rappee

Why this word is great

RAPPEE — [Noun] A dark, coarse, strongly flavored snuff made from grated tobacco. From French (tabac) râpé ("grated (tobacco)"), past participle of râper ("to grate"), from Old French rasper ("to scrape"), of Germanic origin. Unlike "snuff" (a broad term for powdered tobacco) or "macouba" (a finer, sweeter variety), rappee is unrefined, pungent, and unapologetic—the tobacco equivalent of a blackened steak or a peat-smoked whisky. It is the grit between the fingers of an 18th-century gentleman, the sharp sting in the nostrils of a naval officer bracing against the cold, the lingering musk in the air of a dimly lit study where ledgers of debt have piled up like so much dust. A relic of a time when pleasure was measured in bite, not comfort.