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oddities

How to be a Toff; trends among young people
Ever wonder where the expression, "toff" comes from?



The expression comes from the habit of snuff taking among the British upper classes. Snuff is powdered, scented tobacco you sniff up your schnozz. Since it is a vegetable product, rather than a distilled chemical (like that other stuff people put up their noses), it must eventually come out. I can now attest to the fact that what comes out is pretty much the physical consistency and color of toffee. Hence; "toffee-nose" eventually shortened to "toff."

I remember my first experience with snuff, when I was a teenage reprobate, interested in trying everything. I snorted some horrible dusty nonsense, doubtless swept up from the floor of a third rate cigarette manufacturer. It was even more horrible than chew, and I promptly took up ruining my health with Marlboro reds.




Lately, I've found out about high end snuffs from Britain and Europe. They are actually quite a refined lot, smelling of ... well, pretty much anything you can imagine, and quite a few things which are unimaginable. I find the stuff gives an indefinable refreshing lift. It activates the brain, and (paradoxically) sharpens the sense of smell. Compared to smoking cigars or the tobacco pipe, snuff is a clean habit; only dirtying up the inside of your nose, rather than your entire mouth, upper respiratory tract, wardrobe and whatever room you happen to be in when you smoke. In addition, because of the lack of combustion, and because of the tiny amounts of it used, it isn't as dangerous as smoking or chewing. Sure, you will eventually expel brown sludge from your proboscis, but the key is: it gets out somehow, unlike what happens inside your mouth and lungs. Nose cancer, or lung cancer? I always liked Tycho Brahe because he was an enormous louche with a gold nose. It's much harder to look cool with one lung, and I don't need a nose to do deadlifts.




It's an admittedly weird habit, and apparently young Ali G hip hop types in Great Britain are taking it up again, due to the lack of smoking in pubs. It's also insanely cheap compared to any kind of smokable: I bought $20 worth thinking it would be two packs of smokes worth -it appears to be a lifetime supply. You can find funny videos on youtube of saggy pantalooned yobos with their hats all akimbo hoovering up enormous lines of snuff like it were cocaine (this is not the proper way of taking snuff, which should be daintily sniffed). I wouldn't be surprised if there were a larger revival once some hip hop eminence grise takes it up. None the less, it's an interesting affectation, with important historical links. Both the House of Parliament and the US Congress are festooned with enormous collective snuff boxes, where great statesmen may consume healthful nicotine to concentrate their thoughts.