Here in Virginia, we also grow a lot of tobacco. The higher grade stuff winds up in cigarettes and pipes, with lower grade tobaccos often winding up in highly-flavoured cigars. But a lot of the worst tobacco is sold for industrial applications. They extract the pure nicotine, which is used as a pesticide.
I don't know where the tobacco used for making snuff comes from, but I would not be surprised to hear that was another place where poorer quality leaves wind up.
In the 18th century, tobacco was also used for all sorts of medicinal purposes. Standard practice for a dislocated hip was to give a tobacco enema, which would pretty much paralyze the whole area long enough for the joint to be popped back into place.
--scott
"Yogurt and bean sprouts? That stuff causes cancer. Here, have a cigar. It's the best thing you can put in your body."
-- physician in 2025, from the movie _Sleeper_