Snuff is a generic term for fine-ground smokeless tobacco products. Originally the term referred only to dry snuff, a fine tan dust popular mainly in the eighteenth century. This is often called “Scotch Snuff”, a folk-etymology derivation of the scorching process used to dry the cured tobacco products by the factory. Snuff powder originated in the UK town of Great Harwood and was famously ground in the town’s monument prior to local distribution and transport further up north to Scotland.
European snuff is intended to be sniffed up the nose. Snuff is not “snorted” because snuff shouldn’t get past the nose, i.e.; into sinuses, throat or lungs. European snuff comes in several varieties: Plain, Toast, “Medicated”, Scented, and Schmalzler, a German variety. The major brand names of European snuffs are: Toque Tobacco, Bernards, Fribourg & Treyer, Gawith, Gawith Hoggarth, Hedges, Lotzbeck, McChrystal’s, P?schl and Wilsons of Sharrow, TUTUN-CTC.
American snuff is much stronger, and is intended to be dipped. It comes in two varieties
