Smokeless tobacco

March 7th, 2009, Author: admin, Categories: Fact about tobacco

Tobacco that is chewed or sniffed rather than smoked. The four key types of smokeless tobacco products are dry snuff, moist snuff, plug/twist, and loose leaf chewing “spit” tobacco. According to the Federal Trade Commission, about 64 million pounds of moist snuff was sold in 2001, which was greater than the combined sales of all the other forms of smokeless tobacco. In all, an estimated 113 million pounds of smokeless tobacco products were sold in 2001, generating over $2 billion in sales.
About 9.6 million people in the United States use smokeless tobacco products and the overwhelming majority are males. As with cigarette smoking, many users are initiated into the use of smokeless tobacco by their peers during adolescence. Of the few females who regularly use smokeless tobacco, many are reportedly embarrassed or ashamed of their use. However, the nicotine in smokeless tobacco is as addicting to females as it is to males.
College students may use or try smokeless tobacco. In one study reported in a 2000 issue of the
Journal of the American Medical Association, of about 14,000 college students, about 9 percent of the males reported currently using smokeless tobacco and 14 percent had used it in the past year. (Less than 1 percent of females were current users and only 1.3 percent had used smokeless tobacco in the past year.)
The researchers found that students in rural areas or small towns were more likely to be smokeless tobacco users, as were intercollegiate athletes.
Younger individuals, especially adolescents, often believe that smokeless tobacco is less addicting and thus healthier than smoked tobacco.

This common belief is erroneous. Some people have used smokeless tobacco to help them stop smoking; however, they are simply trading one form of nicotine delivery for another form. In fact, some experts have stated that smokeless tobacco may contain a higher level of nicotine than cigarettes.
Some forms of tobacco are flavored, apparently to appeal to younger palates and increase the appeal of trying the product. If chewed, the tobacco is either swallowed or spit out.