Newspapers / Wilkes Community College Student … / Dec. 16, 1976, edition 1 / Page 4
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PAGE 4 — THE COUGAR CRY, DECEMBER 16, 1976 DoeTRochon Tobacco Chewers Vanishing? Not So Daniel B. Swaringen, a nephew of Mrs. Jean M. Tugman in the W.C.C. Division of Business and Commerce, is a journalism student at the University of Arizona. Our previous issue of the Cougar Cry reprinted a portion of his feature article, “Tobacco Chewers Vanishing?” Following is the article in its entirety as it appeared in a Tucson daily. BY DANIEL B. SWARINGEN Citizen Staff Writer "Put a lee-tle peench bu-tween yer Up and gum and enjoy that tobaccy flavor without having to light up. Savor it. Suck on it some. Then just spit it out. ” -Anonymous • • • Some say “tobaccy chewers” are a vanishing breed, but many Tucsonians continue to per petuate the allegedly dying art. Don’t try to categorize those who chew because it won’t work. Tobacco chewers come in as many varieties as the tobacco they chew. They’re truck drivers and ranch hands, business executives and even elderly ladies. Some make no attempt to hide their habit and spit boastfully on sidewalks (which is officially legal in Tucson these days) and out of windows. Others chew and spit in secret. The tobaccos themselves come in several forms for different personalities. There is fine cut or twist, cigar clippings and hard plug, which is hot and good for the jaw muscles. And there’s snuff: Wet snuff. placed behind the lower lip between cheek and gum; and dry snuff, which is sniffed and recommended for sinus con ditions by at least one local tobacco dealer. Plug, snuff or twist, they all start those saliva juices flowing. Chewing tobacco comes from the bottom third of the tobacco plant where “it’s old and raunchy and where the fertilizers have been,” says Tucson tobacconist George Damskey. He said that accounts for the hot, spicy flavor of some chewing tobaccos. (Pipe tobacco comes from recent growth or the top third of the plant, while cigar-cigarette tobacco is taken from the middle sections.) Tobacco chewing has lost some of the glamor it had in the days of characters like Mark Twain when there were kudos for champion spitters — both for accuracy and distance. But the trend away from tobacco chewing in recent eyars so alarmed the tobacco industry a few years ago that it launched a campaign to romance what many consider a filthy habit. There have been flurries of interest in chewing among young people, says Damskey, who for 20 years has owned a tobacco store downtown on North Stone Avenue. “But when they try it for the first time, they get so damn sick many never try it again,” he added. Damskey says chewing is traditional —sons chew and spit as their fathers did. But if the younger generation chooses not to trudge in fathers’ footsteps, tobacco chewing could become a lost art. Damskey says chewing is a great way for people who work with their hands to get that nicotine lift without the bother of cigarettes. He said mechanics, miners, truck drivers and cowboys are the most frequent buyers of chewing tobaccos at his stores. Women, too, have been known to pay his shop a visit for a “chaw” and one of his regular customers is a Mountain Bell executive whose name he didn’t wish to reveal. For elite chewers, Damskey carries brass spittoons. The circumference, or target area, ranges from 3 to 15 inches, “depending on how good a shot you are,” he says. Truckers usually carry their own spitoons — a coffee can if they’re the thrifty type — in the cabs of their trucks because spitting out the window can be hazardous in crosswinds. However, some can keep the same wad in their mouths all day without spitting, Damskey claims, “although I don’t see how they can do it. 1 know I’d drown.” Marc J. Loehrer, who with his wife runs a tobacco shop at El Con shopping center, says he doesn’t see a pattern in the type of people who chew. “We had a 75-year-old woman come in here the other day and she wanted chewing tobacco. She got a couple plugs and took off a good chew before she got out of the store,” he said. r FROM TOP TO BOTTOM: JERRY STEELMAN, COOT GIL- REATH, AND MAC WARREN ARE W.C.C.’S VETERANS REP RESENTATIVES. Voice of Wilkes Conuntmity College WlUcesboro, North Carolina 28697 COVGAR CRY STAFF Editor: David Swaringen Staff: Ervin Waller, Ron Wishon, Tommy Holder, Ray Brown, Dottie Putzel, David I’atterson, Phillip Canada, Mike Winfrey, Eddie Crowell Advisor: Dr. Essie Hayes TO: HafPY 0 L I © a Y S Nonprofit Orranisadoii U. S. POSTAGE WUkestwro, N. C. 28697 Permit No. 11
Wilkes Community College Student Newspaper
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Dec. 16, 1976, edition 1
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