Copenhagen, what a wad of flavor
Robert Earl Keen
Copenhagen, you can see it in my smile
Copenhagen, do yourself a favor chew
Copenhagen, drivin’ pretty girls wild
When North America was first settled by Europeans, one of the original gifts God provided us with was tobacco. Columbus noted one of his first sightings of tobacco on October 15th, 1492. About 30 years later, the Spanish empire began the cultivation, and thus the rapid spread through Europe of tobacco. By 1571, tobacco had reached almost every corner of Europe.
Dixie has a deep connection to the crop, and the use of it. Jamestown was the first American settlement to successful produce tobacco, and it was used as a form of currency in the area (interestingly, the pioneer of Southern tobacco farming, John Rolfe, took the famed Pocahontas as his wife). The Carolinas and Tennessee also produces tobacco.
Any Southern man worth his weight has packed a dinger multiple times in his life, and we all see our grandad’s chewing Red Man out of a pouch. Tobacco is intrinsically linked to our culture, rights of passage and manhood. Sneaking your first dip is a life changing experience, as is the first time your dad gives you a pinch from his can. Bugmen hate tobacco for a reason.
Dipping is a way to signal to other men, particularly Southern men, that you are the same as them, it’s a sort of in-group signifier. We all see the type of “men” who are repulsed by the act, they’re almost always metrosexual, communist and/or lacking in testosterone. Women generally dislike dipping, which is understandable, you shouldn’t be spitting in front of a lady. But, the men who adopt this viewpoint are unknowingly (or uncaringly?) showing that they are feminine.
This is linked to a larger trend within our society, masculinity is under attack because Southern, along with other European-stock, masculinity is a threat to the consumerist, communist future that the elites are trying to push. Men, acting like “men,” means that we will ignore the unnatural social rules that have been put in place by people who are not us, and are not Christian. It is our duty to stand against these people, we owe it to our ancestors, our children and our communities.
If you’re now a smoker, you should make the easy switch over to dip. The pros are enormous, you’ll look a hell of a lot cooler, you’ll be in the company of great men, past and present, and you’re chances of getting cancer will drop substantially (cancer from smokeless tobacco is largely a myth). This great tradition isn’t going anywhere or anytime soon, but we should do our best to ensure that it continues.
Pack a lip of Copenhagen and reclaim your Southern masculinity. Soyboys, hypochondriacs and bugmen be warned, it’s not for the faint of heart.
-By John Boy
O I’m a good old rebel, now that’s just what I am. For this “fair land of freedom” I do not care at all. I’m glad I fit against it, I only wish we’d won, And I don’t want no pardon for anything I done.
Packed a lip as I was reading this. Great article. If they think we are going to surrender our traditions and culture they are out of their mind and I don’t care how much they try their best to brow beat us into doing so.
Can you imagine Tru-Con David French packin’ a chaw? “Ewwww!” hahahaha!
I’m a Northerner who has loved Southern culture since boyhood.
I salute you Sir. Your roots may be in the hard, cold ground of the North, but your spirit and soul spread out comfortably in the Southern red dirt and sunshine.
I grew up smack dabb on the Mason Dixon line,working in tobacco as a kid and teenager helped put food on the table,bought my first truck and kept money in my pocket to buy guns ammunition and snuff…looking back now I thank God for the blessing of tobacco!!!
This is interesting. I have always wondered about those men, who disliked that male masculinity, being attacked, yet going along with feminism being attacked and criticized. Well, we all know feminism doesn’t bother men, like masculinity does to females. Feminism rather, prevents a lot of abuse to females and helps bith genders.
This writer rejects the rules placed on him and other men, about the ugliness of toxic masculinity.
… Shows your lack of respect for females, dude. If men keep commiting atrocities, you ought to welcome the attack on those behaviors from men. Shame on the male gender for whining about being chastised.