snuff
In Snuff is a finely ground mixture of one or more varieties of tobacco that is consumed by sucking in the nose and since the 17th century in Europe is roughly known. The nicotine works through the anterior nasal mucous membranes ; pulling it in too hard can therefore cause pain. Because of this, the snuff is slowly drawn into the nostril. However, after prolonged use there is a habituation effect so that the stimulus is less perceived.
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history
Central and South American cultures used snuff long before it was introduced in Europe. The first reports of the monk Romano Pane, whom Columbus left behind on his second trip to the island of Hispaniola , dealt with a strange ritual of the local people. In the first report from 1496 it says: “Whenever the kings ask their gods for advice about their wars, about an increase in the fruit yield or about hardship, health and disease, they sniffed the herb into their nostrils in their temples. [...] The powder is so powerful that it completely drives your mind. ”In the early 16th century, Portuguese sailors documented snuff mills in what is now Brazil and Venezuela .
Around 1561, Jean Nicot , French envoy to the Portuguese court, brought tobacco leaves and seeds to France . The French Queen Catherine de Medici was one of the first and most famous sniffers in the 16th century who took powdered tobacco leaves for headaches and migraines and thus made the sniff acceptable. Therefore, for a long time the snuff was called the queen's powder, poudre de la reine .
In 1677 the first snuff factory in the world, the royal tobacco factory in Seville, Spain, was established . It processed heavy tobacco from the then Spanish colony of Cuba and, in its prime around 1840, produced over 1000 tons of snuff annually with the help of 40 tobacco mills and 1,700 workers. The economic importance exceeded other colonial goods such as coffee , tea or cane sugar many times over.
After snuff tobacco was only available as an imported product in pharmacies for a long time in Germany, the first snuff factory was established in Offenbach am Main in 1733 , the Bernard company, which still exists today . Since the beginning of the 19th century, however, smoking tobacco became increasingly popular, and in the second half of the 19th century, cigarettes in particular . Most snuff factories have relied on cigarette and pipe tobacco since the 1920s, at the latest after the Second World War , so that today there are only five manufacturers in Germany with a total annual output of 270 tons.
Recently , an increase in snuff consumption has been observed in parts of Europe, particularly as a result of the increasingly strict legal smoking bans . There is also an actual snuff scene with snuff clubs, snuff championships, providers of snuff machines, online shops and the like.
On the other hand, there is a ban on tobacco products in certain public places in Turkey , where, in addition to smoking, chewing and sucking in tobacco are prohibited.
Snuff types
Up until 200 years ago, snuff was not sold as a powder, but in the form of carrots or ribbons: the snuff had to be ground into powder before it could be consumed. In the Rococo of the 18th century, the sale of the strongly perfumed powder from France prevailed. The snuff boxes or snuffboxes founded a new area of applied arts (see Stobwasser ) and can be viewed today as showpieces of each tobacco museum.
Snuff mainly differ in the way they are made, the types of tobacco used and the flavoring.
Schmalzler or Brasil
This Bavarian specialty is still one of the classics on the German-speaking snuff market, which mainly extends across southern Germany, Austria and German-speaking Switzerland . Schmalzler was originally made from saturated, dark Brazilian tobacco that was woven into long strands of tobacco, the mangotes. Although the finished mangotes were mainly imported, the profession of ribbon tobacco maker still exists today, braiding imported or domestic tobacco varieties into endless ribbons with mechanical assistance. The special character of the Schmalzler and the reason for the name used to be butter lard , which made the pinch less dusty. Today white oil is used for conservation reasons .
Schmalzler often have an earthy-spicy taste of tobacco, with little or no additional aromas, a firm to sticky-moist consistency and are usually dark brown to almost black. The tobacco is comparatively roughly ground.
Snuff
The best-selling snuff today originally comes from England (e.g. Wilsons of Sharrow, Gawith Hoggarth, Samuel Gawith, Friborg & Treyer, McChrystal's, Toque), with the world's largest manufacturer being the Lower Bavarian company Pöschl Tabak. It is mainly made from light Virginia tobacco from the USA and Africa, is often flavored (e.g. with menthol or eucalyptus , flower, fruit or herb aromas) and is therefore fundamentally different from Schmalzler in taste and smell. Today, snuff is mostly processed using a rapid method, but there are still individual brands that allow snuff to mature in wooden barrels for years. Thus there are also great qualitative differences here.
The taste of the snuff depends heavily on the flavoring, typical of German snuffs is the peppermint taste of menthol, which sometimes covers the actual tobacco taste. The consistency varies from dusty, powdery to crumbly and sticky, the color ranges from light yellow-brown to dark brown. Snuff is usually very finely ground.
Classic snuff
The original type of snuff today was powdered from “tobacco carrots” (see: “French Carotte” from Friborg & Treyer): The sauteed and flavored tobacco is tightly wrapped into large carrot-shaped structures and takes four to seven years, some varieties over ten years stored, i.e. cold fermented. This carrot has become almost insignificant today, but the carrots are still produced occasionally. Carroting is the oldest tobacco processing method at all, probably older than tobacco smoking : Portuguese sailors reported in the early 16th century on this method of the South American natives, which was initially adopted by European manufacturers. These snuff still have the names of the cities in which the manufacturers often developed and refined their well-protected recipes over generations. The best known include the spagniol from Seville, Paris, St. Omèr or Strasbourg.
Classic snuff usually taste intensely like tobacco, with no or only fine, perfume-like aromas that support the tobacco taste, but rarely cover it. Classic snuff are medium-fine to coarsely ground; the consistency is often fine-grained and dry, but can vary to sticky and moist.
production method
Traditional process
Traditional snuff production consists of a lengthy, multi-stage process. First, tobacco leaves of different types, which are already fermented depending on the type, are put together to create a mixture that is characteristic of the later taste.
This is followed by the sauce, in which the tobacco is wetted with another characteristic, aromatic liquid. This is followed by a fermentation and storage process that can take different lengths of time and be cold or warm. Especially for old recipes, the storage time for the tobacco to ripen can be several years.
When the snuff is fully matured, it is dried as slowly as possible so as not to lose the aromas. Finally, it is ground and, if necessary, additional flavor mixtures are added.
As a final step, Schmalzler varieties are given the typical addition of oils that no longer change the taste of the tobacco, but merely make it more moist.
Depending on the variety, several fermentation and drying processes can be carried out to achieve the desired taste.
In order to be able to constantly maintain a characteristic taste of a variety once it has been found in this complex process, some manufacturers are still working on machines that partly date from the early days of industrialization . For example, Samuel Gawith still works with machines from the 1750s.
Fast track
Today, snuff is often produced using a rapid process without storage periods of several years. Every manufacturer uses different processes and sometimes mixed forms to obtain their characteristic tobacco.
In the modern high-speed process for making snuff, a flour is made from the fermented and stripped tobacco leaves. The flour is moistened with a sauce solution and stored for three to four weeks in a cool room where the flavors can mature without triggering additional fermentation. This method is mainly practiced with light-colored Virginia tobacco, which is later heavily flavored.
Well-known manufacturers
sorted by date of company formation
Friborg & Treyer
Although this brand of snuff, on the market since 1720, was bought by Imperial Tobacco in 1981 and taken over by Wilsons of Sharrow in 2016, it deserves its own mention due to its very old recipes and “European” taste that no other brand makes this way anymore . The tobaccos are mostly coarse, moist, soft, intense in taste and extremely "gentle on the nose". Especially old recipes from France are still produced and are unique today. These include: "Old Paris" (favorite snuff of the dandy Beau Brummell ), "Bordeaux", "Macouba", "French Carotte" and "Seville".
Bernard brothers
The Bernard brothers , founded in Offenbach in 1733, are the first snuff manufacturer in Germany and today the oldest still manufacturing company in the world. Bernard AG was liquidated in 2008 and the snuff division was taken over by Bernard Schnupftabak GmbH. Today the company is based in Sinzing (near Regensburg ). The company mainly produces classic snuff ("Alt-Offenbacher", "Kownoer", "Civette", "Gekachelter Virginie", "Klostermischt"), as well as Schmalzler ("Original Schmalzlerfranzl", "Æcht altbayerischer Schmalzler", "Fresco", " Gold"). Snuffs and Schmalzler with menthol are also part of the range, such as the “Bernard Original F [ichtennadel]”, “Jubiläums Snuff”, “Zwiefacher”, “Charivari”, “Stiff Pinch” or the “Amostrinha”, which is exported to Asia.
Wilsons of Sharrow
Wilsons of Sharrow is a snuff manufacturer founded in Sheffield in 1737 , with over 280 years of tradition in snuff manufacturing. The name is derived from the Sharrow Mills (Sharrow mills), in which a relatively wide range of snuffs of the Wilsons is made. In addition to the in-house snuffs, the tobacco products of the English company Friborg & Treyer are also produced in this tobacco mill.
Finally, the very popular McChrystal's brand also gets its basic tobacco from Wilsons. The flavoring then happens at McChrystal's according to secret and traditional recipes.
American Snuff Company
The American Snuff Company , until 2010 Conwood , is the oldest snuff manufacturer in the United States . It was founded by John Garrett II in Red Clay Creek, Delaware during the American Revolutionary War in 1782 and renamed the American Snuff Company in 1900 . In 1985 the company was sold to the Pritzker Family from Chicago and renamed Conwood . 2006 acquired Reynolds American Inc . (RAI) the company. The Garret Mark, dating from 1870, is the oldest in the United States in continuous use.
Samuel Gawith
Samuel Gawith is one of the oldest and most traditional snuff manufacturers in England , founded in 1792. The snuff from the Gawith company are primarily characterized by their very fluffy, airy and fine texture. The traditional English menu is complemented by several varieties with a modern, partly fruity character. Some of the most traditional Samuel Gawith snuffs include: Kendal Brown, Black Rappee, Scotch Black and Golden Glow.
Pöschl Tabak GmbH & Co. KG
Pöschl Tabak , founded in Landshut in 1902 , claims to be the world's largest snuff manufacturer. The global market share is expected to be around 50% and in Germany around 92%. Well-known products of the company are Gletscherprise, Löwenprise, FC Bayern Snuff, Andechs Snuff, Mac Craig Snuff - Royal, Glück Auf Prise, Jubiläumsprise (both only available regionally) and Gawith Apricot Snuff, which is licensed by Gawith Hoggarth Ltd. will be produced. In addition, four types of Schmalzler are produced and sold: Schmalzler A, Schmalzler D (formerly "Doppelaroma"), Schmalzler SF (formerly "Südfrucht") and the Perlesreuter Waldler Fresco originally produced by the Grafenau company Bogenstätter.
McChrystal's
McChrystal's was founded in Leicester, England, in 1926 and is the best-known snuff brand in Switzerland. The company is still run as a family business today. The house classic is the "Original & Genuine" snuff. With its wide range of snuff varieties, the brand is very popular with snuff beginners. It is also represented in kiosks and specialty shops for tobacco in many countries.
Leonard Dingler
Leonard Dingler is a South Africa-based manufacturer who is primarily popular in the domestic market. The Magnet Menthol Snuff brand is mainly known in foreign markets, although Dingler also sells tobacco products that are reminiscent of Bavarian Schmalzler in their naturalness. The tobaccos are offered in their own, very well-closing plastic cans and are usually coarse and moist. Dingler tobaccos have a reputation for being the most nicotine-rich tobacco, and are therefore recommended for smoking cessation.
Toque snuff
A newly founded company that advertises with "Don't SMOKE - Snuff TOQUE" due to the EU-wide smoking bans. According to their own information, no artificial flavors are used. A special feature of Toque is that all tobaccos are offered in applicators, which is supposed to meet the need for an inconspicuous cold.
Sir Walter Scott's
Founded in 2012 by Scotsman John Scott Bt. Dedicated to exclusive, traditional, English snuff, which are made according to old recipes.
Tobacco Manufactory Rosinski
The tobacco manufacturer Rosinski is a company founded in 2014 in Frankfurt ad Oder , Brandenburg . It produces snuff according to East German pre-war recipes. All work steps that require special attention are handcrafted. According to their own statements, this manufacturer does not use any artificial flavors either. Rosinski is the only commercial manufacturer to offer green snuff.
A + S Tabakfabrik GmbH
A + S stands for Andenmatten Schnupf and is a snuff manufacturer from Basel. The A + S snuff is made and bottled by hand in Basel. The raw materials used are high-quality overseas import tobacco, essential oils and oriental balms. The recipe goes back to snuff that was made in pharmacies up to a hundred years ago.
ritual
The cold is associated with various rituals, e.g. B. a saying with every cold or another cold when someone has sneezed. In Switzerland, the word after Schnupfspruch normally by all Schnupfenden Priis attached that well with a Prost would compare.
Runny nose from the back of the hand
Picking up one or two small heaps from the back of the fist: Care should be taken to sniff from the left hand, as it is considered amateurish to use the back of the right hand. It should also be noted that the snuff spreads the little finger and thumb away from the fist so that the upper palm is straight. Now you put your hand under your nose and sniff the powder. Here, too, there are some faux pas that should be avoided as far as possible: on the one hand, drawing in too hard can lead to a violent sneeze reflex , on the other hand, with particularly fine snuff, it can get directly into the throat and cause a very unpleasant burning sensation.
Runny nose from the fingertips
The intake of the snuff, which is held between the thumb and forefinger, and the direct supply to the individual nostril: This method combines with the use of the now almost disappeared, but still z. B. Snuffbox used in England. In earlier times, this lidded jar, often made of silver, was an indispensable part of socially acceptable consumer behavior. In addition, this method can be used to protect a possibly existing mustache from the unsightly black tobacco residue. This procedure is also known as English, as this is the predominant way of sniffing in England.
Sniffing by means of a snifter tube
The snuff is also taken from the UK using a snuff tube . Such a snuff tube usually consists of rolled up paper, but snuff tubes made of various materials such as plastic or glass are also sold commercially. To consume the snuff, the tobacco is brought into the correct shape using a blade or a credit card so that two lines of approximately the same length are created. The sniffing tube is inserted into one nostril and the other nostril is closed. Then bring the other side of the tube to the tobacco line and inhale through your nose. The process is repeated accordingly for the other nostril. Here, too, care should be taken to ensure that excessive inhalation can cause the tobacco to get into the throat and cause irritation. One advantage of this type of consumption is, as with sniffing the fingertips, that the beard and face are protected from the remains of the tobacco.
Snuff container
Snuffboxes
The transportable storage of snuff requires suitable containers. Many of the varieties on offer today are offered in corresponding cans that are both airtight and allow easy portioning. In addition, special cans were and are manufactured and offered. Classic variants are made from different, sometimes noble materials and with elaborate processing methods. Depending on the origin, horn, brass or silver was and is mainly processed. Specially made glass containers were also in use.
Special snuff boxes are the subject of a separate collection area. Silver cans are usually gold-plated on the inside so that the tobacco can be kept as unchanged as possible. In addition to the round lidded jar, there are numerous angular shapes as well as a pocket-friendly rounded shape. In addition to the pocket boxes measuring up to 6 × 4 cm, there were also larger table boxes. A special rarity from earlier times is the so-called “Beggar's Box”, a box with an obvious part for sale and a hidden part for personal use. The snuff box was a socially acceptable piece of jewelry, especially in the 18th and 19th centuries, which was especially popular in England as a gift to recognize special achievements.
Snuff glasses
Snuff glasses for tobacco storage (so-called "Tobackhpixl" or "Tabakbüchsel") were produced in the Bavarian Forest and Bohemian Forest , especially in the Zwiesel , Frauenau and Spiegelau areas , and were widespread since the beginning of the 18th century. The colloquial expression “Büchsel” has been preserved to this day. Carrying your own snuff glass was part of everyday life in Bavaria due to the popularity of snuff snuff. It was not uncommon for snuff glasses to be viewed as status symbols and accordingly highly valued. With the advent of cigarettes and inexpensive stoneware bottles after the First World War, the glass snuff bottle was largely displaced from everyday life, but it was increasingly produced again from 1960 due to the growing interest of collectors. This is how the originally everyday object became an elaborately designed work of art.
Snuff bottles in China
After China snuff end of the 17th century came the Emperor during the reign of Kangxi , which it in 1684 by Jesuits got as a gift. The European snuffbox was not widely used in China. Instead, snuff was kept in small bottles (snuff bottles), with a tiny ivory or bronze spoon attached to the stopper for removal. The first snuff bottles were made in imperial workshops in Beijing at the behest of Kangxi , were made of monochrome glass or cobalt-painted porcelain , and are dated around 1700. The emperors Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong were passionate collectors of snuff bottles and often commissioned them personally. Since the second half of the 18th century, the use of snuff became more and more widespread, which also boosted the production of snuff bottles. Snuff bottles were made from a wide variety of materials (glass, porcelain, ceramic , jade , rock crystal , amber , ivory, coral , lacquer , bronze, silver , bamboo, etc.), often very elaborately made and artistically decorated, and were very popular as early as the 18th century Utility and collector's item in China. Since the late 19th century, snuff bottles have also been more and more collected and valued in the West. There are also global organizations of snuff bottle collectors such as the International Chinese Snuff Bottle Society. It is not uncommon for old Chinese snuff bottles to fetch very high prices at international auctions.
Health risk
Nicotine is a drug and can be addictive regardless of the form of administration, regardless of whether it is smoked, chewed or snorted. According to Gaede, tobacco snuffers can ingest 20 to 60 mg of nicotine daily, similar amounts to a heavy smoker. However, the exact amount can hardly be determined in advance, as it depends on the respective consumption habits and methods. In addition, each brand contains a different proportion of tobacco and thus also of nicotine.
In contrast to smoking tobacco , there are no combustion products such as benzene , tar or hydrogen cyanide that are toxic for the consumer or other people . According to current studies, it is therefore much less harmful to health than the consumption of cigarettes, but it can also lead to nicotine dependence.
If more is snorted than can be stored in the nose, there is a risk that the excess tobacco will end up in the throat, which is noticeable in the form of a sharp taste and intense burning. This "pharynx" can also occur if the snuff is too violent. This allows the tobacco to get into the stomach and then the intestines. As a result, all of the nicotine reaches the bloodstream in a short time and thus triggers a so-called nicotine shock. In people who are not used to nicotine, this effect causes nausea, nausea, dizziness and, in the worst case, unconsciousness; cases of one to five grams of snuff have been observed.
The harmfulness is discussed: on the one hand, the manufacturers advertise safety studies, on the other hand, the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg warns of the consequences. Nitrosamines were also highlighted here as cancer-promoting substances .
While the packs were for some time labeled “This product causes cancer”, it now says “This tobacco product is addictive and harmful to your health” on the back.
Others
In Germany, snuff has not been subject to tobacco tax since 1993 .
In addition to tobacco, snuff contains various additives that are primarily used for moistening and flavoring. Which substances are permitted for such use is regulated in Germany by the Tobacco Ordinance. The German Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection (BMELV) maintains a tobacco additive database, in which the additives of the snuff offered in Germany can be found.
The former Chancellor Helmut Schmidt took advantage of the Bundestag snuff because of the smoking ban in the Chamber. Miners in coal mining also use snuff during their shift underground, as smoking is prohibited here due to the risk of firedamp explosions . In addition to the Internet, the Glück Auf-Prize and the Jubilee Prize are only sold by the Pöschl company in the mining regions of the Ruhr and Ore Mountains .
The so-called white snuff consists of grape sugar and aromatic substances, mostly menthol. This tobacco-free product does not contain nicotine and is consumed in the same way as real snuff.
In the British House of Commons, snuff is made available to MEPs free of charge in the Parliamentary Snuffbox .
Snuff in film and television
- In the series Royal Bavarian District Court , the judge is a consumer of snuff
- In the film Inglourious Basterds by director Quentin Tarantino , Brad Pitt can be seen as a snuff consumer
literature
- Wilhelm Busch , “The Prize” at Project Gutenberg
- Heidemarie Brosche: The Snuff Book . Verlag Naumann, Nidderau 1993, ISBN 3-924490-53-8 .
- Heiner Schaefer: Snuff glasses. Treasures from the Bavarian Forest . Morsak-Verlag, Grafenau 1997, ISBN 3-87553-493-X .
- Kurt Schöning: Snuff Breviary . Heimeran Verlag, Munich 1975, ISBN 3-7765-0199-5 .
Web links
- Tobacco additive database of the Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection
- Press release on the tobacco article from the Heidelberg Cancer Research Center
- Smoke-free tobacco products: what about chewing or snuff? , Cancer Information Service of the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg. November 28, 2011. Last accessed September 4, 2014.
- Homepage of the Swiss Snuff Association
- South German nasal cancer study as PDF ( Memento from March 31, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) (312 kB)
- Website about horn snuff boxes and tobacco box history
swell
- ↑ Law 5727 Amendment to the Prevention of Damage to Tobacco Products , Grand National Assembly of Turkey , accessed May 18, 2008.
- ↑ snuff vs. Smoking - smoke-free enjoyment. In: cigarworld.de. Retrieved August 4, 2020 .
- ^ Samuel Gawith - All you need to know about Snuff Grinders and Tobacco Manufacturers. Retrieved August 4, 2020 (American English).
- ^ Official website of the American Snuff Company ( Memento June 23, 2010 in the Internet Archive ).
- ↑ rosinski snuff. Retrieved August 4, 2020 .
- ^ A + S Tabakfabrik GmbH Basel. Retrieved August 4, 2020 .
- ↑ Dietrich Gaede: On the effect of snuff . In: Naunyn-Schmiedebergs Archive for Experimental Pathology and Pharmacology . tape 203 , no. 1 , December 1944, p. 130-145 , doi : 10.1007 / BF01865916 .
- ↑ Snuff techniques for snuff. Retrieved August 4, 2020 .
- ↑ Tobacco consumption in any form carcinogenic. Retrieved August 4, 2020 .
- ↑ White snuff. Retrieved August 4, 2020 .