chewing tobacco

Chewing tobacco , also called oral tobacco or quill , is a luxury product that consists of processed tobacco with added additives that is held in the mouth or chewed. The main active ingredient nicotine is absorbed through the oral mucosa . Together with snuff, chewing tobacco is a smoke-free tobacco product. Its enjoyment is spread around the world.

Similar as chewing tobacco also cancer-causing forms of oral tobacco which spread mainly in Scandinavia snus and US Smokeless Tobacco .

Manufacturing

The raw material for the production of chewing tobacco is raw tobacco with a lot of nicotine , especially Kentucky, Rot Front-Korso, Geudertheimer, Pereg or Pergeu. American chewing tobacco consists mostly of cigar tobacco from Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. After the harvest, the leaves are stored for different lengths of time and then z. B. hung over a hardwood fire for several weeks, which gives the tobacco a special aroma, or air-dried. The dried leaves are fermented before further processing . Some varieties are then pressed into airtight wooden barrels with a moisture content of 8–12%, where they are stored for a few months in a cool and dry place to mature. The raw tobacco is then ready for processing into chewing tobacco. The tobacco is then sauced in different flavors. The sauces in which the tobacco is soaked contain, among other things, fruit essences from oranges , lemons , plums , raisins , figs as well as honey , dextrose , candy syrup and liquorice or mint menthol . Then the tobacco - depending on the type of manufacture - is packed loose, pressed into a bar or lightly dried and spun into a long rope with a wrapper ("twist"). Pieces of this rope can now be rolled up into snails, horseshoes etc. or cut into pieces.

Products

The chewing tobacco Red Man and Oliver Twist

According to the German Tobacco Tax Act of December 13, 1979 (Federal Law Gazette I, p. 2118), chewing tobacco is "tobacco in rolls, sticks, strips, cubes or plates that is prepared in such a way that it is not suitable for smoking but for chewing" .

In Germany and Denmark, chewing tobacco is especially popular as a roll and as pieces (pastilles) separated from long ropes. The last German brand was Grimm & Triepel Kruse of the last German chewing tobacco company Grimm & Triepel Kruse-Kautabak in Witzenhausen near Kassel, founded in Nordhausen in 1849 . After the end of the company in 2016, the newly launched Grimm & Triepel brand with the products Kruse, Hanewacker and Fischerstift will be offered by Günter Hartmann Tabakvertrieb from Kempten .

In 2016, the Dannemann company launched a chewing tobacco in sachets, known as chewing bags, under the Al Capone brand. They are similar to those of snus, but differ in how they are made.

Oliver Twist is a popular chewing tobacco from Denmark, manufactured by House of Oliver Twist A / S, founded over 200 years ago. This tobacco, previously imported by the Grimm & Triepel Kruse company, is now sold by the Kohlhase & Kopp company.

Chewing tobacco pressed into a bar

In the USA only loose leaf , i.e. coarsely shredded chewing tobacco leaves, or the plug , a form of loose leaf tobacco pressed into a bar, are offered. The largest manufacturer is Pinkerton Tobacco Inc. in Owensboro / Kentucky . a. Red Man and Southern Pride produced. Pinkerton is a US subsidiary of Swedish Match . Other American brands are Apple Jack, Beech Nut, Cannonball, Chattanooga, Cotton Ball, Days Work, Good Bite, Granger Select, Grizzly, King B, Lancaster, Levi Garrett, Mail Pouch and Red Horse.

history

Historically, chewing tobacco was popular with seafarers, as smoking was strictly forbidden on the wooden sailing ships for safety reasons (fire hazard). During his voyages of discovery, Christopher Columbus not only found the tobacco plant and brought it to Europe , but also discovered that the Indians chewed tobacco balls that were mixed with shell limestone . This then developed into chewing tobacco.

Today Chewing tobacco is particularly popular among baseball players of Major League Baseball (MLB), because baseball is one of the few sports in which it is common during the game chewing tobacco chewing, especially because most of the players most of the game in the dugout waiting for their use. Chewing tobacco is often used there to distract oneself, relieve nervousness, but also to meet the cliché. Since chewing tobacco poses a health risk, albeit a small one, a baseball professional has tried to create an alternative to chewing tobacco, also because of the role model function of baseball professionals towards children. The result was “Big League Chew”, shredded chewing gum that is loosely packed in a bag, similar to chewing tobacco. However, this has not yet been able to prevail. Alternatively, baseball players replace chewing tobacco with chewing sunflower seeds .

use

Chewing tobacco is not exclusively chewed. It is usually placed in the cheek. When the taste or effect of the tobacco deteriorates, it is easily expressed with the teeth. The tobacco juice, low in nicotine chewing tobacco, is swallowed by some consumers. In the case of very strong tobacco products, if swallowed, severe nausea combined with vomiting can occur. In the past, there were therefore special spittoons to spit out the tobacco juice. Most consumers today carry their own tobacco juice containers with them. The German and Danish chewing tobacco should not be confused with the American types, because the first two types of chewing tobacco are in the mouth as small tobacco lozenges and are only chewed a little if the taste subsides.

health

Like all tobacco products, chewing tobacco contains nicotine . There is no scientific evidence that nicotine itself causes cancer or heart disease. Chewing tobacco contains tobacco-specific nitrosamines , some of which are carcinogens . Nitrosamines are naturally contained in tobacco. The amount of nitrosamines in the end product depends heavily on the selection and further processing of the tobacco. The use of low-nitrate raw tobacco, air drying, short storage times, a controlled fermentation process and airtight packaging are standard for many tobacco products and reduce the nitrosamine content in the end product.

In the wake of the “harm reduction” movement in the USA, interest in smokeless tobacco has increased both on the part of consumers and on the part of science. There are now numerous broad studies and meta-analyzes which show that the consumption of chewing tobacco and other smokeless tobacco products (e.g. dip ) increases the risk of oral cancer and many other types of cancer.

One of the most respected medical societies, the Royal College of Physicians , published an article in 2002 stating that the use of unburned tobacco is far less harmful than smoking.

Four large meta-analyzes have evaluated all previous studies on the subject of "Smokeless Tobacco and Health". The first is from 2006. It came to the conclusion that the consumption of chewing tobacco increases the risk of oral cancer minimally. The relative risk of cancer of the mouth and throat is 1.2 and for cancer of the larynx 1.3. The authors conclude that the consumption of smokeless tobacco - in any form as it is consumed in Western civilizations - increases the risk of upper respiratory cancer only minimally.

The second meta-analysis is from 2008 and examined the connection between smokeless tobacco and cancer. In summary, it comes to the conclusion that the cancer risk of smokeless tobacco users is probably lower than that of smokers, but greater than that of people who do not use tobacco at all.

A third review is from 2009. Here, the connection between smokeless tobacco and cancer in Europe and North America was examined again. This study also comes to the conclusion that the risk of oral cancer in chewing tobacco users is minimally increased. However, no significant increase was found for the studies since 1990.

A fourth review from 2011 evaluated the two previous ones. It has been concluded that smokeless tobacco of all western types is associated with a minimally increased risk of cancer and cardiovascular disease.

The consumption of chewing tobacco does not produce any tar, which can lead to deposits in the lungs. The comparison of smokeless tobacco and cigarette smoking is often of interest. The current scientific status of things is that smokeless tobacco consumption is around 99% less risky than cigarette smoking. Even the worst-case scenario results in an approximately 95% lower health risk.

literature

Jürgen W. Frembgen : Naswar. The use of oral tobacco in Afghanistan and Pakistan. (Series of publications by the Bibliotheca Afghanica Foundation, Volume 8) Bibliotheca Afghanica Foundation, Liestal 1989
Alfred Meurer: Tobacco - professionally examined. Self-published, Düsseldorf 1973.