Snuff spoon explained

A snuff spoon is a tiny spoon used for nasal insufflation of powdered substances. In the ancient time the spoons were used to ingest psychotropic substances, in the 18th century − tobacco, in the 20th century − cocaine (the spoon is thus also known as a cocaine spoon or coke spoon). Some local statutes in the US treat this spoon as drug paraphernalia, defining it as a spoon that is too small and thus "unsuited for the typical, lawful uses of a spoon".^[1]

These spoons are so small that they are frequently mistaken for the toy ones. The designs of the snuff spoons closely followed that of the larger ones, and thus can be used to date the étuis containing them.

History

Snuff spoons have a very long history. Archeologists found them, for example, at Chavín de Huántar site in Peru (presumably used for consumption of psychoactive preparations of Anadenanthera colubrina more than 2000 years ago), as well as in South Africa, where a combination of a tiny comb and a little spoon had made some researchers to assume that the spoon was used as an earpick or head-scratcher.

In England, powdered snuff appeared at the end of the 17th century, and quickly became popular along with the devices for its consumption. The user extracted the snuff with the spoon in the right hand, placed the substance onto the back side of the left hand, and sniffed from there. The combination of a little vial and a snuff spoon that acted like a stopper was a precursor of the snuff-box. By the end of the 19th century the snuff spoons went completely out of use.

In the US, McDonald's provides straight swizzle sticks to stir the coffee, while in the rest of the world a small plastic stirring spoon is used. According to Graybosch, this is due to the 1960s rumor that the spoons can be used to snort cocaine.

Sources

• Book: Tighe . Hopkins . 1897 . The Leisure Hour . 47 . W. Stevens, printer . 51–56 . 145390810 . The Spoon . https://books.google.com/books?id=aboRAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA51.
• Burger . Richard . What kind of hallucinogenic snuff was used at Chavín de Huántar? An iconographic identification . Ñawpa Pacha . December 2011 . 31 . 2 . 123–140 . 0077-6297 . 2051-6207 . 10.1179/naw.2011.31.2.123 . 191965354 .
• Wild . R. P. . 17. The Manufacture of a 'Ntiriba' Hairpin at Obuasi, Ashanti . Man . February 1939 . 39 . 17–18 . 0025-1496 . 10.2307/2793128 . 2793128 .
• Book: Anthony 1. . Graybosch . Deconstruction and Reconstruction . American Beauty . 1 January 2004 . 91–101 . BrillL . 10.1163/9789004495876_013 . 9789042016811 .
• Book: David Hatcher . Childress . 2012 . Ancient Technology in Peru & Bolivia . Adventures Unlimited Press . 978-1-935487-81-4 . 788245749 .
• Book: Encyclopedia of Antiques and Collectibles . 1983 . The Official Encyclopedia of Antiques and Collectibles . House of Collectibles . 376 . Snuff Box . 978-0-87637-365-1 . 9626297 .
• Book: Jackson, Charles James . 1911 . An Illustrated History of English Plate, Ecclesiastical and Secular: In which the Development of Form and Decoration in the Silver and Gold Work of the British Isles, from the Earliest Known Examples to the Latest of the Georgian Period, is Delineated and Described, Volume 2 . "Country life," limited . 470–537 . 1074655150 . The spoon and its history: Its form, material, and development . https://books.google.com/books?id=BEI1AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA470.
• Book: Phipps, Frances . The Collector's Complete Dictionary of American Antiques . Doubleday Books . Garden City, NY . 1974 . 0-385-03337-0 . Snuff Box . 531.

Notes and References

1. Web site: Code of ordinances village of Dundee, Michigan. Chapter 51. . Village of Dundee.