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Snuffing Techniques
Here's the
bottom-line. Someway or another,
the snuff tobacco has to make its way
into your nose. There are
many methods for doing this, and no
one method is the correct one.
Every snuff-taker has their favorite way
or ways, and often a snuff-taker
will use different
techniques with different kinds of
snuff. Below you'll find the most
common ways of snuff-taking
described in detail. But, first
we'll cover some basic tips, and then
move on to the actual snuff-taking
techniques. You can read down
through the page in order, or use these
bookmarks to read in any order you'd
prefer.
Tips for
Enjoyable Snuff-Taking
A
Sniff, Not a Snort
First of
all, every technique for taking snuff
involves sniffing the powdered tobacco
into the front portions of you
nose. This usually takes just a
light sniff. If you snort the
snuff, and pull it too deep into your
nose, it will hit the back of your
sinuses and throat and cause a very
unpleasant burning feeling and
sometimes an unpleasent "drip" in your
throat. Pulling the snuff in too
deeply will burn, cause coughing,
watering eyes, and just an all-around
unpleasant experience.
It can take some practice to know how
hard to sniff. So, start with
the lightest sniff that still pulls
the snuff into your nose, and work
your way up from there. Very
fine snuffs go into your nose with the
lightest sniff, while courser snuffs
take a little more drawing power with
your sniff. When in doubt, sniff
lightly.
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Other
Adjustments You Can Make
There are a number of ways
to adjust how the snuff goes into your
nose, how fast, how far, etc.
Especially with the finer
dry snuffs, you'll need to make
adjustments to your snuff-taking
techinque.
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One major adjustment is
the distance the snuff is from your nostril
when you sniff. If you are pinching,
then you can vary how quickly you release the
tobacco you are pinching as you sniff.
Leaving the other nostril open while you sniff
can help the snuff not enter your nose so
deeply. And of course, you can reduce or
increase the amount of snuff you are taking at
one time to adjust the impact as well.
Another little adjustment that has worked
well for me involves considering how you
prepare a pile of snuff for sniffing.
For instance, when placing a little pile on
the back of your hand, you can flatten that
pile out to about the size of a watermelon
seed rather than leaving it as a little cone
shaped pile. Something about the
flattened pile of snuff makes it go in
different directions when it enters your nose,
and this helps it not go so deep.
The bottom line here, is that if you
are having trouble taking a particular snuff,
make adjustments in your technique until you
figure out what works best for you while
taking that snuff.
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Blowing
Your Nose
Snuff-taking does change what's going
on in your nose. Depending on the kind
of snuff you are taking, the frequency with
with you are taking it, and even depending on
the humidity around you, snuff will do
different things in your nose. Some of
the finer snuffs just seem to go away.
But other snuffs can cause your nose to drip
or feel "full" or obstructed. In those
cases, simply blow your nose. There is
no tried and true rule about how often to blow
your nose. But, if you feel like you
need to blow your nose, you probably
should.
Blowing your nose can have another
purpose as well. If the inside of your
nose is lined with a fine layer of snuff,
subsequent snuff-taking may give you less
enjoyment, because the new snuff is falling on
old snuff and not up against the tissues inside
your nose. In this situation,
blowing your nose "clears the stage," in a
sense. Some people carry colored
hankerchiefs in their pocket for this
purpose. Napkins and kleenex work
just as well, but perhaps with a little less
flair than a snuff hankerchief.
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Taking Care of
Your Nose
Usually the steam from a hot
shower once a day will help clean out your nose
and keep things moving up there. Some
snuff-takers will spray saline solution or use a
Neti pot once in a while to clean their
sinuses. Others will wet a q-tip
and clean the inside of their nose that
way. You'll hear different approaches
to this but, for the most part, my
nose takes care of itself. A hot shower is
all I need to feel like my nose is starting from
scratch. If you nose gets irritated, feels
bad, or has a chronic burning...its time to take
a break. Listen to your nose!
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Some
Snuffs Aren't for You
As odd as it sounds, some
snuff types, brands, or flavors just
aren't going to work for you. They might
work well for others, but everyone's nose is
different. Perhaps menthol opens
your nose up, but then shuts it up
for three days afterward. Maybe dry
snuffs irritate your nose, and cause you
hours of discomfort. It could be that
you just can't adjust to certain grinds of
snuff. It doesn't matter if every other
snuff-taker you know loves a certain snuff, it
is very possible that a certain snuff
just doesn't get along with your
nose. So, be aware of this and don't get
frustrated about it. It is what it is.
All that being said, sometimes you will not
react well to a snuff the first time to you
try it, but when you come back to it later
everything goes well. So, when a snuff
causes you problems, set it aside and consider
coming back to it later to see if things have
changed.
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Snuff-Taking
Techniques
The Pinch of Snuff Method
This is a simple and traditional
way to take snuff. In its simplest
form, you take a small pinch of snuff between
your thumb and forefinger and hold the pinch
beneath one of your nostrils. You then
lightly sniff as you release the
pinch. By varying the strength
of your sniff and the speed with which
you release the pinch from your fingers you
have a lot of control over the speed with which
the snuff enters your nose and how deep it
travels. With practice, this is a very
effective technique.
By taking a larger pinch, you can release
about half of it into one nostril, and then the
second half into the second nostril, drawing
snuff tobacco into both nostrils with just one
pinch. Regardless of whether it takes one
pinch or two, taking a pinch of tobacco warms it
with your body heat and brings out more of of
the tobacco's aroma and flavor.
The pinch can be brought to your nose at a
variety of angles, and you can vary the twist of
your wrist to adjust this angle. In Images
1 through 3 above, the three snuff takers are
bringing the pinch to their nose a little
differently differently. What probably
matters most is the position of the
thumb. With fine snuffs or toasts,
your focus is more on very slowly releasing your
pinch as you sniff. In this case, you
might end up positioning the thumb and finger
side-by-side, without either being closest to
the floor (see Image 1 above). As you
sniff, you roll the pinch slowly between your
finger and thumb, slowly releasing the contents
of the pinch into your nose.
With courser or heavier snuff, you can
position the pinch so that the
thumbnail is pointed downwards (see Images 2 and
3 above) with the thumb closest to the
floor. The thumb then provides an
excellent platform or floor for the pinch as you
take your sniff. In this configuration,
the thumb can be brought very close to the
nostril (but never in it!) helping control or
vary the strenght of your sniffing action.
This is especially helpful with getting course
heavier snuffs into your nose, and with keeping
them from falling out once they are in there.
Looking at many classic
images/drawings of people taking snuff, the
thumb is often seen positioned closest to the
floor with the other fingers extended out
gracefully (see the images below). There
is a grace and formality to this form of taking
a pinch, similar perhaps to sticking your pinky
finger out as you cradle a cup of tea.
When snuff was at its peak popularity in Europe , there were strong cultural norms and
specific ways a "cultured" person would take
snuff. In a sense, the whole act became a
social ritual. In the modern world, there
are less cultural norms or rules surrounding
it. So, do what works best for your own
enjoyment.
A pinch can be used to move snuff
from your snuff box onto the back of your hand
or into your boxcar (see that method's
description below). This is usually a
little easier with the use of a spoon or a tap
box. If you are
already pinching the tobacco, you might as well
take the snuff into your nose directly from the
pinch that is already between your thumb and
forefinger. Occassionally, snuff-takers
will move snuff from their snuff box into their
boxcar in order to warm the snuff between their
finger and thumb.
There is a slightly more complex
method of taking a pinch, that involves pinching
enough snuff for both nostrils between your
thumb and middle-finger. You then raise
the pinch to your right nostril with your palm
upturned and pointed toward your face. You
can then lay your ring-finger along the left
side of your nose, closing your left nostril
while you sniff half of the snuff into your
right nostril. You then move the pinch
beneath your left nostril, and lay your
fore-finger along the right side of your
nose. In this way, you close off your
right nostril while sniffing into your left
nostril. With a little practice, this can
be done very quickly and effectively.
This method would assist with a medium
to course grind, because it closes the
non-sniffing nostril during the
snuff-taking. Click Here
to see a video of this complicated method being
demonstrated.
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The Snuff Spoon Method
A very small spoon is a very
handy tool to any snuff-taker. It can be
used to move snuff from a storage container into
your daily snuff-box without contaminating the
snuff in the storage container with your
fingers. This can be especially important
in maintaining the freshness of artisan
snuffs. A spoon can also be used to take
snuff from your snuff-box and place it on the
back of your hand or into your boxcar (see
below). A snuff spoon is especially
helpful with dark or oiled snuffs, because
it keeps your fingers clean.
But, you can also take the snuff into
your nose directly from the small snuff
spoon. Simply use the spoon to pick up
enough snuff for one nostril, raise it to just
below one of your nostrils, and sniff.
Then repeat this process for the other
nostril. There are even rare double-spoons
that allow you to take snuff up both nostrils at
once directly from the spoon.
This is actually
one of my favorite ways to take snuff.
There is less control than when taking a
pinch, because you are not
controlling the snuff from between your
thumb and finger as you sniff from a
spoon. But, as with the other
techniques, with a little practice you
learn you how far away from your nose to
hold the spoon and the angle that works
for you. Taking your snuff from a spoon
can be a very quick and pleasent way to enjoy
snuff.
Taking your snuff from a
spoon can also become necessary if
your hands are dirty from manual labor or
you are sweating. No one wants to
pinching snuff with dirty fingers
or take their snuff off the back of a
sweaty hand.
There are many kinds of snuff
spoons, including silver, pewter, wood, and even
very fancy ones with gems or jewels. But,
many snuff-takers use non-spoon objects in a
spoon-like fashion. I've heard of
snuff-takers using coffee stir sticks, the blade
of a pocket knife, a broken off pencil, the tip
of the handle of a large eating spoon, the tip
of a key, or about anything else they have
handy that can be used to pick up a small
quantity of snuff and bring it to your nose.
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The Back of
Hand Method
This method uses a portion of the
back of your hand as a surface from which to
sniff the tobacco into your nose. There
are various portions of the back of your hand
that you can use, and really it comes down to
what works for you. You can put one small
pile on the back of your hand, sniff it into one
nostril, and then repeat this with a second pile
sniffed into the other nostril. If you are
taking snuff in this way one nostril at a
time, you can use a finger from your other hand
to shut the other nostril. I rarely do
this, but many people do. My personal
preference is to put two small piles on the
back of my hand about nose-width apart, and
sniff into both nostrils at once. In my
opinion, this is much quicker and easier than
doing it one nostril at a time.
You
should experiment with this yourself, but I
usually start with my nostrils just a little
bit away from the piles of snuff
and, as I sniff, I move my nose onto
the surface of my hand while taking
the tobacco into my nose. A small
lateral movement back and forth of your hand
just as you finish off the sniff tends to
clean up all the tobacco, from both your hand
and your nose.
The first of the locations you
can use on the back of your hand, is what
is referred to as the "anatomical
snuffbox" (see Image 1 above). This
area is a depression that forms behind your
thumb when you stretch your thumb out
away from your hand. It can vary in
depth, and thus usefulness in snuff-taking,
from person to person. Another factor
that can stand in the usefulness of this
location, is hair. If you
have hairy arms, the anatomical snuffbox
may feature body hair which can get in
the way of a good snuff-taking.
But, so common was the use of this area of the
hand for snuff-taking, that it became a
part of anitomical terminology.
My personal preference, is the flat surface of
the side of the hand between
the thumb and the wrist (see Image 2
above). This is a wide flat
surface, usually free of body hair, and can
be used with the hand in a fairly natural
and comfortable position.
The last location
I'll describe here is the webbing
between the thumb and index finger (see
Image 3 above). If you move your
thumb away from your index finger, this webbing
forms a pocket that can be used to hold
snuff. Essentially your thumb goes along
your face to one side of you nose with your
index finger along your face on the other
side of your nose. This brings the snuff
in the webbing between your thumb and index
finger under your nose. This is not a
particularly common location for taking snuff
off the back of your hand, but it is
occasionally done.
Again, the point here is not to define a
"correct" or "approved" location for
snuff-taking off the back of your hand, but to
instead describe some of the locations that are
used.
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The Boxcar
Method
In order to to use the boxcar
method, you close your thumb up against the
index finger side of your hand (see Image 1
below), and then wrap your index finger
around the end of your thumb (see Image 2
below). This creates a little "box" with
your thumb nail as the bottom of the box and
your index finger forming the walls of the
box. You can then put one nostril's worth
or two nostril's worth of snuff on your
thumbnail (see Image 3 below).
If you put one nostril's
worth on your thumbnail, you'll have to do this
twice obviously in order service both
nostrils. If you put two nostril's worth
on your thumbnail, you'll need to pull half of
it up one nostril and the rest up the
second nostril. Getting an even dose
in each nostril from one pile of snuff in your
boxcar takes a little practice. But, once
you have it down, using the boxcar to hit both
nostrils is very quick and a fairly
inconspicuous way to take your snuff.
For some mysterious reason,
you can put a lot more snuff comfortably up your
nose using the boxcar method than you can with a
pinch, spoon, or off the back of your
hand. For whatever reason, it just works
well for taking large amounts of snuff
comfortably.
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The Snuff Bullet Method
There is a clever device that can
be used to conveniently both carry and take your
snuff. Snuff bullets consist of a small
container of snuff, at the top of which is a
valve capable of measuring out a small does of
snuff. The bullet is then placed in the
nostril, and a light sniff delivers the
consistant dose of snuff into your nose.
Snuff bullets are available in all kinds of
interesting materials, and they vary in both
quality and price.
One of the drawbacks of most snuff
bullets is the relatively small dose they
deliver. For many snuff-takers, they
deliver far too little snuff per dose.
With plastic snuff bottles, the chamber within
the value that gathers the dose of snuff can be
carefully enlarged, and in this way some
snuff-takers customize their bullet to deliver
more snuff.
For the most part, snuff bullets work best with
fine and medium-fine snuff grinds. Course
grinds do not usually work very well in snuff
bullets, because the course grains of snuff
don't properly fill the valve chamber that is
supposed to fill with the dose of snuff.
Despite these drawbacks and limitations, if you
find the right snuff bullet and a snuff that
works well with it, carrying a snuff bullet in
your pocket is enormously convenient.
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A Few Other Methods
There are other ways to get the
snuff into your nose. Snuff-board
contraptions that snap the snuff into the air as
you take your sniff. It is possible to
draw snuff into your nose through a straw,
though this is usually not a very comfortable
way of doing it. You can even use a
flexible tube or bendy-straw, with one end in
your nose and one end in your mouth, to blow the
snuff from the tube into your nose.
If you look around on the internet, you'll find
more information on these methods and
others. For this page, we chose to
describe in detail the common ways most
snuff-takers use to enjoy snuff.
(Back to Top of the Page)
If you have any
questions about the methods described above,
please feel free to contact me. But, I'd
also encourage you to contact other snuff-takers
and ask them what they do and how they do
it. Learning form multiple perspectives, and
finding out what works for you through your
own trial and error is definitely
the best way to go.
Please feel free to click the button
above or to contact me
directly at markstinson@onmail.com. And
don't forget to visit the Modern Snuff Blog
or Facebook
Group.
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2015, 2016, 2023 by Mark Stinson
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