1492: Christopher Columbus travels to America
1497: First report of tobacco and use of Snuff by Taino-Indians on Haiti by Monk Romano Pane (follower of Christopher Columbus)
1548: Luis de Goes brings tobacco to Portugal, a relative of his, Damiano de Goes shows them to a French Doctor called Jean Nicot [not clear who really brought tobacco to Europe at first, see 1558]
1558: Doctor Francisco Hernandez brings tobacco to Europe [not clear who really brought tobacco to Europe at first, see 1548]
1561: Doctor Jean Nicot sends tobacco leafs to the French Queen Catherine de' Medici
1561: Catherine de' Medici grinds tobacco leafs and snuffs it, first production and use of Snuff in Europe
1620: Europe's first Snuff factory established in Sevilla, Spain [date unclear]
1642: Bull against use of Snuff in churches by Pope Urban III, lasted until 1724
1650: before 1650 Snuff is only used in Spain, Portugal, Italy, Ireland and Russia
1655: Snuff mentioned in France
1675: Snuff comes to Germany (probably with the huguenots)
1675: Monopoly on all tobacco and Snuff given to an Italian called Bignami by Bavarian elector
1690: Bull against use of Snuff in St. Peter's Basilica
1702: Englishmen capture two Spanish ships with Snuff on board, begin of rise of Snuff in England
1707: Unification of England and Scotland pushes Snuff in Europe, as Glasgow becomes main trans-shipment centre for American tobacco in Europe
1720: Fribourg & Treyer Snuff shop in London is established by Fribourg (Swiss) and Treyer (German) [date unclear]
1733: First German Snuff Factory, Gebrüder Bernard, established in Offenbach on the Main
1741: Frederick II bans import of Snuffboxes to foster domestic production
1774: German Snuff factory Lotzbeck established in Lahr
1828: Alkaloid in tobacco is discovered by chemists Reimann and Posselt, who name it Nicotin after Jean Nicot
1902: Today's largest German Snuff factory, Pöschl, established in Landshut
2004: De Kralingse Foundation established in the Netherlands, grinding Snuff on original Snuff mills

Welcome aboard! Good to hear someone likes it.

Very interesting... But I didn't see anything in there for around 2000 Merlin228 begins using snuff. ;) ROFLMAO

Pretty sure you (we) will be able to find a good deal of info on Native American uses of tobacco and snuff. They discovered the plant and used it in many ways. (This is off the top of my head.) They smoked it, chewed it, snuffed it, traded it, treasured it, and even used it as a psychedelic. If you take tons of it, you get high and have visions. That's all I can say for now, but they definitely very much appreciated the plant and were the first people in the world to do so.

thanks for the time line. it was interesting.

Thanks for the welcome Alex. I am pleased to meet you and the members

Here is an interesting essay that seems to suggest that American Indians in the California territory where introduced to tobacco taken in the form of Snuff from the white man.Early Uses of Indian Tobacco
This seems likely for the time frame to travel from Haiti to the West coast in North America, during the days when settlers were on the move.

And here we have another interesting read about the uses of tobacco and its forms of ingestion in the Americas, pre and post Columbus.Tobacco and Shamanism in South America.

Alex, the first piece on California is not as in-depth. Also, these Indians were isolated by deserts from other groups to the south and east.

I doubt this is the last word but (from the second link above):

‘Tobacco snuffing, like the inhaling of intoxicants in general, seems to be peculiar to the New World, whence it spread to the Old World in post-Hispanic times. Like chewing, the snuffing of tobacco powder is of wide and scattered distribution, reaching from Chile to Colombia and, in rare cases, beyond into Mexico and North America. Again, this distributional evidence, coupled with the fact that snuffing of pulverized tobacco is found in close association with ecstatic and divinatory shamanistic techniques, suggests considerable antiquity of the custom.

and

The parent species of Nicotiana rustica and N. Tabacum have have been cultivated as far back as 8,000 years ago, and may be the first cultivated plant of the Americas. (Furst 1976:27).

Thanks to Mo for finding these articles...A