Sniffing Snuff... Ye Olde Bad Habit

[The WildHair'd Wench]

I smoke cigars and I was just at the shop last week stocking up when I ran across some snuff in the corner and up until then, I had no idea it was tobacco. I was tempted to buy some, but I can't even stand nosespray going up me nostrils let alone tobacca.

[John Maddox Roberts]

Snuff was associated with the upper classes because of the popularity of extremely ornate snuff boxes, often made by the finest jewelers of the day. They were traditional gift items for the wealthy, often of solid gold, jeweled and enamelled. Bachelors often had pornographic miniatures painted inside the lids. There was a whole ritual involving the box, withdrawing a pinch and placing it on the web of the hand, snuffing, withdrawing a handkerchief from a sleeve, flourishing it and then sneezing into it. It was probably the only time in history when sneezing was an elegant accomplishment. See the great old movie "Tom Jones" for an example of an unpracticed snuffer getting it wrong.

Common people used snuff, too, but had to be content with wood or tin boxes and their sneezes probably wasn't very elegant.