Personally, I think it’s a mix of marketing and what someone’s used to. Most smokers start by filching cigarettes from their parents (or at least that’s what we did when we were kids) or older relatives who smoked. And so one gets used to a particular brand. When my husband took up smoking, he smoked Marlboro because he associated it with the Marlboro Man, and all the cowboy mystique that goes with that. Tobacco companies target their markets very closely. For instance, Virginia Slims were marketed to “liberated gals”, as a casual scrutiny of their ads will show.
For me it was first filching from my dad (Camels) then buying what my brother bought (Marlboro light) then complaining about having a cough and someone suggesting a new brand (Winston light).
Winston was then my brand for 10+ years and I was the only one I knew who smoked them. I mean, when has Winston ever been cool? 
Every so often I would steal my dad’s Camel full-flavor and they sucked. I did not enjoy smoking them at all. They were both too heavy and tasted bad.
Every so often I’d end up having to buy Marlboro light instead of Winston light and they still gave me a cough. I couldn’t smoke them as free and easy as my Winstons. I would often give them away once I found a pack of Winstons.
So for me it was both taste and content. I’m guessing the chemical content was different even though both the Marlboro and Winston cigs I smoked were lights.
FWIW - regular smoker here. My preferred smoke is Marlboro Blend 54 - a “full flavor” menthol.
In addition, I spent a summer working for Philip Morris when I was in college - back in 1992 before all the tobacco lawsuits happened. I learned a bunch about how cigs are made and marketed. They’re still made the same today, but the marketing has changed drastically due to all the new laws in the US.
I tend to think that a lot of non-smokers believe cigs mostly taste the same. And to them, they probably do. But to the smoker they don’t. And then there is differences in the nicotine content, the tar content (which effects the “burn”) and size.
Sizing refers to the length of the cig in millimeters. 100, 120, etc. Regular size cigs are known as “king size.” I forget the typical length for those - about 70mm or so I think.
Lights, ultra lights, etc. refer to nicotine and tar content. The “lighter” the cig, the less nicotine and tar they contain. But there’s no formal rating system. One brand’s lights may have the same numbers as a regular or “full-flavor” of another brand.
One of the key preferences for smokers is the “burn.” It’s the feeling in the back of the throat when inhaling. Some smokers like a heavier burn (like me). Others prefer a lighter burn or little/no burn at all. (lights, ultra-lights)
There’s a lot of chemistry involved in controlling the nicotine and tar contents. The cig companies have done a ton of studies and have perfected their control over the content of the cigs. Different strains or tobacco plants are only the start.
Once the plants are harvested - pulled up by the root and all usually - the plants are processed and some batches have various amounts of nicotine and tar removed. The processing includes making a sort of tobacco paper. Nicotine, tar, flavoring, and all sorts of other chemicals are sprayed onto the tobacco paper. Then it’s chopped up and rolled into the cig. The type of paper and the filter media also affect the flavor and the burn.
In the end, you wind up with as many cig types/flavors as you have soda. Camel/Marlboro basically represent Pepsi/Coke. Their flagship offerings are pretty much the same (as in, cola is cola), but their customers have their flavor preference. Some like Pepsi, others prefer Coke.
I sample all kinds of cigs and it comes down to the burn and the flavor for me. Camel (IMHO) tends to have a slightly milder burn and a nuttier flavor. Marlboro has a heavier burn with an earthier flavor. I’m talking about regular Marlboro Reds vs. Camel Filters.
Also, in the U.S. there are no such thing as “Lights” and “Ultra-Lights” anymore. Sure, the packs have different colors and taste exactly like lights and ultra-lights used to taste, but dammit, the government says that there are no such thing anymore, so there aren’t. And don’t forget it!
I can’t relate to how so many smokers apparently only ever buy one brand. It just sounds so boring to me. Has anyone ever known a smoker who enjoyed trying new varieties whenever possible just for the sake of novelty?
Sure. Every so often I bought myself a box of Nat Turner Mints. They were fancy and expensive and heavier than my Winston Lights but they were tasty. I’m sure plenty of smokers buy cigars once in a while too.
But really you don’t smoke because smoking tastes good. You do it because you’re addicted and you go with what you can tolerate and enjoy and afford 20x a day.
It’s not like being “a beer drinker” it’s like being an alcoholic. My dad’s an alcoholic and he drinks Natural Ice - that’s it. If he must have beer and can’t find Natty Ice he might even go to another store. He would probably spit out a microbrew or anything fancier than a Budweiser (I am not kidding).
That’s how it is for smokers too.
I had a boss once that wore shirts with two front pockets and every day he had a pack of Kools (menthol) in one pocket and a pack of Viceroys (non-menthol) in the other. I never thought to ask him why or under what circumstances he might choose one or the other.
When I smoked I tried a lot of different brands, always menthol. If you buy a pack of something that’s not very popular there is a pretty good chance that they are going to be stale. Stale cigarettes taste harsher and just generally worse.
I already know it’s not worth a damn. Why would smoking one make any difference?
See, I’m not a smoker, but for me it actually is worth a damn. I chose not to become a smoker, but a couple of tests told me I found it relaxing (and it’s not just the “sucker effect”), which helps me understand the smokers and other people whose drugs of choice have no attraction to me.
FWIW, I preferred negro, cigarretes made with cigar tobacco rather than Virginia (I don’t think you can find those in the US, but in Spain, France or the Netherlands you can), but I don’t know whether it’s because that’s what Dad smoked; I didn’t bother test that much.
and they think that their brand tastes good, like a cigarette should.
That’s really more of a cigar thing. Major brand American cigarettes are more like major brand American beers. There are some differences, but overall it’s a pretty narrow taste range.
Also, most smokers have sampled many other brands when they’ve run out of smokes and gotten one from a friend. Not only can I tell you how I perceive Winstons vs. Marlboros (Marlboros are harsher, but Winston has an aftertaste) I can tell which generic brands are supposed to taste like Marlboro, which ones are like Camels, etc.
I’m one of those.
I suspect that the reason many don’t is because of the price. You have to pay anywhere from $5 - $11 for a pack that you may not like after trying only one cig.
I don’t do it so much any more though because of the new government laws regarding packaging/labeling and the use of terms like “light.”
Now - smokers like me - have no idea what we are buying. If a new kind of cig comes out - like the newerish Marlboro Black, there’s nothing to tell me whether it’s in the old light category or full-flavor or what.
There’s no other regs with consumer products like it. Everything else out there prints ingredients, nutrition information, specific alcohol content, etc. A ton of information is on the packaging. No so (any longer) with cigarettes.
The anti-tobacco movement wants everyone to think that the only thing they are buying is cancer. Want to know how much nicotine you’re getting in one cigarette? Tough. We’re not going to tell you. We don’t even WANT you to know and the law forbids anyone from telling you.
Why? :rolleyes:
Eat some espestice and see if you like it. Same effect.
What am I missing?
Doesn’t anyone smoke Virginia Slims. They did make a cool commercial
There are some cigarettes that you can take out of the country but you can’t take the country out of.
Here’s a 100+ year old take on brand loyalty in tobacco, though it mostly concerns cigars:
Concerning Tobacco by Mark Twain (SFW, essay by Mark Twain)
The government decided that calling a cigarette “light” made people think it was safer than regular so that’s no longer legal. It’s stupid.
I don’t smoke anything anymore but for a while I considered myself something of a tobacco connoisseur. While there are slight flavor variations between major cigarette brands, most of them are all made from light VA tobacco and not very high quality tobacco at that. They all *mostly *taste the same and mostly deliver the same amount of nicotine. This is not true of Pipe and Cigar tobacco where the differences are easily noticeable.
That said, my brand was Camel Light (Camel Blue now but I quit before the name change), American Spirit in the Yellow box if I wanted a change of pace (they are packed differently and so smoke more slowly), or Dunhills in the Red Box if I had some extra cash and Parliament Lights if the store was, inexplicably, out of one of the above. I would grab wides if I had to but never 100s which felt clumsy.
Oh, I also occasionally enjoyed clove cigarettes. But only very rarely as too many would make me sick. Bali’s if I could find them, Blacks if I couldn’t. I only smoked menthols if I had to bum from someone, it was like smoking a jar of vicks vapor rub.
I don’t smoke, although I have a few times.
I tried smoking a Black and Mild but I don’t like the taste of things.
But man, those things smell good. I had a small pack and I’d just smell them. Why can’t they smell like that while I’m smoking them?
I was reading a novel set in an inner city area in the 1960s, and one of the characters always opened his cigarette packs from the bottom.
Mostly because they are cheap.
I AM NOT ENCOURAGING ANYONE TO START SMOKING. IT’S STUPID AND BAD FOR YOU. REALLY REALLY BAD FOR YOU.
But there are a number of higher quality tobacco products, mostly made for pipes, that both taste and smell very good.