Social Smoking
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In Search of Luxury Cigarettes | |
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My favoured cigarette over the last 35 years has been the Sobranie Black Russian, and I had grown to love its strong, rich, yet smooth flavour. Alas, the takeover of Sobranie by Gallaher Ltd. some years ago culminated with the brand being withdrawn from the British market for about five years. But now they are back - re-introduced in UK at the end of year 2003. If you go onto the Gallaher website (click the Black Russian picture above) you can get to their extensive product list available by country throughout the world. In Russia, they market 13 different types of Sobranie cigarettes! Does anyone have any experience of these cigarettes? One good thing to come out of all this is that the first packet I bought in London after they had returned must be rated as the freshest Sobranie Black Russian cigarette I had smoked for years!! For those of you who pursue these cigarettes, you are well aware that, because of their limited market, their freshness is often suspect. When stale they can produce a rather bitter and harsh flavour - not as soft and smooth as they should be. Even when good, they do not seem to be as soft and heavy as I remember in my youth - and anecdotal evidence from my tobacconist indicates that others have commented likewise....... So, I'm still searching for that really luxurious cigarette! Reduced Tar It seems that this lack of full flavour can all be put down to a legislative requirement brought in during the early 1970s - to reduce tar and nicotine content. Doubly unfortunate for those who appreciate the flavour of specific cigarettes, since in order to compensate for the associated reduction in flavour, additives were introduced into cigarettes with the agreement of the government. It appears that from my recollection of the flavour in the 60's, the tar content now could well be down by over a half or even by a factor of three. You can see it all unfold in sordid detail in the British Government's Select Committee on Health - Second Report, where it now appears that there are two opposing views on whether reducing the tar content of cigarettes actually benefits smokers. Personally, I would prefer to smoke fewer high tar cigarettes and get my full enjoyment rather than be forced to take in a range of unspecified additives in less flavoursome cigarettes. Also, as far as I can understand, the toxicity of all these additives in the burnt fraction has never been definitively researched. I find this astonishing. Why does the government have to interfere in such a prescriptive manner? I'm happy to be educated as to the risks, but surely it should be my informed choice? Why do they interfere so much with smokers? What about alcohol? Using the same logic it should have been an even greater imperative for them to ban spirits with the high alcohol content - since I can kill myself in one night if I drink spirits to excess whereas I could probably smoke myself sick day in and day out for 30 years and still not die! Somebody with some scientific integrity and even vague appreciation of civil liberties really needs to take on this increasingly prescriptive government interference in our daily lives. (Just going off to have a quiet cigarette to calm me down!) Anyway, back to luxury cigarettes. For those interested in a review of different flavour cigarettes, see Laslo's Lengthy List of Luxury Smokes, although it is somewhat out of date now and needs revising. E.g. the Charles Fairmorn Black and Gold have been discontinued for about 10 years (?), as have many others - shame, they sound good! no doubt victims of the increasingly prescriptive government regulations..... The list provides a nostalgic look at the cigarettes available from yesteryear..... time to reflect... 
Here's another luxury cigarette I tried some time ago now - "Treasurer". They've been on sale in the British market since February 2000 and are billed as the world's most expensive cigarette. They are "manufactured from a specially selected blend of additive free pure Virginia Tobaccos wrapped in watermarked paper with an elegant silver tip". They come in a brushed soft-metal packet and the price of ~£16 per packet of 20 cigarettes is a little sobering. However, although the Virginian tobacco is undoubtedly good, they are not heavy enough for my taste - although it's probably that my palate is not refined enough to fully appreciate the subtleties of flavour. For this I would need to smoke them for some extended time - much like a fine Medoc wine is only really appreciated by a well-educated palate! However, I fear that this would require some considerable financial investment which I would find hard to justify! Nevertheless, full marks to Chancellor Tobacco for producing a luxury cigarette which will no doubt suit some smokers (it is a pity more manufacturers don't develop this side of their business). It would be exciting if they could produce a luxury Balkan style cigarette at half the price, say £8-£9? Now that would be really interesting! 
TOR cigarettes, made in Belgium, produce three very interesting cigarettes - see alongside. (I have blurred out the (misleading) government health warning for the more squeamish amongst you!) - "TOR Turkish are made from a fine blend of choice selected Ismir and Samsun tobaccos to create a taste from the past". They are not strong, but have a fairly full flavour with that background of Turkish. They also come in an "Oriental Blend", which has a more distinctive (with mild vanilla/coconut?!) flavour with subtle tones of a mild pipe tobacco. These are very pleasant and alternate well with the heavier Black Russian. The straightforward Virginian have a well balanced quality flavour.
The George Karelias "Excellence" alongside is a new quality cigarette I have recently come across in England. It is a pure Virginia tobacco blend and has a smooth and very pleasant flavour. An embossed leaflet within the lavish and luxurious packet states :"We guarantee these fine cigarettes to be of the highest standard. The specially selected premium tobaccos are carefully blended to provide the well balanced and satisfying smoking characteristics demanded by discerning smokers and so rarely found in modern cigarettes". 
It is a fine looking cigarette as well, having a white tip with the gold "Excellence" name stamped around the cigarette above a central gold ring and two adjacent blue rings - as shown alongside.Printed on the inside of the lid of the pack is a quotation from Aristotle: " If happiness is activity in accordance with excellence, it is reasonable that it should be in accordance with the highest excellence". This is an excellent cigarette, one to have with that mid-morning coffee and set your sights towards excellence for the rest of the day! They currently retail at around £7 for a pack of 20. Why is it that more cigarette manufacturers don't appear to be interested in producing high quality cigarettes? It would seem that their only option in the longer term for developing sales in the Western World (let's not go into their activities in the third world) is to target the quality market, with less volume, but with higher quality and higher unit price. This would also be more morally defensible since they could argue that they were helping to reduce the health risks for those smokers unwilling to give up completely and willing to switch to this type of smoking. Perhaps we ought to start a campaign in favour of quality "Social Smoking"? Please let me know of your favourite quality, luxury cigarette - and where they can be purchased - and I'll compile a list on this page for everyone's information. Or, if such a site already exists - please e-mail its address. |
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