Global Sports: When Did Spittoons Come About?

Thursday, January 3, 2013

When Did Spittoons Come About?

By Hunter Rambler


A spittoon or spitoon is a container for spitting into specifically for people who dip and chew tobacco. It is also called a spitter most of the time. A spittoon can be considered also a can or any old beverage that is now used to hold spit. It all started in the U.S. back in the 19th century where spittoons took on the country in a hurry becoming common almost anywhere which includes bars, pubs, hotels, stores, banks, railway carriages, brothels and anywhere else where people, mostly men, gathered together.

The old vintage spittoons you see are almost all built out of brass and are even now in use today. There were spittoons made out of other resources as well which included iron, glass and porcelain. They were witnessed in low places and locations of the rich where they were considerably more coloured.

Specialized spittoons (non-tin cans) are weighted so they will be more difficult to tip over and even have what is called an "inner lip" that will help prevent spilling even if it does tip over. Some of them actually had tops or a hole that was blocked and released the solution. This made it much simpler when emptying.

When it came to spittoons they were actually created for better health environments where people used to spit on floors of establishments and on sidewalks where non-spitters walked. A place where you can see a large amount of antique spittoons in one area is at Duke Homestead State Historic Site in Durham, North Carolina. Back in 2008 they actually added 282 spittoons bringing their total to around 400 claiming to be the largest collection in the world.

Now in the Twenty first century spittoons are of course still made, however you won't find them in any general public places at least not in to many. The one place where you do find them is for wine tasters of all things. Any time a wine taster takes a sample of a wine they will spit out to avoid over intoxication or for the most part the wine didn't taste very well.

Of all places to find a spittoon is at the United States Supreme Court where each one of the Justices has one next to her or his desk chair in the courtroom. Of course they don't really chew tobacco and spit into them they are used for wastebaskets. The last time they were used for actual tobacco was back in the early 20 th century. Even the U.S. Senate has them distributed out in the Senate Chamber due to the fact by many it is just considered a Senate Custom.

Today spittoons and spittoon products have come a very long way. You have the new class which is the mud jug. It is made to be spill resilient, decorative, perfect handle, mobile, tough and easy cleansing. This product is created for people who simply don't wanna spit in a can or put a paper towel in a cup like that. Now if you still want to spit in a can there are options to make this considerably less difficult which includes a diptop. That is a snap-on spittoon that goes on most any refreshment can distributed in the United states of america.




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