Snuff by Ursula Bourne, a 32 page book packed with information on snuff with over 40 illustrations; is now available through Snuff Store.

On the back cover of Snuff, the publisher gives a short description of the snuff book’s contents.

‘A surprising number of people in Britain take snuff regularly, though proportionally far fewer than a hundred years ago. There are still many varieties of snuff available from specialist tobacco shops. In common with many other habits, snuff-taking was accompanied by a range of accessories which are illustrated in this book. A snuffer needed a snuff box of one or two compartments to carry his snuff around, and if he used a bottle he would also need a spoon, a handkerchief and other items. He even needed to know the etiquette of indulging the habit to the best effect for himself while causing the least offence to others. In this book the author explains how snuff first came to Europe, then to Britain, and its history to the present day. She describes how it is made, the firms famous in the trade and the names they gave to some of the infinite varieties they offered for sale or made up to individual requirements.’

Snuff by Ursula Bourne, contains chapters covering; 

The history of snuff.
Snuff making and selling.
Snuff accessories.
Why take snuff?
Concludes with suggested further reading.

The snuff book is filled with interesting illustrations, some of which include snuff manufacturing, snuff shops, reproduction of images from antique snuff books and the like.

We have also linked several other snuff books here.

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Snuff news recently in The Oldie talking about how one way to obtain a ‘legal’ nicotine fix since the smoking ban is to switch to snuff.

In the ‘Old Un’s Diary’; The Oldie talks about how their interest in snuff was raised by a story of a tobacconist, who became concerned about their employees spending too much time smoking outside of the premises, that the company offered to buy them snuff to use instead. If they liked it, the company would continue supplying snuff to keep the employees inside the premises.

The article then goes on to explain how snuff is still popular in some UK colleges and a little about snuff etiquette.

The snuff article then closes with a ’sneeky’ snuff story about how it’s worthwhile remembering before accepting the kind offer of snuff, to pinch hard on a button of one’s waistcoat, inorder to leave a indentation in the thumb that ensures ‘ample sufficency’ of snuff is taken!

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