One of nation’s oldest rodeos bans free chewing tobacco

PENDLETON, Ore. (AP) — Bryan Richardson hadn’t learned algebra when he straddled his first bull at age 13. By then, he’d already been chewing tobacco for four years, starting when he was 9.

The two habits — chewing and riding bulls — have long been partners on the professional rodeo circuit, as entangled as hippies and marijuana or football and beer.

But this past week, one of the nation’s oldest rodeos took its best shot at that marriage. Tobacco companies were prevented from giving out free samples of snuff at the Pendleton Round-Up, where for 95 years cowboys have come to test their mettle on bulls with names like “Shock-n-Awe,” “Tsunami,” and “Poison.”

Now 24, Richardson goes through one tin of Copenhagen a day, relying on its familiar rush to get through each violent ride, as he did this weekend when he mounted Poison and rode the snorting brahma bull to first place.

His prize included a hand-hewn saddle, a pair of trophy spurs, a fancy cowboy hat — but no free snuff, a staple that men on the rodeo circuit have come to depend on.

“At $10 a can, that’s $10 bucks a day and $70 bucks a week. You do the math. It’s expensive,” said Richardson of Dallas, Texas. “It’s just about so expensive I was thinkin’ of quittin’ this week, now that they’re not giving us any for free.”

“It should be free,” lamented Zack Oakes, a 22-year-old bull rider from Meade, Wash., who said he, too, started chewing when he was 9. “It’s dang sure nice for them to help us out.”

Health officials have singled out chew as one of the top health threats in rural counties. Nine percent of men in Oregon’s rural counties reported chewing tobacco in a recent survey conducted by the Oregon Department of Human Services — more than double the number in urban centers such as Portland.

Statewide, 13,000 children under 18 said they chewed, and in a survey of eighth-graders, 4 percent of boys said they had tried it at least once.

In Pendleton, a town built around the yearly rodeo, city officials said they took the stance against the free snuff after hearing stories of children getting their hands on the tobacco.

For the boys who grow up here, it’s bull riders, not movie stars, who serve as their heroes — some going so far as stuffing round bubble gum containers in their jeans in an attempt to recreate the shape of the Copenhagen tin their idols wear.

“The primary goal was to keep it out of the hands of young people,” said Pendleton Mayor Phillip Houk. And for the addicted cowboys, maybe the financial hardship will be an incentive to quit, he added.

“Some of them told us they could get several months worth by going back several times,” he said. “Maybe some of them will consider slowing down on it, or no longer using, like those who smoke cigarettes start thinking about not only the health risks, but the economic cost of their habit.”

In the bull rider’s warm-up area, the ground was wet in places, as if sprinkled with rain. Except it’s spit.

Here, as the riders were taping their arms and chests in preparation for their match with a 1,000-pound bull, the idea of the city trying to manage their risk has the ring of the ridiculous.

“You can get killed out there. Hell, last week my heart stopped after a bull stepped on my chest,” said B.J. Schumacher, a freckled 23-year-old from Hillsboro, Wis.

Unlike his friends, he was sitting out the round, after a bull named North Star landed on his chest last Monday, crushing his sternum, breaking several ribs and bruising his heart. “It’s not like we don’t know it’s bad for us. It’s written all over the damn can,” he said.

Jesse Snyder, 26, agreed. He was also sitting out the competition, after a bull named Itty Bitty Flash dislocated his shoulder. He showed how his shoulder blade was poking out, a small hump underneath the fabric of his T-shirt. Then, looking away, he spit.

“I think we’re all big boys and we know what we’re doing to our bodies,” he said.

Inside the Let ’Er Buck Room — a bar set up only for the duration of the rodeo which serves hard liquor exclusively — many of the men said the new rule is hypocritical.

“And this is fine?” asked Neal Sowell, 25, pointing to his glass of spirits. “My liver’s failing as we speak.”

But there were some supporters, too. Overwhelmingly, they were women.

One of four rodeo princesses, 19-year-old Shanna Smith, whose picture adorns the rodeo program, said nothing turns her off more than a man who chews. “You go up to them and they’re good looking. And then it’s like, not anymore. It gets in your teeth. And it’s like ewww!”

she said.

Officials at U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Co., which manufactures both the Skoal and Copenhagen brands, said they were not bothered by the city’s decision.

“City councils make whatever decisions they think is appropriate and we abide by them. It’s not a big issue,” said company spokesman Michael Bazinet.

When asked if it could hurt his company’s bottom line if other rodeos followed suit, he said: “You’re asking me to speculate and I’m not going to do that.”

Yet even if all the rodeos do away with the free samples, it’s unlikely that the old cowboy tradition will die.

“Can I imagine a rodeo without dip? It’s kind of like a cowboy without a cowboy hat,” said bull rider D.J. Domangue, 23, from Houma, La.

As he spoke, a black line glimmered between his teeth.