Over at Slate magazine, William Saletan gives a rave review to the new world of smokeless tobacco, leaning heavily (very heavily) on an article by Kevin Helliker in the Wall Street Journal. Saletan had earlier derided the snuff stuff as “carcinogenic, addictive, and gross,” but now he’s starting to think that he was too hasty.
As Kevin tells it, the new snuff—some of it, at least—doesn’t have enough nicotine to hook you or enough carcinogens to kill you. Furthermore, “recent products consist of dissolvable pellets or tiny pouches of tobacco that reside invisibly in the mouth and induce no spitting.”
I confess that I don’t always believe what I read in the Wall Street Journal. And I wonder if a tobacco product that doesn’t give enough of a nicotine buzz to get you addicted, lacks the elaborate ritual of “fine cigars” and “real snuff,” and also doesn’t make you look “dangerous" in the manner of cigarettes, cheap cigars, or chewing tobacco can find an audience. I mean, it sounds a lot like Zima. But if the new snuff won’t bring back Joe Camel, it just may retire the cuspidors at “Reason” magazine.
