A buddy of mine was working on a ranch. He was 12 yrs old at the time. This cowhand he knew was chewing, and offered him some. My buddy took a pinch, put it in his mouth, and after a moment, he asked the cowboy if he’d like a Coke. He left, walked straight up to his room, and fell on his bed. Sleep for a few hours. After waking up, he went back out and saw the same cowboy. The guy asked, “Where’s my Coke?”. :^)
That was his first experience with chewing tobacco. He never forget it.
I chewed leaf tobacco from about 16 on up (til 30 or so).
I went out back backing at age 19 or so, and figured Copenhagen would be lighter to carry. After lunch on the trail pulled some out and stuffed under my lip. After a short while I spit the chew out, and fell asleep on a rock!
I chewed it, and made the mistake of accidentally swallowing a small amount of the juice. I got so sick I had to go home at noon, something I had never done, and there, puked out my guts.
The co-worker had told me of his time in the shipyards in WWII. He said the men were paid by the inch of welding they did on Liberty Ships so they would weld, chew, and just spit in their helmets so as to never break a weld bead.
Where I used to work, many of the men dipped snuff. I noticed one day that they never spit. They had developed such a tolerance for it that they just swallowed it.
One co-worker told me of his attempts to quit. He said he would be cutting hay, take a dip, decide then to quit and throw his snuff (SKOAL) away. Before the end of the day, he would be combing the bushes where he threw the can trying to find it. He said he was so used to the snuff he considered it as smelling a new mown hay fields.
My first experience was with the neighborhood kids that stole a tin of Skoal Bandits from their older brother... I only recall the chunks of hotdogs I spewed 10 minutes later... but now, 30 years later, any time I smell wintergreen I wanna wretch.
I have kinda the same reaction to smelling tequilla, actually... though I never got sick from tequilla.