersuki Great thread everyone this is very interesting! Making history!
“‘Plain Spanish’ was at some stage a usual description of a known sort, or so it appears. The English maunfacturers would’nt want the abbreviation ‘PS’ on their vats and bottles, that would be untidy - It then became Spanish Plain (SP) rather than Plain Spanish.” The same reasoning occurred to me also. The hypothesis also stands up to scrutiny. **************************************************************************** “‘Plain Spanish’ was at some stage a usual description of a known sort -” **************************************************************************** Indeed, and there are plenty of sources to confirm this statement: http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=0lPJIuJ-vRYC&pg=PA200&lpg=PA200&dq=“Plain+Spanish”+snuff&source=bl&ots=n7erUxYxaa&sig=zJmeq9Ir4L8RUBLIpcrsvzwEu7E&hl=en http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=AsMIAAAAQAAJ&pg=RA2-PA70&lpg=RA2-PA70&dq=“Plain+Spanish”+snuff&source=bl&ots=384VHewS4V&sig=f\_lpK43dJeCb9tuBY2Gf78du6zI&hl=en Plain Spanish (as opposed to just Spanish) was probably introduced to distinguish it from Spanish Bran. Evidence for this is provided below. “Just as Scotch snuff included a variety called BROWN SCOTCH SNUFF, produced by extended liquoring and slight fermentation, Spanish snuff included ‘Spanish bran’ [Tradecards (18c.)], or ‘Spanish brawn’ [Tradecards (18c.)]. Despite the variation in spelling, this was probably produced in the same way.” http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=58878 *********************************************************************************************** “The English maunfacturers would’nt want the abbreviation ‘PS’ on their vats and bottles.” *********************************************************************************************** Right again. No manufacturer is likely to use PS as a snuff abbreviation. One can imagine the lewd 18th century laughter at the request “Pass the PS pot”. Given that we now know S.P to be publici jurus, I’d say that ‘Spanish Plain’ is the strongest contester in this investigation to date.
Assuming S.P = Spanish Plain … Plain Spanish was evidently an unscented flour made from leaf tobacco (as opposed to Scotch, made from stalk). Over time manufacturers probably changed the snuff name with adulteration, leaving only diehards clinging to the S.P label. We know that Bergamot Snuff is very old. Perhaps certain S.Ps were adulterated as per Bergamot Snuff from Spain, but the S.P label remained unaltered to appeal to conservative taste. If this is the case then only a very few manufacturers still used the S.P label into the 19th century since references to it are almost non-existent. (The only 19th century references I’ve found so far are cited above.)
We also know that the best Spanish snuff was flavoured with bergamot and was “prized” by the earlier more elite snuff takers. Personally I like ‘Scottish Plain’ best!