SNUFF. Brown and pink snuff, aniseed and menthol snuff. Snuff in jars and tins and snuff that makes your eyes water from six feet away.
Iliffe's does a roaring trade in snuff. Pounds of the stuff go out of their door every week.
"We still get a lot of demand for snuff – it's very addictive." said Anne Illiffe. "There are a lot of miners and ex-miners in this area who used to take
snuff when they were down the pit and they still like to use it.
"The menthol one is the one we sell most of. I can sell a two-and-a-half pound jar in a few days.
On cue as we are talking about snuff - much of it made at Wilson's snuff mill in Sharrow, Sheffield - in walks a man with three silver snuff boxes to be filled with his favourite McCrystals.
Anne carefuly spoons the brown powder into the boxes as the white-haired customer watches intently, a dewdrop hanging from the end of his nose.
"The menthol sells best and the Top Mill – some come in for four or five ounces at a time. Then we get women in here asking for snuff 'for their husbands' but you can tell it's for them."
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