Results Of Smokeless Tobacco

Smokeless tobacco, also called spit tobacco, chewing tobacco, chew, chaw, dip, plug, and probably a few other things, comes in two forms: snuff and chewing tobacco.

Snuff is a fine-grain tobacco that often comes in teabag-like pouches that user "pinch" or "dip" between their lower lip and gum. Chewing tobacco comes in shredded, twisted, or "bricked" tobacco leaves that users put between their cheek and gum. Whether its snuff or chewing tobacco, you are supposed to let it sit in your mouth and suck on the tobacco juices, spitting often to get rid of the saliva that builds up. This sucking and chewing allows nicotine, which is a drug you can become addicted to, to be absorbed into the bloodstream through the tissues in your mouth. You do not even need to swallow.

Where Does It Come From?
Smokeless tobacco has been around for a long time. Native people of North and South America chewed tobacco, and snorting and chewing snuff was popular in Europe and Scandinavia (the word "snuff" comes from the Scandinavian word "snus").
In the United States, chewing tobacco has long been associated with baseball. Players chewed it to keep their mouths moist, spit it into their gloves to soften them up, and used it to make a "spitball," a special pitch that involved the pitcher dabbing the ball with saliva to cause it to spin off the fingers easily and break sharply. (Spitballs were banned from the sport in 1920.) By the 1950s, chewing tobacco had fallen out of favor in most of America, so by that time not too many baseball players were spitting big brown gobs all over the infield. Instead of chewing their tobacco, most people were smoking it.

However, in the 1970s, people became more aware of the dangers of smoking. Thinking it was a safe alternative to lighting up, baseball players started chewing on their tobacco again. Some players even developed the habit of mixing their chewing tobacco with bubble gum and chewing the whole thing. These days, you don't find the majority of professional ballplayers with wads of chaw in their cheeks. However, lots of people and girls, athletes or not, still find time for chewing and spitting.

Two words. Most people might have heard of it but really do not have any idea of the impact of the product that these "two words" can have on the millions of, "users" of smokeless tobacco.

1. Pouch tobacco - this product is a stringy cut of tobacco that is marketed in a pouch about four" X 6" or so in size.
2. Powdered snuff - this product is a finely ground dry tobacco that comes in tins or glass bottles. It is used by placing it in the mouth by either pinching it between the fingers or using a "brush,” a stick sometimes chewed to make a brush end and then placing the wet end into the bottle or tin and getting the powder on it. The brush is then placed in the mouth.
3. Moist ground tobacco: This product is placed in round cans about three inches or so across. They are reported to have up to 5 times the nicotine as cigarettes.
4. Plug tobacco: This product comes in a block, resembling a candy bar.
5. Twist tobacco: This product is strands of tobacco that are formed into rolls and them twisted and wrapped in plastic. If the "twist" were removed, they would be about 12" or so long.

Is smokeless tobacco safe to use?
The tobacco companies give the impression that it is a safe alternative to cigarette smoking but smokeless tobaccos, like cigarettes, are sometimes more addictive and contain high concentrations of cancer-causing chemicals.

The tobacco industry estimates that 24 million Americans use smokeless tobacco products. Smokeless tobacco sales have increased above 30% in the past ten years, while cigarettes, and other smoked tobacco usage has actually declined. It has been predicted by industry analysts that smokeless tobacco usage could double over the next few years. Why? Because health-conscious Americans are looking for alternatives to smoking.

There are about 30,000 cases of oral cancer are discovered each year in the United States alone, causing about 9,000 deaths. Men over 40 are the most frequently struck while the ratio of oral cancer is 3 to one between males than females. Women use smokeless tobacco but tend to do so in private.

Smokeless Tobacco Advertising Campaigns
Can advertising be partially responsible for the increased usage of smokeless tobacco? Advertising campaigns are being aimed at young males 18-35. They appeal to their desires to "belong" by having slogans such as "take a pinch instead of a puff,'' with practice, you'll be doing it like the pros,'' or "a pinch is all it takes.’’ Young people are highly susceptible to such tactics because they sometimes feature entertainment and sports idols promoting smokeless tobacco products. There are three; main causes that cause youth to fall victim to this insidious habit:

1. Peer pressure
2. Curiosity
3. The person's family history of tobacco use.

In families that use tobacco, there is a much stronger mind set to tobacco use and/or experimentation.

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