Hey all, I’m what they call “anosmic”. That means my nose makes my face more aerodynamic, but I can’t smell a thing. No, not really strong things, nothing. I smoke occasionally when I drink, but I’m a long distance runner, so I would say probably an average of one cigarette every other month or so. I quiet enjoy the head-buzz I get from it, but it doesn’t outweigh my cardio. I was watching an old movie and they were using snuff and I thought it looked cool. I’m kind of a weirdo, and I like to do things that are a little different. My question is, I’ve done a bit of research on the stuff. I know about the health debate around it and I’m still willing to give it a go. I have 0 addictions at the moment, that’s so boring. If I can’t smell, will that negate some of the pleasures of using snuff? (flavours?) How much do these flavours weigh into your enjoyment of this stuff? Cheers! Thanks in advance.
It seems to be that most people on this forum value the flavours over the nicotine buzz, myself included. I suppose if you took a strong mentholated snuff you’d experience some kind of sensation, you’d probably be able to pick up some taste of certain snuffs on your tongue too just by breathing in through your nose. Although the flavours in snuff are predominantly picked up in the nose I’m sure tastebuds factor in to the experience more than those of us with a sense of smell realise.
Without a sense of smell you would be limited to the same kind of feeling that you get when you smoke your occasional cigarette. People use snuff for that and also because of the massive amount of pleasant aromas in all of the various types. Personally, the main reason for my snuff use is that I enjoy nicotine. But be warned; snuff is a very effective way of getting nicotine and addiction would be very much on the cards because its by far more pleasant and user friendly than cigarettes.
Kinda’ leaves the nic hit as the benefit. Enjoying or not enjoying the flavors certainly seem to be the main factor in the use. Certainly as you read reviews the olfactory abilities seem to be the major component; strength, texture and expense being others. Miss the ability to smell and I think you miss the point. On the bright side, some snuffs have some pretty nasty scents.
Just because you cant smell the flavours doesnt mean you cant taste a hint of it. Theres also the nic buzz, the burning and the feeling of getting hit in the face with a bucket of ice when you take a pinch of menthol!
I have a friend with no sense of smell and I was curious to see what his snuffing experience would be like but he wasn’t a smoker so I wasn’t keen on giving someone a nicotine habit. Mentholated snuffs give a great cooling sensation that has nothing to do with the olfactory senses so I would recommend trying some McChrystal’s Original & Genuine or some of the Poschl snuffs. Toque apparently makes great mentholated snuffs but I’ve never tried them. I would assume that some taste would be picked up by the tongue but I have no reason to concretely assert that you will taste something.
I am sure you would get something out of snuff even without a sense of smell; but that would probably entail getting hooked on it. If I couldn’t smell it I would still love the nicotine and the pleasure of using my various snuff boxes.
To me its almost a hobby AND addiction. Sometimes my sense of smell fails me- it happens a couple times a week. That’s when I mostly use toasts or something with a good nic hit. As the others have said above- the scent of snuff is HALF the enjoyment IMO. If I can’t smell it, I still need my nicotine and snuff is the best way to get just that. I just love trying different grinds, scents, and snuff boxes, etc. Its fun for me. There’s always a new snuff to try and it never gets old. I check snuffhouse daily!
You are right; snuff is such a great thing because it has so many facets: nic delivery, taste, the dimension that a good snuff box adds and the fascinating social history. When I moved from being a snuff user who predominantly smoked to being a dedicated snuffer I realised that snuff gives genuine pleasure. When I look back to being a heavy smoker I realise there was not much simple pleasure involved, I mean I probably only enjoyed the first cigarette of the day, the rest were just ‘fixes’. I enjoy every single pinch of snuff.
@snuffster exactly. Each pinch is ENJOYED. I can close my eyes and do a deep inhale, and feel the nicotine enter my bloodstream and smell that great scent of tobacco and whatnot… delicious. When I smoked it was very rare that I enjoyed a cigarette. I smoked to get my fix and “get through” something. I mean whats the point behind smoking if you don’t enjoy it anymore? I had to quit. I’ll always enjoy snuff. If @wagonwheel intends to try snuff, I reckon he will enjoy every bit of it. I haven’t met someone that didn’t. My fiance loves her snuff!
@Wagonwheel, your problem might be a lack of zink in your system!! My son, aged 39, could not smell nor taste. After taking zink tablets for only 6 weeks, he can now taste and smell and does not use lifts anymore (can’t stand the body odour)!!! Try it, you’ve got nothing to lose
Just curious… does your lack of smell effect your appetite? I can’t remember where I’ve heard or seen it but I thought without the sense of smell food taste terrible and you would eat way less as a result of it. Is that true?
Yes and no. I base most of my diet on texture. I really really dislike anything that feels “gross” to me (muscles, squid, etc), regardless of how good it might taste. I used to be a pretty big boy (6’3, 250) because through university I ate horribly. Lots of chicken fingers and fast food. After school, I decided I didn’t want to go down that road, revamped my diet and dropped 70 lbs or so. It’s not that food taste’s “terrible”, I just don’t get the urges that other people get through their olfactory senses. I’ve never smelled a cup of coffee, so this aroma that I’ve heard about does nothing for me. To me, coffee is kind of bitter hot chocolate, but it sure does wake me up. I’ve been told that I can taste the same as everyone else can when they have a cold. Not sure though. I can feel menthol making everything super cold, so maybe I’ll give that a try. Thanks for all the response!
I get a cool light-headed every time I use snuff. Honestly, I think it’s better than cigarettes, but it’s been about 10 years since I had a cigarette buzz. That said, it took me around 2 months before I could finally use snuff right. That’s the one thing that I think keeps snuff from becoming more popular. It takes a while to master. So yes, snuff does have it’s benefits, but you have to work at it.
I suggest stuffing the snuff in your nose. Since smell is a big part for me at least for knowing how far I’am getting the snuff in.
hi wagonwheel i just had to reply to your post. when i woz about 10/11 years old i had a bad break to my nose/cheek bones doing in my sense of smell [i’m 40 now] but here’s the good bit since starting on the snuff i’m finding that my sense of smell is getting alot better it may be because i’m smoking alot less but… you may find snuffing helps recover sense’s that where not not working as they should have but wot have you got to lose you still git the the nicotine buzz at the end of the day
I do have some sense of smell left but very limited. During a mission they shot a blank cartridge into my nose causing damage. That might be the reason my list of favourite snuffs might look strange to others, and also the reason I don’t write reviews because a lot of smells from the ingredients I don’t get. But I do enjoy snuff everyday.
If I lost my sense of smell, I would surely still take snuff. My favorites list would drop from about 40-50 to about 5-10 different snuffs, based primarily on their feelings and textures.
My top three snuffs are based almost as much on texture/burn/nicotine as they are on flavor so I don’t think my top snuffs would change much either if my sense of smell were destroyed. I surely wouldn’t use as many snuffs but I don’t think I’d ever give up this wonderful ‘habit’.