He wears a camouflage cap adorned with a Confederate flag. He owns a company called Mud Jug that sells portable spittoons with names like Backwoods Badass Outlaw. But still, he's passionate and knowledgeable, so I call the Dip Doctor real name: Darcy Compton to get some dos and don'ts. He's got plenty. I tell the Dip Doctor about my wife's less-than-enthusiastic reaction to my experiment.
His response is immediate: "Don't ever quit dippin' for a woman. It's been four days and I'm getting bolder. I've been dipping wherever I go: the subway, the street, Starbucks, picking up my kids from school. I work at one of those shared offices where a bunch of twenty-two-year-olds are beta-testing new social-media platforms while downing bok choy smoothies and discussing yoga studios.
I sit in the corner and quietly spit my chunky tobacco juice into a thermos. I feel rebellious and dirty and unhealthy. Also focused. This stuff is like Adderall. For about half an hour after I put in a dinger, I'm on fire.
This morning, I banged out fifty emails. I'm stuffing in bigger hogs. You can spot the swelling in my cheek, perhaps conveniently foreshadowing the tumor I'll eventually develop.
The lumps of tobacco affect my speech. They make me sound—appropriately enough—like I have a Kentucky drawl. The phrase "Nice to see you" comes out "Nahs to shee ya. Today I get cocky. I take a massive wad of some hardcore stuff and soon feel a wave of nausea. I run to the bathroom at work and stand in front of the urinal spitting, moaning, and dry-heaving.
I hear someone open the bathroom door, then shut it without entering. Good call. I have been reading up on the history of my new habit. Native Americans chewed tobacco leaves for centuries. After Columbus, European settlers took to the new drug, with popularity reaching its height in America in the nineteenth century. In , Charles Dickens visited our shores and was thoroughly grossed out by what he called the torrents of "yellow rain.
And in the White House, where the president's inner circle often ignored spittoons and just "bestowed their favors" on the carpet.
Smokeless tobacco went into decline for a couple of reasons, including the rise of cigarettes and fear of disease. Doctors of the day probably incorrectly thought the spit was spreading tuberculosis.
But in recent decades, dwindling opportunities for overt manliness have many of us spittin' like there's no tomorrow, and chew remains a force for millions of Americans—a large majority of them male, according to the CDC.
This I could have guessed. My freezer has been filling up with these hockey pucks of tobacco I order online, and the logos are almost comically macho: a grizzly bear, a rifle, a longhorn bull—everything but a scrotum. There's also a subset that seems aimed at teens, with wacky fruit flavors including melon, banana, and coconut. I try them. They taste like Jolly Ranchers gone bad. The Dip Doctor is not a fan, either.
Wherever I go, I take out a tin of dip and offer it to those around me. It seems the hospitable thing to do. Sometimes the tin's appearance elicits moral outrage one friend, the daughter of a dental hygienist, asks, "Are you doing an article on getting gum cancer?
As I leave the party, I offer it to three men on the sidewalk taking a smoke break. No form of smokeless tobacco is a safe substitute for cigarettes. Overall, people who dip or chew get about the same amount of nicotine as people who smoke regularly. They are also exposed to more than 25 chemicals that are known to cause cancer.
The most harmful cancer-causing substances in smokeless tobacco are tobacco-specific nitrosamines TSNAs. TSNA levels vary by product, but the higher the level the greater the cancer risk. Many studies have shown high rates of leukoplakia in the mouth where users place their chew or dip. Leukoplakia is a gray-white patch in the mouth that can become cancer.
The longer a person uses oral tobacco, the more likely they are to have leukoplakia. Stopping tobacco might help clear up the spot, but treatment may be needed if there are signs of early cancer. Tobacco stains teeth and causes bad breath. It can also irritate or destroy gum tissue.
There are two main types of smokeless tobacco products: Chewing tobacco. Chew is available as loose leaves, plugs bricks , or twists of rope. A piece of tobacco is placed between the cheek and lower lip, typically near the back of the mouth. Saliva is spit out or swallowed. Snuff tobacco. Snuff tobacco is finely cut or powdered tobacco.
It is packaged moist or dry—most American snuff is moist. It may be sold in different scents and flavors. Dip or dipping tobacco and snus are common forms of moist snuff in the US.
People take a pinch or pouch of moist snuff and put it between the cheek and gums—or behind the lips. Are Chew and Dip Addictive? Are Chew and Dip Harmful? For example, they might recommend a combination of nicotine replacement therapy, prescription medications, counseling, or other strategies. When you quit nicotine, you might have unpleasant symptoms such as withdrawal. To manage your symptoms, your doctor may recommend nicotine replacement therapy. It provides doses of nicotine without the other harmful chemicals found in tobacco.
You can find nicotine patches, lozenges, gums, and other nicotine replacement products at most drugstores. Some prescription medications can also help you quit using tobacco. For example, your doctor might prescribe buproprion Zyban. Ask your doctor for more information about the potential benefits and risks of this medication. The only other prescription smoking cessation drug approved by the FDA, varenicline Chantix , has been temporarily withdrawn from the market by its manufacturer Pfizer beginning in July Pfizer withdrew the medication due to unacceptable amounts of a potential carcinogen, N-nitroso-varenicline.
As of November , the temporary recall is still in effect. The FDA has allowed use of a Canadian version of the medication temporarily to maintain the supply. A mental health counselor can help you recover from addiction. They can also help you manage your triggers and withdrawal symptoms, and maintain your motivation. Consider asking your doctor for a referral to a counselor. Every state, as well as the District of Columbia, offers a free phone-based tobacco cessation program.
These services can connect you with mental health professionals. They can help you find ways to cope without tobacco, give you a safe place to talk about your concerns, and point you toward other free resources to help you give up tobacco for good.
While some people prefer one-on-one counseling, others may find success in larger group settings. For example, programs such as Nicotine Anonymous offer support group sessions for people coping with nicotine addiction.
In these sessions, you can connect with others who are trying to stop using tobacco products. You can provide each other with motivation and social support.
They can also share concrete strategies for changing your lifestyle.
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