# Cigarette information for a new smoker **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 15, 2003, 9:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cigarette-information-for-a-new-smoker/207536 "2003-10-15T09:40:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![NajaNivea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/22d042/32.png) [@NajaNivea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NajaNivea)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2003, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cigarette-information-for-a-new-smoker/207536/61 "2003-10-16T00:26:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SonOfArizona \* > **So my first question is, what is the difference between the different kinds of cigarette varieties?** Well, I for one will chime in with some actual information. You’re an adult. Do what you want to do. As someone already mentioned, the different brands have different tobacco blends, additives, and thus, flavors. Premium brand cigarettes, such as Camels, Marlboros, etc taste much smoother, while the lower quality cigarettes such as GPCs and all are, in my opinion, harsh and nasty. Hey, if you’re going to pick up a rotten habit, you might as well do it right. Life’s too short to smoke crappy cigarettes. I personally smoke Kamel (with a K) Reds. I would smoke Kamel Red Lights simply because I’m an art kid and it’s a Mondrian in disguise, but I happen to like the heavier Reds. Kamel Reds are smoother tasting than Marlboro reds, but you’d probably like Kamel Red Lights better anyway, plus it’s a cool looking pack which doesn’t scream “I’m smoking lights! I’m a girl!” if that concerns you 😉 > [@](#): > > Also what are menthols? I tried one the other day and was surprised to feel a minty sensation in the back of my throat, which was kind of cool at first but got irritating after a while. Menthos contain… well, menthol. I find them noxious and disgusting, personally. A friend of mine who is a **very** dedicated pack a day smoker will switch to menthols when she gets sick, because she can’t smoke regular ones. The menthols are, apparently, upper respiratory infection compatible :rolleyes: > [@](#): > > What is the purpose of packing? Is there any? I always pack my cigarettes, the tobacco generally settles a good 1/4 inch. I find they burn slower (longer?) than when I smoke an unpacked cigarette. > [@](#): > > So far my favorite cigarette that I have tried have been Camel Turkish Golds but I haven’t tried the Turkish Jades. Mr. Armadillo likes Turkish Golds. They’re okay, I don’t particularly _dis_like them, but I wouldn’t go out and buy a pack myself. I prefer Kamel Reds almost to the exclusion of everything else, and I don’t smoke so much that I **have** to buy a pack of whatevers if a particular convenience store doesn’t carry Kamel Reds. I generally smoke a pack about every two weeks. Often I forget I have them and they get stale before I finish a pack. I just moved to Oregon, and it appears there is one store in the entire state that carries them, so I figure my occasional social smoke habit is soon to end anyway. ☹ Enjoy your college years, nearly all my friends from college, both random acquaintences and dear, lasting friends I met through the social joys of the cancer-stick. Okay, that may be exaggerating a bit, but most of them I really did meet hanging out outside the dorm hall or art building, puffing away. I even ended up living with a girl I met puffing away outside the art building. We spent the next two years being smoking buddies between classes, then moved in together our senior year. It was a great year. ~mixie ---
**Author:** ![gentle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/eb8c5e/32.png) [@gentle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gentle)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2003, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cigarette-information-for-a-new-smoker/207536/62 "2003-10-16T02:20:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SonOfArizona \* > **So my first question is, what is the difference between the different kinds of cigarette varieties? I have tried both lights and regulars, and there is defintinely a difference.** “The average American suffers from two delusions, one that God is dead and the other is that there is a difference between brands of cigarettes.” (Philip K. Dick) ---
**Author:** ![newcrasher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b3f665/32.png) [@newcrasher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/newcrasher)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2003, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cigarette-information-for-a-new-smoker/207536/63 "2003-10-16T02:47:55Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SonOfArizona \* > \*\*Alright I have had enough. This is rediculous. Does anybody follow the rules of this forum? I asked a question. I expected some mature, detailed answers, perhaps maybe a discussion on what cigarettes are the best. Instead, I got a bunch of whining, irritating comments with maybe a couple genuine posts mixed in between. I don’t want your opinion on smoking. I never did. I don’t care about what you think on that regard. I said this from the get - go. I just wanted to know about cigarettes. That is it. Quite frankly, some of you are more likely to die from being an elitist a-hole to the wrong person than I am from smoking. Sorry if what I just said makes this something that belongs in the pit, but if the people replying to my question can’t follow the GQ rules, why should I? \*\* Sorry to have offended, but the goal of the Straight Dope Message Board is to fight ignorance, and you seem to have it in spades… ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2003, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cigarette-information-for-a-new-smoker/207536/64 "2003-10-16T03:25:58Z")
> [@](#): > > _originally posted by DrDeth:_ > Menthols are also heavily marketed to our Black brethren. > [@](#): > > _originally posted by SonofArizona:_ > How are menthols marketed towards black people? I would like to know this, too. I don’t pay _that_ much attention to cigarette advertising, but I wasn’t aware of menthol cigarettes as being a “black” thing. ---
**Author:** ![NeSBiT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@NeSBiT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NeSBiT)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2003, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cigarette-information-for-a-new-smoker/207536/65 "2003-10-16T03:35:31Z")
You’re not automatically ignorant if you smoke. When I first started smoking I tried a wide variety of tobacco products, but I finally settled on Marlboro Light Menthols. I just prefer a minty flavor but I don’t like the smoke to be harsh, I also smoke with my lips parted so I take in air along with the smoke (my friends always thought this was weird). Anyways, here’s a list of some tobacco products: Bidis: first thing I ever smoked. They are imported (that means you can only find them in smoke shops) and are basically tobacco flakes rolled in a leaf without a filter. They come in different flavors, they are also pretty harsh and will give you a pretty good buzz if you aren’t a regular smoker. cloves: These are cigarettes made with around 2/3s tobacco and 1/3 cloves. They taste great, smell great, and the smell tends to attract plenty of attention. If you smoke these at a party you will have quite a few people approach you to either bum one or start a conversation about cloves. They are imported and can be bought in smoke shops (they are about twice as expensive as regular cigarettes). pipe tobacco: The best thing about smoking a pipe is that pipe tobacco can be dirt cheap, good pipe tobacco costs about the same as cigarettes. Pipes smell great and you tend to smoke less tobacco because they are more efficient than cigarettes. No chemicals. cigars: Just a big unfiltered cigarette. Range in price from less than 50 cents to hundreds of dollars a piece. They go out if you don’t keep puffing on them and they are more difficult to light than cigarettes because of the lack of added chemicals and the circumferance of the cigar. cigarettes: Other differences have been listed, but some have specialized filters that let in air or are recessed to prevent stains on your teeth. I have recently seen a cigarette that vaporizes the tobacco rather than burning it, which is supposedly healthier. Smoking nowadays is a whole subculture, some would even say a counterculture. We have our own rituals, methods of socialization, and problems (such as being discriminated against) That is all. ---
**Author:** ![disponibilite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5daacb/32.png) [@disponibilite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/disponibilite)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2003, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cigarette-information-for-a-new-smoker/207536/66 "2003-10-16T04:29:43Z")
I make my own cigarettes—bought off the internet and mailed to me. Costs about 65 cents a pack that way. Of course you actually have to make them. Takes about 5 minutes for me to make a pack of absolutley lousily made cigs---------or about 10 minutes to make a pack of cigarettes that are indistinguishable from store bought.—at least in appearance. I started making my own cigarettes originally because I always said I would never pay more than $2 for a packung. But the real advantage is not price. After smoking your own personally hand made cigarettes with REAL tobacco--------the store bought kind just taste like a bunch of nasty chemicals (which they are). (Of course smoking is a very nasty habit that you should not do. More reasons against than for as many posters have already said.) But still and all any smoker who pays $4 a pack for store bought cigarettes when he can make his own for 65 cents with much better tobacco and almost totally chemical free-----------is too dumb to seriously consider walking around. ---
**Author:** ![MonkeyMensch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@MonkeyMensch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MonkeyMensch)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2003, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cigarette-information-for-a-new-smoker/207536/67 "2003-10-16T04:38:29Z")
Menthols. Ecch. It’s like smoking toothpaste, as I says to the boys at The Office. On the other hand, if that’s all I can bum it’s not so bad after all. I’m about a half pack a dayer, but I’m cutting back. I miss the buzz cited by **SonofArizona**. When I go a few days without smoking I get a much better buzz from the first cigarette. And that buzz was the reason I started in the first place. I going to cut back to continue? Go figure… As a quick aside (no ranting) I get a kick out of the term “drug delivery system.” Isn’t that kind of like a cup of coffee or a can of Budweiser? Nice thread, though… ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_The\_Diver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Buck\_The\_Diver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_The_Diver)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2003, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cigarette-information-for-a-new-smoker/207536/68 "2003-10-16T04:51:26Z")
Am I the only one hearing a loud _“WHOOSH”_ in this thread? ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2003, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cigarette-information-for-a-new-smoker/207536/69 "2003-10-16T04:54:02Z")
Let’s try to remember that this is not the preaching forum, folks. The activity is dangerous, yes, but not of the immediacy to justify that sort of response in this forum. Factual questions were asked, but only a few posters bothered to answer them. That said, most of the factual questions have been answered by now, so I’ll close this thread. Questions about the best brand, etc., are better suited to an IMHO thread, if you dare. Railing against smoking and smokers belongs in the Pit. bibliophage moderator GQ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cigarette-information-for-a-new-smoker/207536.md?page=3)