I must admit, I had never heard of “Sweet Scotch Snuff” until today.

But a quick search of Wikipedia tells me that “Snuff is ground or pulverized tobacco, which is generally inhaled or “snuffed” through the nose.”  That much of course I knew.

What I did not know was that snuff basically comes in two versions… the (primarily) European version, which is dry  and usually scented or flavored and is intended to be sniffed through the nose.   And then there is moist snuff – often called American Snuff  – which tends to be applied to the gums, rather than sniffed. It’s sometimes called dipping tobacco, and like the European versions, comes in many varieties and flavours.  There is yet another type of snuff, unique to India, called “creamy snuff” which is more of a paste sold in toothpaste tubes… and marketed mainly to women.

I became aware of “Sweet Scotch Snuff” when I saw this small piece of vintage ephemera on a blog which is interestingly titled “Paper Dolls for Boys“.  Despite its title, the blog does occasionally display a number of interesting pieces of ephemera.  They are generally part of a weekly category called “vintage photo friday”.

In reading the small ticket, which offered a “lady’s fine linen handkerchief” which normally sells “for 25 cents”, I began to look into just what is “Blue Ribbon Sweet Scotch Snuff” but did not find a whole lot. It’s interesting that back then, and I can’t seem to find a date for the Handkerchief Ticket, a man (presumably) was offered a fine linen hankie for his lady, as part of a “reward” (?) for buying four tins of snuff.

I did find the tin on the right, a different brand, offered on Etsy.  The description reads:

From what I can tell this has never been opened. It is Helme quality snuff. The paper label is in very good condition, a couple of very small spots. My pictures show the front and back of the label.

This tin is approx. 2 1/4 inches tall and 1 3/4 across.

It’s listed at a mere $8.00 which somewhat surprised me.

I am assuming that there is a group of “snuff tin” collectors out there.. there seem to be collectors of almost everything these days.  I am wondering if there is also a group who collects ephemera related to snuff?

How about YOU?  Do you collect either snuff ephemera, tins of snuff – or anything that might fit into both the  general category of “snuff” and “ephemera”?  I’d like to hear from you.

I’m Tom Murphy and thanks for helping me give Ephemera the encore it deserves.

Tom

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