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I never use a snorkel but there is a very specific reason for this. In the Hogarthian equipment configuration that I and other technical divers use, you breath from a 7 ft long hose that is wrapped around your neck. For those who are unfamiliar with this, the hose starts from the right post of your doubles (or single tank with an H-valve), runs down your right side, goes under your canister light (or reel) at your waist, comes up across your chest to your left shoulder, over the back of your neck, then into your mouth from the right. To donate gas to another diver you simply take the regulator out of your mouth while nodding your head down and pass it to the other diver. The hose automatically unwraps in a very smooth manner that could not be accomplished while using a snorkel because it would snag it. Wrecks also can not be penetrated because the snorkel will act as a trap for all the dangling wires and the wreck line that you run along your route. In cave diving a snorkel is never used for obvious reasons. All technical courses that I am aware of require the snorkel to be removed. As a result, I have learned not to rely on a snorkel at all. I do all my surface swimming on my back (which by the way is very energy efficient).
I do own a folding snorkel that I could potentially stick in the pocket of my dry-suit, but feel that it would not help me in the case of an emergency because I do my surface resting while floating on my back. I have done this in quite choppy seas and have never had a problem with it. When you float on your back, your tank acts as a keel weight and allows more of body to be exposed on the surface. Since my dry-suit is bright red in the chest area, this would help me get spotted more easily in a search and rescue scenario. I can also keep looking upward and shoot off a flare if I see a plane or chopper (yes I do carry flares for trips far out from the coast).
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