Have you ever heard of snus? It is a smokeless technology that has revolutionized the smoking industry and provides a safer alternative to nicotine consumption. Let's dive in!
[Note: Snus is not an alternative to smoking, as it contains tobacco. If you wish to opt for a tobacco-free nicotine solution, you can look into nicotine pouches here.]
The use of Tobacco has been around since the 1st Century BC, as suggested by archaeological findings. In Central America, tobacco leaves of the Nicotiana plant, which belongs to the Nightshade family, were smoked by the Maya people during religious ceremonies. The plant was indigenous to this region and gradually spread northward.
In Southeast Asia, the use of Betel quid (paan), a form of chewing tobacco mixed with Areca nut, was and still is widespread. The plant known as the Areca palm is indigenous to the region, and human use of the plant can be traced as far back as the Iron Age in the Duyoung burial pits in the Philippines.
China and Asia were using pipes as a tasting and inhaling tool for tobacco and other substances. ‘Madak', a common mixture of opium and tobacco, was widespread in the 19th century due to its highly addictive nature, which led to severe social problems leading up to the second opium war.
The effects of tobacco led the Native Americans to use it as medicine for fever, bowel issues, depression and more. They are well known for the use of chewing tobacco, snuff-taking and smoking as early as the 1400s.
The Spanish and Portuguese were quick in the introduction of tobacco in Europe in the 1500s, physicians in Lisbon learned from the natives the use of the leaves as medicine and brought the plant back with them. Jean Nicot, a French Ambassador in Lisbon took the plant home to Paris where it developed into Snus, thus the plant's Latin name was influenced by his own Nicotiana Tabacum. He observed the same crushing of tobacco leaves and cleaned the leaves before crushing. Jean showed this new form of headache medicine to Queen Catherine de Medici of France, who tended to suffer from chronic Headaches. Snus made her headaches disappear in a jiffy and surprised the queen, soon after the miracle plant was popularized in French courts. French Culture played a massive role in other European cultures, including court culture, therefore snus was soon popularized in other European courts, this lead high societies of European countries to quickly adopt the use of snus as a social trend. Aristocrats considered the possession of snus a mark of a fine gentleman or lady and paid special attention to the elegance with which they handled the snus to demonstrate grace. The cans became a social statement, adorned with elaborate decorations and made of precious metals.
Later on tobacco was being used in Pipes, Cigars and Snuff widely across Europe, Sweden soon started growing tobacco and snus plants. After a short interval of snus use after the death of Napoleon Bonaparte, the immigration of Swedes to America and the need for funds for Swedish military reform, Sweden decided to attempt a monopoly on tobacco and began to introduce their traditions to 1900s America, where in 1919, Snus consumption hit record levels.
We hope you found this brief history of snus useful!
