Am I the only one who thinks that American cigarettes are absolutely nasty? Maybe it’s just because I’m used to Canadian smokes, but I absolutely cannot smoke American ones - they taste terrible! When I go to the States, I’d rather go without. Camels seem to be the worst offenders IMO. What makes the difference?
No, you’re not the only one! I just posted about this in a thread on the smell of tobacco in GQ. There is something distinctly nasty about the smell and taste of American cigarettes. You probably know as well as I do, that if you’re in Canada and you walk into a room where somebody has recently smoked an American cigarette, you can tell right away, and for hours afterward. Now, I don’t know what the reason is. Perhaps it’s a different strain of tobacco, or different curing techniques, or chemical additives… it will be interesting if anyone comes into this thread who knows. I’ve wondered about it myself.
Hmm that’s odd. My wife is Canadian, so we go back and forth between there and the U.S. all the time. In my experience, Canadians vastly prefer American cigs over Canadian ones. We’re always being asked to pick up cartons at the duty free and bring some with us. My mother-in-law frequently has us buy as many cartons of Marlboros and other U.S. brands so that she can sell them to friends, coworkers, and customers.
I’m not a smoker, and personally prefer the Canadian packaging, with the graphic photos of diseased lungs and such!
No definite answer here, but I always understood it to be that American cigarettes were blends of various tobaccos (not sure which ones though), while Canadian cigarettes tended towards straight Virginia tobacco.
For example–I don’t know if they still are, but I well remember such things as “25 Finest Virginia Cigarettes” printed on packs of Canadian cigarettes. American cigarette packs always said something like “A Blend of the Finest American Tobaccos,” or somesuch.
Virginia tobacco can be very nice. Cured properly, it can be a nice, gentle, sweet smoke; not harsh or sour. Mind, I like to smoke Virginia in my pipe, so I may have a different experience of Virginia from today’s cigarette smoker, either Canadian or American.
<moderator>Yes. Folks, please stop smoking in GQ! You wanna eat a butt, go to the Pit. Stinks enough in there already.</moderator>
I smoke menthol, and I prefer my Kools to any Canadian menthol. I would smoke Craven menthol when visiting my grandmother. For regulars, I liked Canadian (Export A) better than any American non-menthol.
To sum up, yes and no.
I realize this was a joke, and this is not an official warning, but, please, don’t do that any more. Thanks.
Hmm…I grew up around smokers, and am a smoker myself, and I’ve never really thought cigarette smoke smelled that bad. Sure, it doesn’t smell what I’d call good, but I’ve smelled worse.
I think when (if?) I go to Canada next year I will have to buy some cigarettes there to test this out myself. I smoke Camel menthol lights now.
My favorite smoke of all time is an Export A Medium (Blue box).
But in the USA those are expensive and hard to find…
Funny enough (compared to the OP), my 2nd choice is a smoke from the Camel family.
IMO Marlboros stink the worst, and Winstons just have a funny taste.
Out of curiosity, what is Beware of Doug and, I am assuming, the rest of us not supposed to do; make no smoking jokes, or wrap a <moderator> tag around a sentence?
The moderator thing. Sorry, I thought that would be evident. No smoking jokes are still cool. At least until the next time I get all stressed out trying to quit. 