Smokeless Tobacco

Smokeless Tobacco • Spit tobacco, chewing tobacco, chew, chaw, dip, plug• Comes in two forms– Snuf

• a nicotine containing product made of ground or pulverized tobacco leaves

– Chewing tobacco• comes in shredded, twisted, or "bricked" tobacco leaves that users put between their cheek and gum

Snuff• A fine-grain tobacco that often comes in tea-bad like

pouches hat users “pinch” or “dip” between their lower lip and gum.

• Sold as dry or moist• Moist– Used by placing a pinch, dip, lipper or quid between the

lower lip or cheek and gum.• Dry– Sold in powdered form and is used by sniffing or inhaling

that dry snuff powder up the nose.

Chewing Tobacco• Comes in shredded, twisted, or “bricked” tobacco

leaves that users put between their cheek and gum. – Comes in long strands of loose leaves, plugs or twists or

tobacco• Pieces are called plugs, wads or chew. The nicotine

is absorbed through the mouth tissues. The user spits out the brown juice saliva that soaked through the tobacco.

Where does chew come from?

• Native people of North and South America chewed tobacco

• Snorting and chewing snuff was popular in Europe and Scandinavia

• Snus- form of moist snuff from Sweden and Norway

• Made of air-cured tobacco, water, salt, and flavorings

Where does chew come from?

• In U.S. chewing tobacco has long been associated with baseball

• Players chewed it to keep their mouths moist, spit into their gloves to soften them up and used it to make a “spitball”.

Who uses chewing tobacco?

• 20% of high school boys and 2% of girls use smokeless tobacco

• Of the 12 to 14 million American users, one third are under the age of 21 and more than half of those developed the habit before they were 13.

Factors of Use

• Peer Pressure• Local lifestyle and fashions• General attitude toward authority• Economic conditions• Examples set by teachers and school staff• Use of illegal drugs and alcohol

Factors of Use

• In 2003 more than 1 in 3 MLB players used smokeless tobacco, mainly moist snuff.

• In light of new bans on smoking advertising smokeless tobacco is being advertised as an alternative to cigarettes.

Dangers of Smokeless Tobacco

• Bad Breath• Yellowish-brown stains on your teeth• Mouth sores• Cracking and bleeding lips• Receding gums (teeth fall out)• Increased heart rate• High blood pressure• Irregular heart beats• Cancer

• http://www.outdoortexan.com/mycancer.htm

Cancers Caused by Smokeless Tobacco

• Oral cancers– Cancer of the mouth, lips, tongues, floor or roof of

mouth, cheeks, or gums• Stomach, esophagus, and bladder cancer• Leukoplakia– Sores in the mouth that can become cancer – 3 out of 4 daily users has these sores.

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