The archaeology, anthropology, botany, chemistry and pharmacology of South American intoxicating snuffs is extensively documented. This profuse attention to snuff powders is understandable and defendable, but it has an unintentional downside: it pushes the South American use of intoxicating nasal liquids into the background. The present review was written to remedy this: it first brings the available data about modern practices together and then reviews the evidence that such practices go back to pre-Columbian times. Keywords: Nasal administration; South American anthropology; South American archaeology; Middle American archaeology; inhalers; intoxicants; tobacco; hallucinogens