Chew, Dip, Spit Tobacco
The tobacco industry has seen the future and has been working to make sure it can continue to make big profits despite smoking bans in many provinces with new “smokeless” tobacco products.
Tobacco companies market it as chew, spit, and dip and plug tobacco and make it in candy and fruit flavours like green apple, cherry, berry, peach, vanilla, wintergreen and spearmint.
Nicotine Makes It Addictive, Chemicals Make It Deadly
Just like cigarettes these products contain nicotine - an addictive component. Holding an average sized dip or chew in the mouth for about 30 minutes produces as much nicotine as three cigarettes.
Smokeless products contain more than 3,000 chemicals, including at least 28 that cause cancers.
People who use chew, dip and spit are not only at risk for disfiguring oral cancers, they can also develop permanent gum recession, mouth sores, stomach irritations and ulcers.
Use Among Youth
- The 2004-2005 Canadian Youth Smoking Survey of Grade 5 to 9 students showed 2% had used chew tobacco.
- A quantitative online study conducted on behalf of the Not To Kids Coalition, with almost 3,000 youth in January 2007 shows that 4% of youth 15 to 19 years of age have tried smokeless tobacco.
- The same study showed 18% of respondents report seeing more people using smokeless tobacco than they used and 33% report they know friends who have used smokeless tobacco.
Identifying Smokeless Tobacco Products
Chew or Spit – loose leaf shredded chew, most commonly sold in a pouch, but it also comes twisted or bricked.
A wad is placed between the cheek and the gum. Someone using chew will build up tobacco juice in the mouth and the saliva produced must be spit out. Often youth who are chewing will carry a pop can or cup to spit in.
Snuff or Dip – a fine-grain tobacco that often comes in bags. A pinch is placed between the lower lip and gum. It is also available in small individual sachets/packets that resemble small tea bags and are considered less messy, and may be harder to detect.
For more information about smokeless tobacco, check out these links:
Page Last Updated: Tuesday, July 19 2011
