The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-12-13
WOMEN WHO CHEW TOBACCO.
The Demand for Snuff in Kentucky Drug
StOres-A Disgusting Habit.


Louisville Evening Post.
Five cents worth of snuff" said a little
woman as she bent over the counter of drug
store this morning and whispered the order in
the clerks ear with a mysterious mien. Clan
cling furtively around to assure herself that there
were no witnesses to the transaction, she added:
1T 5 for another lady. I never use the horrid
stuff. Picking up neatly wrapped little bun
die in white paper she placed it to her nose to
assure herself that it was the genuine article,
then flung down a nickle and hurriedly left the
store.
Here, Johnny" said the clerk turning to a
boy who was standing behind the prescription
case in conversation with a reporter of this
paper, put up snuff All those
packages we made last night are gone already.
Hurry! Here's another customer coming across
the street. From the way she stares through
the door judge she wants snuff. All. this is a
rushing business' he continued, aside to the
reporter, who had let fall his under jaw in utter
amazement .
Twenty packages of snuff this morning, and
the day only begun. / dare say these people
have forgotten their Thanksgiving dinner, and
gone to eating snuff for their holiday pastime
| instead This snuff chewing is growing to be a
feartully prevalent habit"
who are your chief patrons in this liner ven
tured the reporter.
"Why, the ladies' of course. We have no male
callers for snuff at ALL The men chew tobacco
instead Of course no woman buys the snuff
for herself The purchase is always made for
neighbor or a friend Ihave seen women come
here with the brown juice dry in the corners of
their mouths and complain of the dirty stuff,
which they said they were buying for another
woman The habit. l understand is very fasci-
mating, and when once begun is more binding
than either chewing tobacco or smoking. In its
strength to enslave the will it approaches the
power of narcotics"
''How does snuff chewing compare with to-
bacco chewingP
"There is but little comparison between the
/ hah an ha clark faoa cd
an expression of deep disgust ''As dirty as to-
bacco chewing is" he continued, ''lt has no
comparison with the nthiness of snuff eating
! The only ground of comparison is the nature of
I the two stimulants. Chewing plugs are made of
the better varieties of leaf tobacco and are fla
vored and put through process which more or
less modifies the original nature of the tobacco.
Snuff is made of the stems of the strongest vari
cites of tobacco, which are ground very fine and
| then compressed into large balls that are in
closed in bladders to prevent any evaporation of
the strength The snutfs which are used
exclusively are made in this way without flavor
ing whatever There is also material differ
ence in the way they are chewed. Tobacco is
masticated between the teeth or allowed to lie
loose in side of the mouth Snuff chewing
is the most disgusting spectacle man can well
be called upon to Witness and is rendered the
more revolving from the fact that it is almost
! exclusively female custom. just imagine
lady friend with long dirty roll of thick, black
mass of pasty consistency pressed between her
| HIS. Inc most attractive feature CT the lace is
made hideous. There is always sediment
from the brown saliva that suffuses the corners
of the mouth and the edges of the lips"
"How is the habit acquired4
1.-THE acquiring OF any habit is hard to
plain. / suppose that snuff-eating is contracted
very much in the same way as tobacco chewing
and smoking-from the desire for some stimu-
liant l have been told, however, by some who
are addicted to the habit, that they contracted it
from the use of a tooth wash in which snuff was
used as an Ingredient A very favorite tooth
wash is a composition made of equal parts of
prepared chalk, ground charcoal and snuff 1t
has quite large run. 1t is again contended by
others that the habit grows on person from
toothache. However the habit is acquired it is
spreading very rapidly, and no person who does
not deal i'll the dirt could have any idea of the
number of women who are addicted to it.
Every drug store in the city keeps it in large
quantities, and the consumption, is growing
! from day to day. For casual dippers we keep
an open box on the counter, and nearly every
person who enters takes pinch.
How is the stuff chewedp
"There is quite an art about snuff chewing
which you would not imagine. The fine powder
| is dipped up with small brush, and then twisted
and twrled in the mouth and about the teeth
with an artistic curve until the mass is moulded
into a small plastic ball, when 1t is placed under
the upper and lower lip to the front of the
mouth, till its strength is absorbed in the saliva
! that is excited from the glands Some people
use a came's hair brush, but the majority prefer
brush made from chewing the end of twig of
tree. understand that there is lodge room
| in this neighborhoUd where "a dozen or so snuff
chewers meet periodically and hold feast at
such times our snuff sales run clear up"