Cincinnati daily press. [volume] (Cincinnati [Ohio]) 1860-1862, 1860-04-09
The Extent of snuG-Dipplns in New Yorl

The Extent of Snun-Dipping In New York.
The Tribune gives alengthy account of the
disgusting and deleterious habit of snuff-dip-
ping in New York, from which we make
this extract: rF.
graphic account was published few
days ago, of the disgusting practice of snuff
dipping" so extensively in vogue among
women of all classes in the Southern States.
People from the North, travelling Though
Virginia, the Carolinas, Georgia and Ala
bama, have been astonished at beholding the
open and matter-of-fact methed ofindulging
iu it-at seeing pretty young girls, lovely
ladies, married women and single, sitting in
circles, formed expressly for this purposes
Each snuff-dipper has her bottle and swab-
stick, or box and mop, from and by which
she conveys the filthy dust to her lips, and
then, withdrawing the mop, perhaps passes it
along to her neighbor as an act of delicate at
tention. Without doubt, this habit of snuff
dipping would be far more unseemly than
that of ftobacco-chewing, if practiced bysmen,
and when it is considered that women only
have adopted it, one can hardly suppress
shudder of disgust.
Many of our readers will be surprised to
learn that great mistake is made in suppos-
ing that this foul and pernicious habit is con-
fined to the females Of the South. We have
to record the fact, based upon careful inyesti-
CATION, that it is more or less secretly in prac-
tice among the women of our own city, and to
quite considerable extent. The article used
for this. purpose is the old-fashioned yellow
Scotch snuff, of which four times as much is
consumed in this way by the women of New
York as for the titilation of the olfactory Or
gan by all the snuff-taRers of both sexes.
Certain tobacconsts on Broadway and the
Bowery have established reputation for the
particular quality of snuff which they manu-
facture, and sell the greater portion OF the
amount here consumed. With them and
their customers the practice is called "dig-
ging," instead of dipping" and those who
are slaves to it go by the title of "diggers"-
a name that certainly seems most appropriate,
if fintended to convey the idea of analogy be-
tween their habits and those of the Digger
Indians, who, of all wretched and barbarou;
tribes, live on the most unnatural and loath
some diet.
The votaries of snuff-chewing are not con-
fined to any particular class of the women oi
New York. Though probably it is mos
prevalent among the poorer and uneducated
females, yet all the sellers agree that a large
part of the demand is from genteel and high.
bred ladies in the fashionable walks of life
Females of all ages are among their custo.
mers. Girls of the town are often addicted
to this use of snuff, finding in it stimulan
more soothing and enduring in its effect
lHdu luC WIN lhCl oCth "
drown their misery and shame. The com
bination of the various snutfs is kept q trade
secret by the manufacturers but about twenty
per cent. is made up of salt, pearlash anC
other pungent substances, which add flavoi
and stimulating power to the article. Hun
dreds of women buy their snuff under thu
pretense of cleaning their teeth, and it il
claimed by the dealers that all their digging
customers, old or young, have their teeth il
a remarkably sound and lustrous condition
How the practice came so extensively sprea
in New York is not known, though it is proba
bly, Southern importation, and has not oh
tanned much of foothold until within tn
past fifteen years. Those who are addicte,
to it here do not display their habit openly
as at the South, but conceal it carefully iron
their nearest friends shutting themselves il
their rooms and secretly indulging in a snui
debauch. They deposit the MIXTURE with
peculiarly-shaped horn or silver spoon, in tn
inside of the lower lip. There it is allowe
to remain until thoroughly moistened, whe
it is passed around to the sides of the moutl
where it stays till exhausted of its essenti'
powers.