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It appears our snuff hero, is no more.
“RECOLLECTIONS OF THE PRIVATE LIFE OF NAPOLEON, V3
By CONSTANT, PREMIER VALET DE CHAMBRE
TRANSLATED BY WALTER CLARK”
“1895 The Emperor never took tobacco except in his snuff-boxes; and although he wasted a great quantity of it, he really used very little, as he took a pinch, held it to his nose simply to smell it, and let it fall immediately. It is true that the place where he had been was covered with it; but his handkerchiefs, irreproachable witnesses in such matters, were scarcely stained, and although they were white and of very fine linen, certainly bore no marks of a snuff-taker. Sometimes he simply passed his open snuff-box under his nose in order to breathe the odor of the tobacco it contained. These boxes were of black shell, with hinges,
and of a narrow, oval shape; they were lined with gold, and ornamented with antique cameos, or medallions, in gold or silver. At one time he used round tobacco-boxes; but as it took two hands to open them, and in this operation he sometimes dropped either the box or the top, he became disgusted with them. His tobacco was grated very coarse, and was usually composed of several kinds of tobacco mixed together. Frequently he amused himself by making the gazelles that he had at Saint-Cloud eat it. They were very fond of it, and although exceedingly afraid of every one else, came close to his Majesty without the slightest fear.”
“Private Memoirs of Napoleon Bonaparte”
“All that has been said about Bonaparte’s immoderate use of snuff, has no more foundation in truth than his pretended partiality for coffee. It is true that at an early period of his life, he began to take snuff, but it was very sparingly, and always out of a box:* and if he bore any resemblance to Frederick the Great, it was not by filling his waistcoat pockets with snuff.
*He did have a great collection of snuff boxes.” -
Well that answers the age old question of how hw managed to get through several pounds a month. Bugger.
By the way Roderick, could you have a look at the ISTA posts please? A view from you would be helpful.
Any news on the small Toque cans?
All the best
Nigel -
Well that kills another famous legend dead...why does it seem these stories rarely have much truth in them?
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There is often conflicting accounts of famous people, however to be fair he still used a lot of snuff in his own way
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The new 10g tins are here, but I'm just not satisfied with all the new flavours, so it could be another couple of weeks before the official launch. Sorry to disappoint, but I want them to be perfect.
With regard to being chairman of the ISTA I would be honoured, but wouldn’t it be more democratic to have a vote? -
democracy is hell- sorry have to throw an obscure art refrence in from time to time.
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Hi Roderick - I don't see anything wrong with just offering someone the role, especially at the start up stage. If people disagreed with that we could easily have some kind of ballot. Personally, I think the natural choice for chair and vice, would be you and TS - although I have no idea if he would want that of course!
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CommentAuthorTroutstroker
- CommentTimeJun 28th 2008
snuffster,
I appreciate the thought but in my opinion, the natural choice would be the ones who originally initiated & discussed the idea of having an ISTA. It seems only fitting that those positions would be held for these "founding fathers" and the ones with the time & know how to get it off the ground before it would be offered to anyone else, as this idea of ISTA was already being bounced around long before I joined this forum? -
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OK, point taken
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- CommentAuthorejacerooni
- CommentTimeJun 28th 2008
it could hat in public he smelled the snuff, but in regards to his hankees to maintain a clean image would f cource not use a dirty hankey. in private who knows his habbits. he was an emperoar after all; of the people. -
I don't buy it...sounds like when Bill Clinton said he took a puff but didn't inhale...LOL!
By the way, I really, really like the Toque natural. It is the best snuff in a box and taking a big pinch...about to order more, but I don't want to order bullets. Is it possible to just order a big tin like an ounce of it? -
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CommentAuthorTroutstroker
- CommentTimeJun 28th 2008
bryan,
You can buy in 25g tins also in bulk bags from 10g all the way to 400g. -
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how long would it take napoleon to go through 400g..?
seriously: is there proof for more persons using snuff like that? (smell-and-drop) -
Ive never heard of it before. Given it was in the heyday of snuffing, I wonder if he actually didn't like snuff but did it to be 'one of the boys' so to speak, to appear to be like the common man? It seems a strange thing to do just for an aroma, which if you try it doesn't come across that well anyway.
If you were doing it all day long in large pinches, 400g would go pretty quickly I would have thought. -
I don't mean to sound daft or anything but why should we disregard the 'legend' of Napoleons snuff habit just because one source said he never used it? What of all the sources that said he did?
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Hi Lazarus,
Unfortunately I didn’t make it clear, there are two sources quoted. The first was from his, PREMIER VALET DE CHAMBRE (his personal dresser) and the second came from the great man himself through his “Private Memoirs of Napoleon Bonaparte”. The third point is simple math, he was said to snuff 7lbs a month that's 105 grams a day; a physical impossibility.
We can take some consolation in the fact that he had one of the greatest snuff box collections and anyone with that many snuff boxes must have been more than just one who used snuff "very sparingly".
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