Snuff spoon

File:Snuff spoon MET 17977.jpg

This silver snuff spoon originates from 18th century Germany, and is 4.8 centimetres in length.

A snuff spoon is a tiny spoon used for nasal insufflation of powdered substances. Historically, such spoons were used for psychotropic substances in pre-Columbian America,Template:Sfn then tobacco in the 18th century,Template:Sfn and cocaine in the 20th century, hence the names cocaine spoon and coke spoon. Some local statutes in the US treat spoons that are too small and thus "unsuited for the typical, lawful uses of a spoon" as drug paraphernalia.

These spoons are so small that they are frequently mistaken for the toy ones. The designs of the snuff spoons closely followed that of the larger ones, and thus can be used to date the étuis containing them.Template:Sfn

History

File:Southern, South Africa, Zulu, late 19th century - Snuff Spoon-Comb - 2010.233 - Cleveland Museum of Art.tif

A Zulu snuff spoon/comb (ivory, 19th century)

Snuff spoons have a very long history. Archeologists found them, for example, at Chavín de Huántar site in Peru (presumably used for consumption of hallucinogenic snuffs of Anadenanthera colubrina more than 2000 years ago),Template:Sfn as well as in South Africa, where a combination of a tiny comb and a little spoon had made some researchers to assume that the spoon was used as an earpick or head-scratcher.Template:Sfn

In England, powdered snuff appeared at the end of the 17th century, and quickly became popular along with the devices for its consumption.Template:Sfn The user extracted the snuff with the spoon in the right hand, placed the substance onto the back side of the left hand, and sniffed from there.Template:Sfn The combination of a little vial and a snuff spoon that acted like a stopper was a precursor of the snuff-box. By the end of the 19th century the snuff spoons went completely out of use.Template:Sfn

File:Stopper, snuff bottle (AM 687402-2).jpg

Chinese snuff bottle stopper with a spoon

In the US, McDonald's provides straight swizzle sticks to stir the coffee, while in the rest of the world a small plastic stirring spoon is used. According to Graybosch, this is due to the 1960s rumor that the spoons can be used to snort cocaine.Template:Sfn