Thanks for the info. Grant and Smoke,

....but I'm still confused about what the word "plug" means....exactly.
(cut or otherwise).  Are those "planks" you described the "plug" or are the
cut pieces the "plug?"  Did one use the cutter on Twist Tobacco too?

I'm offering up an account from 1855 for the use of this word in "context."
This comes from Cahawba Alabama where we find very few pipe pieces on the
site and many descriptions of tobacco juice stains in the documents, so I've
always assumed that "chewing" was the preferred method of consuming tobacco
here.  Please note the references to "chew" and "pulled off a plug."  (as
opposed to "cut" a plug.)   Note that Jerry asked that TEN POUNDS of tobacco
be "put up" for him.

Smoke, can you translate this for us non-tobacco savvy folks.  And Grant are
your store ledgers from Kentucky? (and by the way, Richard Kimmel,  I have
noticed that many of the older women  from the old Mill Villages here in
Selma still "dip snuff"  )

The 1855 quote:

        "....The clerk said he would.  He then turned to Jerry and said:  "Don't
you want some good tobacco.  You had better let me put up some for you."
        "Jerry was out of tobacco; and is as found of the article as any man.  He
was then suffering for a "chew," but in his eagerness to get the brandy, he
had forgotten all about tobacco.  The clerk had kindly brought the subject
before him.
        "Have you some that is good?" enquired Jerry doubtfully.
        The clerk assured him that they did, and to satisfy Jerry, Pulled off a
plug of the best and gave it to him as "a sample."  Jerry smelt it with the
sniff a judge, and taking a good chew, pronounced it very fine.  He told the
clerk he might put up ten pounds of that for him."

Linda Derry, Director
Old Cahawba - AHC
719 Tremont St.
Selma, AL 36701 - 5446
phone: 334/875-2529
Fax: 334/877-4253
email: [log in to unmask]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of
> Michael Pfeiffer
> Sent: Thursday, April 17, 2003 8:59 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: "PLUG" Tobacco Tins
>
>
> I will try and make a complicated subject coherent.  Every little store
> that sold tobacco would have a "tobacco cutter".  This was a nifty little
> device like a guillotine.  Used by some graduate students in their less
> lucid moments to terrify hamster's.  These stores also had large "store
> tins" of tobacco that were approximately the size of a bread box.  They
> were filled with chunks of tobacco that looked like dimensional lumber.
> The most common sizes appear to be about 3-4 inches wide, an inch thick,
> and about a foot long (sorry about not using metric).  The tobacco cutters
> almost always had small marks along the base and one could buy it by the
> sixteenth of an inch, eighth of an inch, quarter inch, larger
> increments or
> a whole foot (or an increment in between).  The tobacco could be used for
> "chaw" or smoking.
>
> A slice of about 1/16 of an inch was considered a single pipe bowl full.
> One could still purchase a "pocket" tin of slices in the 1970s.  I believe
> the brand was "Edgeworth".  For smoking, the slice would be rubbed in the
> hand until the desired size had been achieved and then placed into the
> pipe.    Another FUN tobacco type is "Ready Rubbed".  This is tobacco
> sliced from plugs and mechanically "rubbed" so the consumer does not have
> to do it.  What a convenient!
>
> Tobacco has always been made primarily for smoking.   Both plug and twist
> tobacco have always been used for both smoking and chewing.  Chewing
> tobacco is strictly American and you won't normally find it for sale
> outside the US unless you are at the Calgary Stampede or a shop- that
> caterers to Americans.  I know the history of chewing tobacco goes back to
> at least the early 1700s.  In the best American make-a-buck spirit, some
> tobacco was manufactured fairly early with flavorings for folks who chewed
> tobacco.
>
> So twist, plug, cut plug and plug slice always equals smoking!  However,
> ALL smoking tobacco could be chewed.  I have know tobacco chewers who will
> chew cigars if nothing else is available.  SOME twist and plug tobacco was
> manufactured specifically for chewing.
>
> Does this help?
>
> Smoke.
>
>
>
> Smoke (Michael A.) Pfeiffer, RPA
> Ozark-St. Francis National Forests
> 605 West Main Street
> Russellville, Arkansas 72801
> (479) 968-2354  Ext. 233
> e-mail:  [log in to unmask]
>
> It is easier to get forgiveness than permission.
>
>
>
>
>                       Robin Mills
>                       <Robin_Mills@blm         To:      [log in to unmask]
>                       .gov>                    cc:
>                       Sent by:                 Subject: "PLUG"
> Tobacco Tins
>                       HISTORICAL
>                       ARCHAEOLOGY
>                       <[log in to unmask]
>                       u>
>
>
>                       04/16/2003 07:17
>                       PM
>                       Please respond
>                       to HISTORICAL
>                       ARCHAEOLOGY
>
>
>
>
>
>
> HISTARCH members,
>
> I used to assume that tobacco tins with the word "PLUG" on them, in their
> lithography, meant that the tin contained chewing tobacco.
>
> A very well preserved EDGEWORTH EXTRA HIGH GRADE PLUG SLICE
> tobacco tin has
> come to light from a recent excavation with lithography on the inside of
> the lid, something I'd never found before. It clearly identified the
> contents for EITHER smoking OR chew.
>
> Other examples of brands I've excavated with "plug" identified in the
> lithography include: J.G. DILL'S BEST CUT PLUG, LUCKY STRIKE CUT PLUG, and
> J. G. DILL'S  BEST  CUBE  CUT PLUG.
>
> Question: Is my original assumption clearly wrong ("plug" = "chew")?  Is
> "Plug Slice" = smoking or chew, and "Cut Plug" = chew?
>
>
> Any advice or insightful comments would be appreciated.
>
>
> Best,
>
> Robin