Plug (chew)

COMMON NAMES:

Chewing tobacco, spit tobacco

GEOGRAPHIC LOCATION OF USE:

United States

PRODUCT CONSTITUENTS:

Enriched tobacco leaves, fine tobacco, sweetener and/or licorice

HOW USED:

Chewed or held between the cheek and lower lip. Saliva is spit or swallowed.

WHO USES:

In 2000, U.S. prevalence of current (used within the past 30 days) smokeless tobacco use (includes both snuff and chewing tobacco) for those 12 years old and over was 3.4%: 6.5% of males and 0.5% of females.

PROCESSING / MANUFACTURING:

Enriched tobacco leaves (Burley and bright tobacco and cigar tobacco) or fragments are wrapped in fine tobacco and pressed into bricks. Plus or 'firm plug' tobacco has less than 15% moisture. Most plug tobacco is flavored and sweetened with licorice. Plus tobacco is packaged as a compressed brick or flat block wrapped inside natural tobacco leaves. Package typically weighs 7 to 13 ounces.