Cigarettes

I'm making a thread about cigarettes because I'm desperate for one, but can't be bothered to get dressed and walk a hundred metres to the corner shop to get some. What brand of cigarettes do you smoke?

The first packet of cigarettes I ever bought for myself was a packet of 20 Benson and Hedges. I was 14 years old. I can't believe I managed to get served, because I look young now at 23 and still get asked for ID all the time. Unbelievable. But they weren't my main brand. No, my main brand was Lambert and Butler. They have a reputation as a bit of a skanky cigarette, but I enjoyed them a great deal. If you bought a pack of ten back then, in the heady days of 1999/2000, it only cost you two pounds. A lighter and a packet of kingsize rizla were 50 pence each, so you could get everything you needed to skin up (aside from the cannabis) for a nice round three pound. The neatness of the equation appealed to me.

So I smoked Lamberts for several years, even as the price increased, until about a year ago when I switched to Lucky Strikes. I had a bit of money to splash around and wanted to try something new, something that was at once a stronger cigarette and also an iconic brand with a good design on the packet. I was also quite depressed at the time and getting through up to 30 cigarettes a day.

The problem is, it's all well and good to smoke Luckies in London and other parts of the south where they are ubiquitous, but you just can't find them in Peterborough or its surrounding environs. So I have to go back to Lamberts when I'm there. Therefore, Luckies are intimately tied to my experience of London, and one of my first actions whenever I come back here is to buy a pack and smoke them. They taste like home.

But once again, my local cornershop is determined to merk my buffness. Whilst they frequently stock Luckies Silver (the 'light' brand), they rarely stock the stronger Red variety. Often they've no Lamberts at all. So I've been experimenting: Camels, Pall Mall, and the ciggies I seem to have settled on - John Player Special. They're not delicious, but at £2.50 for ten (I refuse to buy packs of 20 if I don't really like the brand) the price is OK (although dearer than Pall Malls or Balmoral) and the packet is black and black goes with everything. As a make-do cigarette, they are fine.

So I ask you, black-lunged legions of WATMM - what cigarettes do you smoke? What is your smoker's history?

And to those of you who don't - for your throat's sake, smoke!

Addendum: I was in Wimbledon the other day and tried those "100% natural no additives" American Spirit ciggies. They tasted a bit bland but they came in a soft pack which is very unusual here and I really like them.

Blue Drum tobacco all the way... Nobody smokes this shit in New Cross however. It's got a certain musty sting to it that makes me get up in the afternoon

Fuck, you're in New Cross? That's just down the road, the 177 stops outside my house.

I went through a period of UNFILTERED Blue Drum when I was 18...

  chelsea303 said:

Blue Drum tobacco all the way... Nobody smokes this shit in New Cross however. It's got a certain musty sting to it that makes me get up in the afternoon

Same

  Iain C said:

Fuck, you're in New Cross? That's just down the road, the 177 stops outside my house.

I went through a period of UNFILTERED Blue Drum when I was 18...

Wicked, yeah I live right near New Cross station, Amersham etc etc etc.... Gotta love it! you near then?

Liking the Blue Drum loving

I'm in Charlton but I lived in Deptford last year just about a ten minute walk from you. A load of my mates work in the Amersham! Aha we should have a drink some day, get Idiron down and everything.

Yeah mate, start a little south london support team. U-ziq etc are at the amersham in a few weeks. Thats just perfect!

I don't really like the taste of pre-rolled cigarettes. So I smoke rollies and therefore any brand as long as it's cheap.

I saw ceephax there last year which was quite nice. by "saw ceephax" I mean spotted and said hello to him, because by the time Chrome Hoof had played I had taken so much MDMA that I was on the verge of a heart attack and had to leave to get some fresh air and wander around Lewisham for an hour before going to my mates flat and crawling all over his upturned furniture.

  Iain C said:

Addendum: I was in Wimbledon the other day and tried those "100% natural no additives" American Spirit ciggies. They tasted a bit bland but they came in a soft pack which is very unusual here and I really like them.

ya i used to smoke these for a while... but switched to rolling tobacco of the same brand. really like it cause it doesn't taste parfumed. every once in a while i'll buy a pack of Luckies out of laziness but get sick of it quick.

marlbro or camel lights.

Good brands but I never really feel satisfied after a light cigarette.

I was quite impressed by Camels when I tried them last week. For a strong cigarette they had quite a subtle flavour.

I have a mate who prides himself on smoking 40 cigarettes a day, but they're Marlborough Lights so he might as well just smoke 20 proper cigarettes.

With these bad boys you can feel the nicotine running down your arms.

Oh wow, I'd like to try those, how unusual.

drum light/ mild / yellow whatever its called

Camel Filters.

Ocassionally Nat Sherman- Hint of mint....

Can anyone find Three castles rolling tobacco in the UK? it used to be imported over here but they stopped about 8 years ago... ironically it's Virginia tobacco.

My old Tutor at Uni saw me smoking Gitanes Mais, I picked them up in France. His wife said she would divorce him if he ever smoked another cigarette, he hadn't for fifteen years. He took me to his office and we smoked one out of the window whilst he told me about the time he met Joseph Beuys. That was a nice day.

I don't think I've ever seen Three Castles.

I've been considering pipe-smoking lately but I'm not sure if it seems too much of an affectation...

  Iain C said:

I don't think I've ever seen Three Castles.

I've been considering pipe-smoking lately but I'm not sure if it seems too much of an affectation...

jesus christ ian

Pipes are fine only if you smoke a Churchwarden.

this is good shit you have to open the tin a day or two before smoking, to let the tobacco dry out a bit.

I love the tin. The long S is a nice archaic touch.

Gitanes taste like shit though.

I keep forgetting that you lot put filters in your rollies, nobody puts filters in rollies in Canada.

I never put filters in rollies in the rare instances that I smoke them.

Ok, I've found the gumption to pull on some tight jeans and a baggy jumper, I'm going to buy ten Players.