By Rick Houser-
Recently I was looking at some old photos and came across a picture of my Grandpa Houser along with his two brothers. They were all born before 1900. Most of the men and farmers in our neighborhood and in Moscow were all from that period in time. I also recalled one more thing they all seemed to have in common- they all chewed tobacco.
In the years I was growing up, tobacco chewing was common. I mention this topic because I found it to be interesting and disgusting at the same time. In most cases, you could spot a man with a chew, as there would be a brown streak formed on each side of his mouth and in some cases even forming a little goatee on their chins. Really not a handsome look at all but still very popular. It just seemed that nobody ever made a negative comment about a man chewing tobacco.
To put the icing on the cake, you could find in their homes next to their evening chair, the always wanted and needed spittoon.Taking a look into one a spittoon was to raise the term disgusting to its highest level. The chewing men were usually married and had wives who never used tobacco in any form nor drank alcohol, yet they never questioned their spouse chewing or the spittoon and in most cases, the wives would empty the spittoon and clean them. (Now there was something never covered in the wedding vows and was one step above being a great wife and a saint.)
My Grandpa loved to chew and would alternate with smoking a Pall Mall cigarette now and then as the day went on, but what I remember the most was that on Saturdays at noon there would be “Big Time Wrestling” on the television and Grandpa loved to watch it. My Grandma never spoke a word but she knew he was a very poor aim with his spitting abilities and when he got excited his aim worsened. So before he got ready to watch wrestling she would take the newspaper and spread it under and all around the spittoon for as far as the paper would stretch. I guess chewing was just a part of the times but there was no excuse for poor aim.
This brings me to my favorite person in our neighborhood- Ed Maus. Ed was a lifetime bachelor who shared a farmhouse with his single sister Louise. These were my very favorite people and I’ve always been so grateful I got to know them. Ed was also a very good friend to my Dad and a township trustee. To look at Ed was to look at the definition of a Dutchman. He spoke little. but was always there to lend a hand when you were in need.
One time we were in need during tobacco setting time and Ed had donated his time to us so we could get our crops out, I know I was 12. Ed was riding the setter and putting plants into the ground with my brother Ben. My job was to keep them in plants and keep the water barrel filled. It was a hot summer day and I was barefoot when I took plants to the setter. As I stepped forward to give him plants, he didn’t see me, leaned forward, and spit. I had stepped directly into the spot he had aimed at and there is where it landed. Directly on top of my bare foot. The impact of the spit froze me in that spot and my look had to be one of shock. When I looked at him, he had a very similar look. When he looked at my expression, he began to laugh as did everyone else who was there. All that is except me. I headed to some tall grass so I could remove the mess, another reason I don’t care for chewing.
My great uncle Roy was a major chewer but he chewed long green tobacco. This was tobacco from your own patch. He would pick a stick of the best leaf and then twist the leaves into what was called a twist. He then would store it in a trunk- like contraption and let it set for a year before touching it. A twist was made so it would fit into his denim coat. When he needed a chew, he would use his pocket knife, cut off a piece that had become very hard, and place it in his mouth. Sometimes he would pull out the twist and rub very hard on the end of it and take the tatters and put them in his mouth. He would prepare his chew in several ways but I must tell you that none of them were a pretty sight to behold. He too had a spittoon and it was at the side of his favorite chair.
It seemed that I recall many men chewing during my youth and early adulthood. I know that the elder of our church chewed but he was in his nineties and that seemed to make it all right. When I was a young man a lot of my friends chewed but they stayed far away from the long green. They would buy shredded tobacco in a foiled pouch with such names as Red Man, Beechnut or the ever popular Mail Pouch. I would try a pinch from time to time and put it between the cheek and gum, as the commercial would say, but I just didn’t care for it and I was afraid I might swallow and then things really would end up in a mess.
I stayed a cigarette smoker and really got to where I was smoking too much and too often. Therefore, 35 years ago I decided to quit. (Breathing had become optional and smoking had become too costly.)
Somewhere between the 70’s and now, chewing has gone out of style and now “dip” is the word- a round tin filled with spiced and flavored tobacco loaded with nicotine just like all of the products I have talked about so far. I’m not sure if the pouch didn’t go with the styles but now the round tin that leaves an imprint in your hip pocket must look better.
Also instead of a spittoon or just spitting like working out on a farm, today’s users now take an empty plastic pop bottle or a paper cup and spit into that. Either way is unpleasant but I am going to go with that old spittoon. Most had a design on them and you knew where they were but the plastic bottle can be picked up by mistake and there just isn’t an apology big enough to cover that sorry.
Rick Houser grew up on a farm near Moscow in Clermont County and loves to share stories about his youth and other topics.
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