Vintage view: Snuff

Kya deLongchamps investigates the history of ‘insufflating’ and describes the manners and paraphernalia attached to the taking of ground tobacco.

Authentic Asian snuff bottles and 18th century gold snuff boxes are among the most beautiful of small antiques. What a pity they are linked to such a gory little practice.

Despite the popular histories declared at their homes and haunts, neither Christopher Columbus nor Walter Raleigh ‘discovered’ tobacco. By the time it was mentioned in the explorer’s logs on October 15, 1492, it had been smoked, sniffed and chewed by the peoples of the warmer Americas for thousands of years. European sailors were long enjoying a smoke before Raleigh ever lit up.

Still in the 1590s, Raleigh, whose poise and confidence set fashions aplenty, helped to make the practise of smoking popular at the English court.

When his head was divorced from his body in 1618, a pouch of tobacco was found in the pocket of his breeches with a metal plate inscribed ‘Comes menus fruit in ill miserrimo tempore ‘ — “He was my companion at that most miserable time”.

Snuff taking by a politician at home depicted in an 19th century etching. Not exactly an elegant pursuit, but enjoyed by all levels of society. G Cruikshank, c1822, after J Gillray. Wiki Creative Commons/Wellcome Library, London.

Feast on American comedian Bob Newhart’s classic phone call from ‘nutty Wal’ to Elizabeth I’s secretary explaining his load of 80 tons of tow-bac-coh. Newhart mentions snuff in his sketch, and yes, it does sound ridiculous, to voluntarily suck something other than air into our heads.

King James I (1566-1625) detested smoking which by the 17th century pervaded all levels of society. To his credit he raised his concerns that it could be ‘hateful to the nose, harmful to the brain, dangerous to the lungs’.

James introduced a stiff tax on the bales of leaves from the Virginia colonies from 1604. Smoking had a naughty reputation with the religious, and by 1632 it was illegal and immoral to smoke on the streets of Massachusetts.

Charles II (1630-85), restored to the throne in 1660, was educated, elegant, a prince of pleasures. He had picked up the European habit of whipping tobacco dust straight up into the nasal passages (insufflating) with a short sharp sniff.

In France it was regarded as not just a sensory hit, but actually medicinal, seeing off cancers, improving eyesight, guarding the lungs and even defeating plague. The tips of the fingers or back of the wrist were a handy launch pad, while other users used a small brush shoved up the nose. Lovely.

Soon snuff was a luxury commodity, part of the social arsenal of most men and women in high society.

Snuff was simple to make and was refined all over Europe, China, Africa, America and Japan for the toffee-nosed (yes, that’s where that adjective comes from — superiority expressed in gummed-up nostrils). After the curing of the leaves and stalks, the tobacco was milled or pulverised, and then sieved to a finer powder.

Some recipes included aromatic oils, spices, scents and herbs — an eye-crossing party in your nose.

Decanted from barrels, boxes or pigs bladders from the maker, snuff demanded a small airtight box or bottle to carry a day’s supply, plus a hankie or fluffy sleeve to wipe the nose off with (a sticky brown explosion wasn’t quite the thing, even then).

This provided a great opportunity for a highly ornamented box of silver or gold, semi-precious stone or glass for the aristocracy and gentry, over the two centuries where snuff-taking actually overtook smoking.

Rich snuff enthusiasts in Georgian times would own a wide collection matched to outfits and occasions. A large container on the dining table containing snuff was termed a mull. Rams head mulls complete with the horns were favoured in Scottish high society.

Etiquette dictated that you take the snuff in swiftly, and not exhale immediately to get the full ‘benefits’. Sneezing or even worse, grimacing, marked you out as a piteous amateur.

That hammock of skin between the thumb and forefinger is still termed by medics as ‘the snuffbox’, but in genteel company you were expected to pinch directly to the nose.

By the 18th century royal and religious notables including Kings, Queens (Marie Antoinette loved her split ounce), Napoleon and even several lively popes, were snorting away from a pinch taken from a gorgeous, gilded container. Some notables even kept a dedicated snuff-room for their collection and imbibing.

Celebrities like the Duke of Wellington had their own ‘sort’ a mixture which a follower would ask for from their tobacconist. Believe it or not, snuff is still made today by a number of specialist UK and Scottish houses, including Hedges of England, which have a worldwide reputation for quality.

Some factories here and abroad use the same crushing machines serving the industry since the 18th century. My whim to stay alive, physically intact for as long as possible, and vane sense of decorum screams ‘don’t do it’ to some cherry flavoured ‘medium moist’. Yuck.

Still, if you are over 18 and fancy some smokeless fuel, Clan ready-rubbed snuff retails at €10.35 a pouch at Peterson of Dublin, peterson.ie and McCrystals Menthol Stuff is €1.30 for a pinch-style tin at James Fox, jamesfox.ie.

Snuff overleaps the smoking ban, but I wouldn’t try snorting openly on a plane or train, unless you want a lot of unwanted attention.

Guy Wallace’s etiquette primer on YouTube ‘Gentleman’s Guide to Snuff Taking’, including watching him poke his mix over his moustache with his ‘walking out finger’ caused me to slam my laptop shut.

Georgian snuff boxes with chasing, engraved scenes and a good maker, start in the low hundreds in silver and semi-precious stones, with lesser but genuine plated, copper, papier-mache and copper examples €50 or less.

Spend significant money only with a reputable dealer or specialist — almost every Asian snuff bottle on Ebay or at a boot sale, is an exquisitely made reproduction.