I belong to another snuff forum which recently posted a 'History of Snuff' thread. It was a very interesting read, particularly as there was a section of the thread which stated that Doctor John Hill (who published the first health warning about snuff) was not a Doctor at all but a charlatan.

Apparently John Hill was in fact a poet and a creative writer who pretended to be a doctor and published a paper on the harmful effects of snuff in order to damage the business interests of his local tobacconist with whom he had had a disagreement with...strange but true apparently!

Has anyone else heard this story?