Friday 31 August 2012

Regal King Size ( UK )

Overview.                                      ( next review Marlboro Reds )

These are my preferd choice of cigarettes , i usually smoke them day in day out. I have done for some time now.Regal are the sister brand to the iconic Embassy , there both made my Imperial Tobacco , but all of Embassys products were formally made by w.h.o wills  ( The makers of Woodbine ). Embassy used to have many different verity  available  such as extra mild , premium , golds . So Regal are one of the last to stay. They don't sell well down in the south of England as they do the north Embassy sells better in the south of England ,so its a country divide between the two . Scotland is there biggiest market , possibly due to the Regal Scottish master snooker tornement sponsorship. If you are in the south of England be warned i believe there VERY hard to find.

Price 

This is how long ive smoked them for , they were around £5.10 then up and up then we were at £7 and now , imperial tobacco has just put the prices up on most of there brands resulting in Regal becoming £ 7.80 , this is dangerous stuff from Imperial , as not only do they risk losing custermers of there product like me and ive seen quite a few packs of these in people hands around the north of England, but there nearly running into the premium price band.

Packaging 

A white creamy background , with a blue strip that has a few different textures in it . With gold text and the Regal bit has a blue background. All the text on the pack is in blue and gold and the stripe goes around the box , in a almost zig zag notion , this was more visible before the warnings . It has not changed much over the years , its a bit basic , but it still looks good , there's something some what simple about it , i like it but it is plain. - 7-10 - others don't like it but i do.

The cig

Plain just say Regal King Size , they have quite a large filter compared to other cigs , it has a much better flavour compared to Embassy , they have a bit of a stronger flavour . It really is a great taste . They burn every quick . I get a slight sweet taste to them , a few pepole i know say they taste strong , but i dont think they do they , not as smooth as Embassy but overhual i think there much better , not much i can say on them as i smoke them a lot and dont notice as much .
Worth getting very good cig - burn time really let them down - 9 out of 10 - If your in the south there worth the find , very good , but unless your a fool like me you wont smoke them everyday with the price - although they can very easy be an everyday smoke as they are for me .
I ran out while out so i got two 10 packs , i have some duty free ones so when i get round to it i will compare them.


- pictures will follow later on today or tomorrow

Thursday 30 August 2012

Winston Blue ( duty free )

Had to lend a cig of off someone today , it was a Winston blue ( i think there the lights ) . I believe they were duty free from Egypt . They had a very slow burn time , nice smoke , very easy to smoke , good flavour , would give it a rating but i usually have 2 or 3 before giving them a final rating , but they were enjoyable and were a actually good , i have had the reds before and they were very good for the price.  So with only 2 the impression was they were very good .

- The Regal review i told you about will be up tomorrow ( 31st august 2012 ) or Sunday  ( 1st September )

Saturday 25 August 2012

Duty Free

For the regular views of the blog , who are waiting for the cigs brought back ( Camel filter , Camel Black , Lucky strike red soft pack , Regal duty free and West reds ) . they shall be starting soon , i had lots of packs lying around so i decided to review them first to build up more reviews , i have only actually opened one , but i will get the reviews up as soon as get to the pack
Thanks for viewing

Friday 24 August 2012

Benson & Hedges Dual ( UK )

Overview                                   ( Next review my regular brand Regal King Size )

Benson & Hedges are one of the iconic brands of England and sell well through the world , at one point the carried the royal seal as they were the chosen cigarette of the royal family , but the days of being one of the bigger selling brand in the UK is fading away as the price goes up , they were known for the extravagant adverts , they were also at one the sole-makers of silk cut , they also sponserd several horse racing events as well as snooker , but most famous for the sponsorship of cricket matches . These click and roll are quite new on the market in the uk, it seems like something that is impossible to do change the flavour of your cigarette halfway through .

Price

£6.82 from Asda not bad price for the UK around mid priced.


Packaging

It is a great pack , looks like they have really tried to make a modern B&H pack , its nice the colours go really well together , the effort really shows , they have also incorporated the capsule  to full use on the pack as well , its one of the better modern packs out there, it slides like the Silver slide they make ( if you want them you have to ask for silver slide otherwise its in a normal pack ) but all the Dual ones are on the slid pack , this adds to the modern look , it all works really well. - Could be to flashy for some people , but hay , its just a pack its looks good , but its what's on the inside that counts. 8.5/10


The cig

Clear white filter , blue ball indicating where to click when you want to change the taste just says B&H dual nice cig design even looks like some effort has been made here aswell 8 mg of tar 0.6 mg of nicotine and 10mg of carbon monoxide so quite a light cig that's common with these click things , don't think there are any full strength  it has a persporated filter so that takes any kick it might have away , it has quite a good traditional B&H flavour , usually before clicking when its a normal cig flavour is pretty bad but this is not bad at all it has quite a good flavour a little to light i like a nice light cig now and again , it is dosent deliver to much of a kick , normal taste quite good but a little light , so lets click it , it has a FANTASTIC flavour , very much like polos , the flavour is much better than before the click and the real enjoyment with this cig is when you click it usually its a menthol taste with the click but they have gone with this its has worked great - Good Bensen & Hedges quality great taste worth a try just for the flavour it really is good , much better than the pall mall ones so i would pay that bit extra just for the extra quality you do get. has a nice even burn - a little one the light side though - 7/10 for the cig as normal - 8/10 for the flavour its wonderful worth trying just for the flavour .






































Tuesday 21 August 2012

St Moritz Menthol ( UK )

Overview 

This time there isnt much to say about these as i have never heard of them or no idea they even existed, i do belive that they are imported from whereever they are made ( theres a place called St Moritz so i would imagine there. ) Produced by British American Tobacco , but made under the authority of Turmac tobacco company  , i would think there the original producers / owners  , this is all from the pack i have looked on the internet for more but couldn't find anything on them , so this from what i can tell must be quite a rare cigarette to find . Im not the biggest menthol smoker out there but i do like them from time to time , and know quite a lot of people who smoke them. i wanted to try them as i haven't seen or heard of them before.

Price

These are the most expensive cigarettes i have ever bought , the same price as Dunhill ( never tried them ) they are close to verging on £8

Packaging 

It has wonderful packaging , very classy well you probable are classy if you can buy these to smoke every day. Although it is very nice , and is presented well , for the money you pay , the packaging i find there to be something lacking really . - Not bad at all looks very nice well designed . 2 things that also lead me to belive they are imported is , inside its separated into 10s , i have only come across one actual English brand that does this and also , there isn't a picture on the back its just a written warning. - 7 or 8 out of 10 - Nice and classy but something lacking . Its also a very large pack , it is VERY impractical to carry round with you its large and bulky .

The cig .

I am quite sure there bigger that superkings ( 100s ) , not by much but i don't have any lying around to compare them to. Very fancy looking has a gold band on it ( a actual band sort of like what's used on cards , and Christmas crackers ) Has St Moritz in green on the body of the cig, and a small crown above that . It is the best designed cig i have ever seen it does look really nice , a lot of thought has been put into the design on the cig unlike most brands. Even when you have a drag before lighting you get a nice menthol taste . At 10mg of tar 1.0mg of nicotine and 10mg of carbon monoxide its the strongest we can get in the E.U . it delivers a fair hit , not to strong or harsh considering it the strongest available, most menthol cigs have a very overpowering taste to them , but they have managed to find the right balance with it its not overpowering it really is a great menthol taste , burn times is good and they burn down nice and even. It is a a very light menthol taste though . overhaul it is a very good menthol cig . The menthol become a lot stronger as you get towards the end . - If you want to try a menthol i would go with the cheaper brands like Ritchmond first , just to see if you like them, the price is very off putting though , but they are worth trying though , great flavour good hit . -9/10


Friday 17 August 2012

Lambert & Butler Profile ( UK )

Lambert & Butler Profile.         ( Next review St Mortitz Menthol )

Overview

Lambert & Butler are the uks number 1 selling cigarette , they made more money than coke in the uk , in the latest look into it , they are produced by imperial tobacco , and have been around if my memory is correct since the mid/late 70s. They ran adverts just before the ban of a posh guy called Lambert and the adverts would be him interacting with his Butler , i have always liked Lamberts i think there a good smoke for the price . Profile are a new type of cigarette in the UK , they are a form of compact cigarette , which means due to their size , they are taxed less.

Price 

Price is on the front of the pack , they are £6.50 a good price for a mid range priced cig, the normal Lamberts are now verging on £7 they are suffering from the fact they have been going a while so they have been through more tax rises , but these are a good price for a cigarette in the UK. I don't know if the price is promotional as they are quite new on the market ( Price for 20 )

Packaging 

Its quite nice , all Lambert & Butler packs are reverting back to how they was i have noticed lately they aren't shiny any more ( it has a proper name but i cant remember it. ) its a nice shade of silver , the blue on the logo and where it says profile looks nice, to goes nice with the background silver. . You can see the size difference , i will put a few pictures up to this , where ill compare the size to my usual brand Regal.
- Nice looking all goes together well - But its not the best there has ever been
7.5-10
- On the back it says  " The same quality Lambert & Butler in a convenient compact format. " I will review this as well how practical it is in the size it is , and put it towards the final rating of the cigarette.

The cig.                                                ( 10mg Tar  0.8 mg Nicotine  10mg Carbon Monoxide )

They are VERY thin , and look quite long , light coloured tobacco , round about the same size as a king size , but thinner and a little smaller , the pack is very practical as it is easier in youre pocket it isnt as bulky as most king size packs , i must admit as someone who likes Lambert & Butler its a very good concept by Imperial Tobacco .
Just says L&B similar to like it is on the side of the pack. Taste is more or less if not the same as normal Lamberts , quite nice taste , not the best but by no means the worst . Burn lets them down a lot , but with smoking bans , they would be good to take to the pub as you wont be outside for a long time. Gives off a quite good hit , it has contact paper at the bottom of the cig which i hate. More flavour as you get through it , a bit of a slower burn than the silver L&B , a very slight chemical taste to Lamberts before the FSC.
- A very nice cig for the price , defentley worth a try , the same as the standard L&B , nice taste not the worst there is , for the price there worth trying just for the Profile concept leaves a pleasant after taste.
- Burn time is the major let down with L&B. can see why the became the UKs number 1 , good smoke for the price. ( Note - it is the standard L&B that's number 1, but there the same these are just smaller )

8/10- Not to everyones taste as every one enjoys different cigs but these are worth a try great mid range priced cigarette.






















Compared with a standard 20 pack of king size. ( Regal- will review them at a later date  )





- Pack without price on.






Wednesday 15 August 2012

Plain Packaging

Bad news from Australia , plain packaging will happen , the tobacco company's ( BAT , Phillip morris ect...)
have lost their court battle , to protect their brand and logos , sadly it will likely happen in the UK as well  , i am 100 % against this , i hate it , but that's for another day that rant , maybe when the UK says what were going to be doing on the subject or nearer to that time

Monday 13 August 2012

Cafe Creme Grande ( UK )

Overview .                                         

 ( Next review Lambert & Butler Profile don't know when yet as well and a unusual and rare Menthol cig   )

Cafe Creme is the worlds number 1 every day Cigar smoke , as we know it simply isn't practical to smoke proper cigars at £70 or around there every day . Cafe Creme are effectively cheap mini cigars , but the ones here are bigger , and closer to a larger cigars size. I have had a few of the these but have had these ones just in the tin for a while now so i though that i would review it as i couldn't find any for this type of  Cafe Creme , the mini one where you get 20 if im correct are the bigger selling ones .

Price 

A the time they were around £5 i really cant remember ive had them a while, not bad value considering you get 5 good sized cigars.

Packaging

I love the pack , its a tin , you can use it for something else after , and the Cafe Creme logo is great , and the cigar burning on the front adds to it , its a lovely design  9.5/10- its a little bulky , but keeps the cigars in good condition.

The cigar

Very light colour , well put together ( rolled ) . not to much of a smell , very light smell , but good on the nose all the leaves are well packed non falling out ect... having a drag on it before lighting has a light taste of Coffee , for the price its a good looking cigar.
Its main taste to me is coffee, leaves a very pleasant , taste in your mouth   , its a very relaxing smoke , stick some music on and your in you're own world , of relaxation , if you do inhale it , which is even advices against inside the tin , its strong and horrid , but when smoking normal its an amazing experience , getting to the end , the taste becomes a little sweeter , has that classic cigar smell to it . with cigars you can take youre time and chill as the burn VERY little , these a bit faster than the expensive ones , after a while towards the end you get some burn in your mouth
Its a wonderful smoking experience, i haven't had many cigars so im not going to be to good at this review , but if you want a cigar i would give these a try , well priced for 5 , good sized ones , and it even tastes good as well as after finishing , i really enjoyed it -Towards the end its flavour dose change.
8/10 - As i said im not a cigar man , but i really did enjoy it , it was a very relaxing smoke , with a nice flavour , if you want to try a cigar , i would buy them , if not buy them and just have one to relax to . i haven't smoked many cigars , but being new to it i found these a good smoke and enjoyable



I will review Hamlet at a later date , they sell better in the UK than Cafe Creme if i remember correctly




Rothmans King size ( Blue ) UK

Overview.

Braking off from the original plans of cigs to be reviewed i have two more that i got while out the first of these is Rothmans king size, the same apply s to these as the new budget gold one , but all the advertising ect.. apply s to these as these are the orginal , they have a reputation of being harsh and , i felt this a little on the newer version after going through quite a few.

Price.

£7.40 from asda , a fair amount to pay , but usually with price comes the quality , older brand tend to cost more as they have been through a lot more taxing than the newer brands. Rothmans blue no longer to my knowlage come in 10s


Packaging 

The same as they have always been , still give of a luxury image , but it has a much more classy style to it than the gold pack , nice deep blue colour very original , looks great with the white back drop , but like other older brands its starting to get old , and to look outdated , but still a great pack . -7/10

The cig 

it has quit nice lettering on it more or less the same as the logo on the front of the pack , it has a crown above it , i have never had these before and have always ( while i have been smoking ) wanted to try one . Not quite as strong on the pack as the golds at 10mg of tar 0.9 mg of nicotine and 10mg carbon monoxide. It has a wonderful taste these are very creamy deliver a fair kick not as harsh as i though they would be  , you can feel the nicotine delivering , there much better tasting than the other Rothmans , but for the price its what you expect as it will have better tobacco in.burn down is quite slow time, its  of the better ones out there. Its a great cig one you can really relax with. It is one of the stronger cigs and dose provide a little throat burn. Its flavour gets stronger as you get down , i forgot to add it has a very light colored tan filter , and has a quite small filter

- It was a great cig and is worth the price you pay , good hit , great delivery , amazing taste one of the best i have had in a while. Worth the wait for them , they are actually very smooth from what i thought they would be , i believe the non EU limit ones aren't .
- Hard to find , Cost a lot ( But well worth it ) .
8.5 out of 10 - Only things wrong is the price , but thats not there fault , its the tax , well worth the price , and worth trying to find , there a real treat , also if you aren't used to strong cigs then these will not be for you , yes they used to be stronger , but they still produce that hit , and there probabley one of the better cigs available in the UK












Sunday 12 August 2012

YouTube channels to check out .

YouTube channels to check out .

Originally as i said i wanted to do videos but i had major problems uploading , so i decided to do a blog , in place of the videos , the smoking community on YouTube is probabley one of the best there is , everyone i have come across has been friendly and willing to help out with whatever you need. They all inspired me to create reviews , but being unable to upload , i had to settle for next best , if you want to break into the reviews and can upload them , then i would recommend it , all great guys.

Channels 

Here is a list of a few of the very best and the ones that i have watched the most and messaged ect..

http://www.youtube.com/user/rjthesmoker
Rj is great guy , i have messaged him several times and he gave advice , and i would like to thank him for that , he reviews cigs from all around the world , and has inspired and helped many people to starting up their own reviews , he is truly at the top of the reviews on YouTube. I hope if you have time you check him out. Aswell as a massive thank you for doing a shoutout to me on one of his videos .

 http://www.youtube.com/user/ratmwootwoot

Another great reviewer , lots of cigarettes reviews , of cigs i don't normally get to see , another must see channel. Also a great guy , and a friend of Rj , they have done videos together , and i think some pack swaps , check out his channel aswell

I will add more as time goes on .

I have two channels but if you would like to message me , with any questions ect.. message the channel i was going to do the videos on
http://www.youtube.com/user/jimscigreviews92?feature=mhee  other channel is jimyg34567 ( linked channel is better for contact if you need to )


Reviews still to come 

As i don't smoke to much it takes me a while to get through a pack so there could be a few days between each review posted .

Coming soon.

Lambert & Butler profile - i like Lamberts a good smoke for the price , these are a new type of cig that is smaller and allows lower tax on the cigs.

Camel blue ( Lights ) Limited edition pack.

Camel black - picked these up while on holiday at a greek island there not available in the UK, don't know much about them.

And the others from the other post

Friday 10 August 2012

Park Drive Unfiltered

Park Drive ( Unfiltered ) UK

Overview 

Park Drive are one of the old iconic English cigarettes and although they did produce them . but stopped due to low sales are one of the last / very few brands that still produce unfiltered , they are  just like they would have been in the 50s except they are now limited to what can be put in , they used to be a populour brand , but as more switched to filtered , brands like this are now harder to find. I have smoked several unfiltered brand but never wrote a review as i have just started i have had Woodbine and Senior Service.








Price 
I bought these at a small shop near me that happened to have them , they have been lying around for a while , prices can vary from supermarkets to local shops .. Online from Asda they are priced at £7.66 , most shops are similar but some do charge more .


Packaging 

The packaging is very traditional and has not been updated like most packs have , i like it, its a real blast from the past only ruined by the warning labels , it has it original feature of sliding up as well. it is dived into two parts 10 in one side 10 on the other this is quite unusual in the UK , although i have seen it in other country's - I really like the packaging its very traditional , just like the cigarettes themselves 9.5/10 
-  Really thought its quite plain and dated 

The cig 

Just says in the middle Gallahers Park Drive , there quite harsh if your not used to unfiltered, the tobacco is well packed and like most unfiltered cigs it uses a quality tobacco , they have a very different taste to filters , its quite a unique taste, they give a good hit and the taste is quite nice and tastes good in the mouth , leaves a good head rush good hit from them , if find you get a good hit when you don't have a filter they dont burn away to fast , but its not the best burn time .FSC has changed them a bit , not quite the same taste as they used to have. If you aren't used to unfiltered they will be strange at first and you may get some tobacco in you're mouth. Worth a try if you haven't had unfiltered and there one of the best out of the few available within the UK

Rating   

8.5/10 - Very good tobacco as with unfiltered as there's nothing to hide the bad tobacco , everyone should try an unfiltered if you can find them as there what's smoking is all about back to basics - The price is a little bit to much to smoke them all the time , but there worth the treat . Burn time isn't the best and have a different taste to filter cigs  , so if you're used to them it could be unusual at first 








Thursday 9 August 2012

Cigs brought back and to be reviewed















Camel filters. Soft pack
Had a pack while i was there , these are the soft pack , and they have taken a bit of a hit in the suitcase on the way back






Regal King Size

my usual  brand , ill do one on these to , brought a few of these back.


















West .
i enjoyed these i got a pack to try and got 200 as you cant get them in the UK 3.70 euros and you get 25 in a pack there great value and not bad at all , will do a full review and detailing on them at a later date.




















Lucky strike.
One of the iconic brands of the world VERY popular in world war 2 never tried these as they are very expensive in the UK so i got them as of that reason as there cheap in zante , and never tried them these are also in the soft pack , i like soft packs but they do get beat up easier.



Camel black

couldn't take a picture as the battery died on my camera , never heard of these don't even know what flavor ect.. they are but will review them got them as it was a unusual pack and had not heard of them

Stuff brought back

Cigs brought back

As i said in my previous post i have been on holiday to zante a greek island it is truly and amazing place, especially if you smoke , can smoke in nearly every place you go , aswell as cheap prices , but it was a lovely place and everyone was very friendly.

It allowed me to  have different cigs aswell but i brought some 200 cartons back that i will review so heres a heads up on what i brought back  i will ad some pictures of the cartons soon

Rothmans Gold King Size ( UK )


Rothmans Gold King Size ( UK )
I originally wanted to do videos , but have started a blog as i am having big trouble trying to upload them , anyway here is the first product i will rewiew , i have just been on holiday so have some others to do i smoked some there so theres not as many as i would have liked but still onto the review

Overview.

Rothmans have been around for many years they had big sponsorship in many motersports such as F1 and Bike Racing , they also sponserd a big Horse race in if i remember correctly South Africa called the ( rothmans ) July . They have always had a sort of luxury image , they were advertised with people smoking them on their own private boats ect... . At one point they were the strongest filterd cigs in the UK . Not to long ago with prices going up and up due to higher taxes in the uk , British American Tobacco ( BAT) decided to make a budget version of Rothmans to give a cheap smoke with a reassuring name is along the lines of what they said when announcing them.
Price

I have just been away to Zante and it was nice to not worry about price as all cigs there were around 3 or 4 euros , a friend got two packs of Lambert & Butler for nearly the price of 1 pack of 20 here in the uk. but here in the UK , price is a worry and these don't do that as for 20 there just £5.73 so there one of the lowest priced in the UK . No matter what there like for the price you cant knock them
Packaging 
For a budget brand it has lovely packaging , it gives off a look of luxury, i wont go into details but it keeps the iconic look of the original blue ones , and it stands out it, it dose have a nice look to it ill give it a 9/10 as it dose seem to copy the original blues it would be nice if it was just different from them but still very well packaged . There also a similar shape to silk cuts packs
The cig.

plain looking just says Rothmans on it and a silver band 10mg tar 1.0mg nicotine 10mg carbon monoxide , due to E.U regulations its the strongest we can have , but there not that harsh , they taste good to. Good tobacco for a budget brand , good nicotine rush you can feel the head rush , normally budget produce a awful taste but these are probably the best budget cigs i have ever had they get a bit stronger as you get to the end like most cigs they leave a nice aftertaste aswell i can not complain at all there wonderful for the price for the price there a most try i cannot recommend them enough for the price they deliver on there promise on the back of the pack to " deliver quality taste without compromise" they are a fantastic editon to the Rothmans  name BAT have produced a worthy edition to the product line without damaging the name of the original blue Rothmans





Rating.
9/10 a little light to start gets stronger towards the end of the cig. but for the price they are 10/10 so ill go for a 9.5/10