Re: "... Anybody tried it?..."
I did for a short time.
My favorite was this thick jet black plug sold under the brand name "Black Maria". Wrapped in cellophane about the size of a pocket novel. Moist and juicy and heavy in weight.
It was truly delicious. At least at first. Then you start wildly salivating. You can feel this "burning" sensation of the tobacco. It tastes very similar to fruit punch...that's what they cure it in...flasks with fruit juices etc... You feel the stimulating "buzz". And then....after about ten minutes the stuff shreds into a zillion tiny bits and fragments and gets stuck between your teeth and in your gums. Then you notice the flavor is gone too; replaced by a very bitter taste of the natural tobacco. You spit and spit and spit, but no matter how many times you can't get all the little shreds of tobacco out of your mouth and teeth.
There is another brand that was pretty good sold in a sealed pouch...I believe it's "Turner Brothers" or something similar in name.
The general brand names that are popular such as "Red Man" I found to be pretty raunchy.
I dipped SKOAL & all the others for a while too...SKOAL is like putting chemical fire in your mouth...I don't see how people do it all day long for years. The ones that come prepacked in little pouches are much more palatable and less disgusting.
My advice...It's so disgusting overall that you shouldn't even experiment with it.
You have to constantly spit out the "chaw juice", so you have to carry around a little paper cup to spit in, or spit it out on the ground. Either way it dribbles down your chin and all over your shirt. Nasty habit. I'm sure it was a great calmative and stimulant for the original Colonial field hands and workers, but back then most men died before the age of 45 anyway. I've seen pictures of post-operative surgery on men who did it for a life-long habit, and one look at some guy who's had all of his lower jaw, tongue, and half his neck removed is enough to convince you not to start with it.
However, I do recommend reading Mark Twain's several musings on tobacco and smoking.