Snuff , or pulverised tobacco , became fashionable in Europe in the early sixteenth hundred . The use of inhaling or “ snuffing ” baccy through the nostril was infix from the Americas by Ramón Pané [ PDF ] , a young mendicant who hadaccompaniedChristopher Columbus on his 1494 voyage to the New World . Since pipe smoke was oftenconsidered vulgaramong the European upper classes , particularly so for women , sniff was quickly adopted by the elite . doubtlessly a more neat method acting of tobacco delivery , sniff - pickings rapidly became a family indicator , pick out the well - bred from the modest classes .
As the praxis of snuff spread across the European court , it was hailed as a medical salve for a grasp of ailments and , as is the case with most sumptuousness aim , sniff finally worked its way to the center classes . By the 2d one-half of the 17th one C , the practice had become so common that merchants and missioner visiting Chinaintroducedsnuff to officials in the Qing dynasty ( 1644 - 1911 ) court . The habit soon caught on in China as well . As in Europe , pipe smoking was considered a habit of the unrefined poor . In Chinesebooks likeTales of Romantic Heroes , pipe smokers are ape as down - class and uncut , a demarcation to the refined gentleman draw in the novel who insists that he " does not know how to smoke . ”
In herbook , Golden - Silk Smoke : A History of Tobacco in China , 1550–2010 , the scholar Carol Benedict argue that the disagreeable connection of smoke baccy with the poor made snuff a welcome plus to the Qing courtroom , and soon , the emperor himself was partake in . Unlike Europeans , however , China ’s court had little utilization forsnuff box . Instead it was accustomed to use snuff feeding bottle , smallcorked containersthat keep their high-priced contents fresh and flavorful . Throughout the 18th century , snuff was an expensive wont ; both sniff and snuff containers were almost solelyassociatedwith Qing patrician and royalty . Snuff bottles were a haute accessory , a position aim that signified both the wealth and fashionability of its proprietor . Benedictnotesthat the connexion was so warm that , throughout the 18th 100 , snuff bottles were part of an elaborate organization of gifting among the Formosan court .
Some of theearliest examplesof sniff bottles are like a shot from the courtyard itself and were produced during the reign of the Kangxi emperor butterfly ( 1662 - 1722 ) , the fourth Saturnia pavonia of the Qing dynasty . The bottles , little and elaborated , demonstrated the outside nature of snuff use , as their designs reflected European style and were made under the charge of European artists . But , as in Europe , sniff - taking before long trickled down to the broken social class and , by the 19th century , the pattern was common among those of lower social rank and status . The production of snuff bottles reflect that trickle - down to other economical classes in China , andthese bottle , part of the Victoria & Albert’ssizable collectionof snuff bottles , date from the previous 19th to early 20th century , when snuff was more “ popular . ”
These examples , painted by Lesan and manufacture at Pure Bamboo studios , are made of gray glass and feature a nature motif and colorful green and yellow stopper . The production of Chinese snuff bottlesendedwith the Qing dynasty in 1911 , and so the Victoria & Albert ’s set dates from the end of a long and elaborate custom .
