Does anyone have any other sources of history of Woofle Dust?
Who was the first person to actual use this concept?
And why the word "Woffle"?


Early uses of the word in print are:

1926 the original mail order version of the Tarbell Course of magic. As part of the patter in lesson 2, within the "MYSTERY OF THE BURNING CIGARETTE" routine, Tarbell writes, "Sometimes I weight it down with a little Magic 'Woofle Dust.'"

Sphinx, September, 1929 page 240, Everett Murphy mentions "woofle-dust".

Sphinx, May 1932, page 99, Roennau mentions "foo foo powder or woofle dust"

Dead woofles?

That is funny!

Evidently, before vacuum cleaners became a commonplace household appliance, largely due to the efforts of door-to-door salesmen, woofles were far more plentiful than they are now. Due to their unusual surface texture and their tendency to capture dust particles, woofle dust was also much more commonplace than it is now. Since the particles are quite small (unless, of course, there has been a rather large amount of moisture in the air, causing them to clump) they are practically invisible.

So, all the beginning magician needed to do was to shake the dust off a few woofles, catch the resulting "fallout" in a paper bag, and he was in business, so to speak.

I rememebr the first time I've seen a magician use 'woofle dust'. He pulled out a toy squeeker and squeezed it a few times over the effect he was performing. Funny I remember that...

Pop Haydn has the best dust to use!

Pop, most likely bought his dust from either JACK CHANIN or AL FLOSSO! (Those two mountebanks had "cornered the market" on "woofle dust".)

Doc TARBELL may have first learned how to use "woofle dust", but, he never had a magic shop to collect it in! (Egad! another "CHARLIE MILLER"!

I THINK that the squeeker was a Karrell Fox idea.

When you dust the Woofles the young ones should be out of the room, the woofles make a hell of a racket...

Appreciate all the one liners! Made my day.

I can supply anyone interested in nanoparticle woofle dust. Although the envelope it comes in appears to be empty, I assure you that all the nanowoofles are there.
I also sell used flash paper and chocolate Oil of Milk (OOM)

More unique items at my site

Well, I've heard of used flash paper, and used hat coils, but I've never heard of chocolate OOM!

I have one of Karrell's Woofle dust squeakers........It's a stupid dumb thing THAT WORKS!

Woofle dust is the residual material after flash paper burns.

Larry that is hilarious! OOM

Anyone found a reference older than the OP?

Ida know...How old IS the OP?

The woofle dust concept for magicians existed, and was used in their patter, in the early 18th century (so nearly 300 years ago).

Clay, would you provide a reference/url for a source for this information? We live at a moment when much of our older literature is preserved and available on the internet. Citing and linking to older sourcebooks can help this generation of students appreciate our past.
Thanks in advance,
Jon

Hugard said that using it for a trick was outdated in Expert Card Technique.
ps. I'm part of the younger generation of students.