Is there still such a thing? I’m talking about domestic brands, not any Nat Sherman’s or specialty cigarettes.
I switched to menthol about a year ago and I’m trying to cut down. One of the ways I used to be able to cut down to 5 or fewer cigarettes a day was to buy non-filtered cigarettes. They’re so strong, I’d only be able to take a few drags and have to put it out and then I wouldn’t want another one for a few hours.
Now that I’m hooked on the menthols, I don’t know of any non-filtered menthols other than buying a pouch of Kite and rolling my own.
Are the non-menthol Kools still available anywhere?
I just use a razor blade to snip all but the last littlest bit of filter off. It cuts back on the number of cigs I smoke a day but, really, its probably at least as dangerous as smoking more filtered. I smoke roughly 1/2 as many cigs this way but I would guess that I get at least as much tar in my lungs as I would if I smoked the normal number of filtered cigs. Its a money thing for me. and I don’t go completely without the filter because I don’t like the little tobacco flakes in my mouth.
IANAS any more, but I seem to recall that filters actually make smoking worse for you. The hot air going through the synthetic filter fibers releases gases that aren’t good for you. (Ever accidentallly lit the wrong end in the dark? Remember the taste?)
I quit smoking a coup[le months ago but I will tell you about my smoking habbit.
I never smoked filtered cigs. I figured they cost to much to filter anyhow. Straight tobacco tasted better, I got my fix faster, I smoked less, and I dident have to worry about filter litter.
I usually did not smoke cigs that came without filters as I had a hard time finding the brand I liked and the lengths where all wrong, I liked a bit of tobacco to get caught in my teeth to chew on plus I had many more choices in flavors.
Here are my two methods.
If you take the filter end up to your teeth you can bite down on the filter avoiding the paper part. The filter will slide right out. Then tear off the desired amount of the hollow colored paper where the filter once was. You will find a length that you like.
Hold the cig at the piont that the filter and tobacco meet. Hold it firmply and break it. It should break cleanly. Then turn it around and light from the side that once had the filter. This reduces the amount of loose tobacco from gettin into your mouth.
I quit seven months ago after 20 years of smoking regular Camels and hand-rolled cigarettes from Dutch or English tobacco blends. The only unfiltered major American brands I encountered in that 20 years were Camel, Lucky Strike, Pall Mall, and Chesterfield; none offered a menthol variant. Some regional and semi-generic manufacturers, as well as a few importers offered unfiltered menthols.
I rolled my own for a couple of years. I had a little roller that was pretty convenient. The lid was the rolling mechanism and the enclosed compartment was big enough for a packet of papers and a day’s worth of loose tobacco. Closing the lid rolled up a pretty slick-looking cigarette. Last time I saw one in a tobacco store, it was $35 or so.
Interesting query. When I was a smoker, menthol was my choice. Kool, BelAir, Salem, Newport, and Benson & Hedges were my brands, and I don’t recall any of them being available in unfiltered. Occasionaly bumming from my PallMall smoking boss, it was a ppft ppft expericence.
That’s right, I said regular Camels. Not unfiltered. Not filterless. Regular. As in an 60mm long cigarette. If I wanted a Camel with a filter, I’d have said Camel Filters, which are a King-sized (80mm) cigarette, not Regular. (Where do you think 100’s came from, halfwit?)
Isn’t the menthol IN THE FILTER? That’s what I’ve been told by smokers anyway, and I believe it. How would you menthilate tobacco? I don’t think burned menthol tastes anything like menthol.
Not in the filter. Menthol is in the tobacco. There were times that the filters were wetted, or otherwise damaged such that they were broken off to make the unfiltered cigarette smokable, and you can taste the menthol in the unfiltered cigarette.
Ok, just in case anybody missed it in my OP, Kools were originally non-filtered, back in the 20s, and the non-filtered 70mm cork-tipped version was still available till at least 10 years ago. So they have been produced.
I’m guessing from the replies that no other domestic brand of menthol has ever been produced without a filter (or at least since filters became the standard).
I was just hoping that someone somewhere in the US has seen non-filtered Kools on a store shelf. They don’t seem to be available here, if they even still make them.