Cigarettes that were smoked in the 60s, 70s, and 80s, and what the brands said about you

eves darling, eves....

....................

Alpines had a certain glacial appeal...

My Virginia Slims said everything you needed to know about me.

Marlboro shorts in the box, Benson & Hedges Menthols, Parliament, Vantage, Marlboro 100s, and lastly Carlton 100s in the box.

Silva Thins were kind of cool to smoke, but they kept going out.

Let's say you were a wealthy New York socialite in the 70s. What brand would you smoke?

lol r6 can you imagine how many people's heads would explode if that ad were made today?

Silva Thins ad!

Rothmans and Eves 120s

I wanted to be that Barclay Man as a kid. He was so suave looking.

Who could resist lemon plus menthol plus tobacco?

I remember (but never smoked) Waterfords. Their gimmick was water capsules in the filter that you pinched. I guess it was to make your cigarette taste...wet....

Funny no one here is answering OP's ?...... I always thought Barclay's and Carlton's said about one: "I've been smoking a long time, and know I shouldn't, therefore I chose these tasteless G_d-awful diet cigarettes"

Fifty years ago..Kool made me one of the guys. I was white and my buddies in the army were all black

I'm into day four of no tobacco.... This thread is not easy.... Those lemon cigs sure look tasty!

My parents smoked generic menthol cigarettes - the brand-free kind sold in the white packages. They were professional smokers!

I remember Ritz, by Yves St.Laurent early eighties..... Were not a superior smoke, that choice declared you to be utterly pretentious!

Marlboros for 12 years said "I smoke." No one would have mistaken me for the Marlboro Man, believe me.

Merits for 10 years said "I want to quit, but not really." And I smoked them until I did quit, 30 years ago.

Parliaments were the cigarette brand of choice for coke heads and hipsters.

[quote]Who could resist lemon plus menthol plus tobacco?

So it could cause and cure your cough at the same time? The Hall's Mentho-lyptus of cigarettes.

I want Marlboro Red 100's or Benson & Hedges Park Ave.... The strongest ones....

We smoked Player 100s in the late 80s. They were British and came in a black box.

The guy Silva Thins ads, Carl Parker, also did some porn.

LS/MFT, after the war a lot of vets kept smoking these little things. Unfiltered so it was always an instant headache for me. They still make them though they're a lot harder to find that the big brands today.

Peter Jackson. Ages ago, the advertising slogan was "It's not the ability to do extraordinary things. It's the ability to do ordinary things extraordinarily well." I don't remember that, myself, but I do remember the nice box they came in before scary pictures were required to fill most of the space.

What did they say when I smoked them? "I like a good, strong burn in the back of the throat." (They were pretty strong.)

A cousin of mine smoked Carltons years ago, and they were like smoking warm air. Just totally pointless.

R23, I loved those as well! Very hard to find consistently though..... Always wondered if they were named after the Grand Prix racer?

In the 80s, protohipsters smoked British or French cigs. Or cloves. That scent still makes me want to listen to Bauhaus and the Smiths.

We were not "Proto-Hipsters", just cool! Sobranie Cocktail cigs in pastels for the gals, and Sobranie Black Russians for the guys

This damned thread is making me want to buy cigarettes....

R30, you were not cool. No one who smoked clove cigarettes was.

I was just about to post Sobranie cocktail r30! As 80s as leg warmers and fingerless gloves.

In the 80s we trendies smoked:

cloves bidis Camel unfiltered Gauloises Dunhills sell-rolled Nat Shermans any authentic Egyptian brand we could get ahold of

I never smoked because I'm super, man!

Smoked for years. Marlboros as a kid (though my slutty stepsister smoked Capris)...we would never smoke Winstons because they made your lungs bleed. Then I moved to Camels Ultra Lights after college. Always seemed to be fucking guys that were either smoking Dunhills (posers)...American Spirits (lost souls)...or Parliaments (whores.)

Haven't smoked for 10+ years...but have been taking care of old relatives and burying a lot people and have started to wonder if it really matters. We're all going to die. Live long enough...some cancer gets you.

But, I will say, cigarettes (like drugs) are the equalizer and the ticket to ride. You will meet the coolest people and have some amazing experiences if you always have a smoke and a light.

R32, Sobranie's are tobacco only blends, not cloves.... Did not say I smoked those.... R30 here...R33, thx for the pics you posted.... Eldergay here, not quite sure how to create the "Links"..... The Sobranies were very popular in the late 50's through the 60's according to my mum who liked to smoke them too.

Smoking More 120s meant you wanted to be Alexis Carrington Colby Dexter etc.

R38, my Aunt, and a best female friend only smoked Mores.... I think they declared the ladies were tough! Looked like cigarillos men smoked.... Or the Sobranie Black Russians, but thinner

Gitanes, for the Francophiles. John Lennon smoked them.

They were ludicrously overpriced at the one newsstand in the city that sold them, so what it said about me was that I was a TOTAL POSER. I saved them for when I went out; my everyday brand was Vantage.

I had a friend who smoked some hideous clove cigarettes that stunk up every place he went.

Gitanes were very acrid smelling like bad cigars, but definitely not as long to linger as clove cigarettes..... Vantage and True were mild and great tasting I recall.... Something special about their filters -allegedly!

The thing about More cigarettes R39 was if left unattended they stopped burning.

Carlton if you were classy and health-conscious. Ha!

Interesting R42.... Kind of like how all cigs sold in the states are now by law. Guess they were ahead of their time!

R43, those Carltons were awful! Had an older lady friend who switched to them.... Tried one once while we were out cocktailing, and remember it had a maple synthetic flavour.... So hard to draw a puff too!

Marlboros were for men with big dicks.

I used to smoke Export A, then later, Players Light. This is in Canada.

So, I found this site showing all the available cigarettes, and it was a trip down memory lane.

I quit smoking December 12, 1986.

Of course, being a long time ex-smoker, I find cigarettes disgusting.

Cloves were for special occasions, to be smoked sparingly.

r48 I mainly remember them being smoked by the punk and gay kids (and yes the Smiths and Morrissey was often played) hanging out in the alley behind a small college town coffee shop in California.

I was young. I hated cigarettes but grew up in an inner-city neighborhood in a blue-collar family. And I smoked from high school senior year through age 29.

Old women or "thrifty" women smoked Raleigh for the coupons. My mother smoked Bel Air because she grew up with the notion menthols were more lady-like and they had the coupons, too.

Real men smoked Lucky Strikes, Winstons, Chesterfields, Camel non-filters (my brand at one time) or - up and coming - Tareytons. And when Marlboros cemented their he-man western image, a lot of younger men switched to Marlboros. Younger men also tried retro smokes like Chesterfield and Luckys as far back as the late 1960s.

College men smoked Marlboros, but also would branch out. Kents were considered a little more up-scale.

Black people smoked Kool, but the real hard-cores smoked Kool non-filters. I was a pot-head and mixed with acid, mesc and hash, but it was three Kool non-filters that had me fall off a fire escape once. Well, with a Southern Comfort chaser.

The Lady Cigs were considered trashy because they were such poofy marketing gimmicks, but a lot of people in offices went with Benson and Hedges. Chesterfield 101s had a following because of the commercials ("silly little millimeter longer, 101"). Eves and other womanish things were smoked by big-haired, big-bodied women who wanted to look feminine.

If you could get Turkish brands or smoked Dunhills you were toooooo fashionable.

I've forgotten a lot, but am surprised I remember as much as I do. Haven't thought about it for a long time. Ugh. Nasty.

A lot of women also smoked Salem because they didn't have the "urban" connotation but still were menthol.

"Run out and get me a packa Kents."

At 8 years old, I wonder what my cigarettes said about me.....

I remember Merits and Benson & Hedges being quite tasty. They were once very popular brands, but seemed to have disappeared.

Salem used to be jokingly called "menthol for white people."

These days the few people I know who still smoke, all smoke Marlboro Lights, Camel Lights or Parliaments. Most of the old brands mentioned in this thread have either been discontinued, or are not widely sold anymore.

Kents were like smoking hot air, horrible cigarettes.

It's not what brand you smoke but how you smoke that matters.

Speaking of Bette Davis, she smoked Vantage in the 80s.

Camel unfiltered -for the very committed smoker.

I tried a few unfiltered Camels back in my smoking days - OMG! I don't know how people could smoke those as an everyday brand, they were so damn strong.

[quote] What did smoking Barclays cigarettes say about you in the 1980s?

Not much. No one smoked them. I actually used to work in a grocery store during the 1980's at the Cigarette and photo finishing department. I don't even remember Barclays

[quote] I remember Merits and Benson & Hedges being quite tasty. They were once very popular brands, but seemed to have disappeared.

They were extremely popular. Didn't Benson & Hedges used to have some type of tickets in them? Where if you saved up enough you could get items free (like green stamps)?

I'd always thought of Bull Durhams as being more macho than Marlboros, but it would appear that their early ads were aimed at a ....well.......different sort!

Jackie Kennedy smoked B&H's 100s. They laasted longer>

Former Benson and Hedges smoker here. I switched to Newports a few years before I quit smoking for good. There's nothing I miss more than a coffee and a cigarette, even though I've been a non smoker for almost 20 years.

Pall Mall is still around, but it's a discount brand now and I've been told it's terrible.

I believe Pall Mall still has a premium (more expensive) cigarette along with their cheaper red packs r65.

LS/MFT Lucky Strike Means Fine Tobacco

Or in the Trailer Park in Milpitas it meant: Loose Straps Mean Flabby Tits.

I haven’t smoked for years r64 but there are still times that cry out for a cigarette. When I got in from work I used to make a gin and tonic and light a Benson &Hedges, open the window, pick up the newspaper (ha! remember them?) and just relax for thirty minutes. Now I come in, empty the dishwasher, check my phone and pine for more relaxed times.

Never smoked, but my Anglophile friends smoked Rothman's the type with the gold band!

Alexis and her More 120s. The cigarette for plotting schemes while wearing a million dollars worth of jewelry around the house.

This very tan gentleman smokes them!

lol r70. I like the idea of Plotting Cigarettes.

Adam — the cigarette for chest hair, gold chains and perma-tan stallions at the local singles bar.

More 100s scream Mussey time with mama!

Virginia Slims. What did that say about me? That I’m a big fag.

I only smoked Fags in the 60s, 70s, and 80s.

OASIS....

r25: we said LS/MFT stood for "Let's stop, my finger's tired."

Looking at old cigarette ads, they were borderline criminal with the "benefits" of smoking a particular brand. Like the ads for low-tar cigarettes saying they were "safer to smoke." It's amazing what the tobacco companies got away with for so many years.

That being said, I still pine for a Marb Red every once in a while, especially if I'm having a glass of red wine. I really do miss smoking sometimes, as horrible as it is for you.

What were Now cigarettes like? I wasn’t old enough to smoke in the 70s but these were advertised in magazines and I thought the modern metallic looking packaging looked cool. I remember cigarette advertising everywhere. On buses and the tops of cabs (Carlton is lowest...etc.)

I actually used to masturbate to this (on the back of TV Guide!) when I was a kid. A year or two later, when I started smoking, I was a Marlboro Red (had to be box) man.

He was a hot fuck though and the hairy chest definitely helped. Too bad he's such an ass.

I remember that model, R71. He was on Merv's show once and as I recall he was French and very charming and Merv was doing a lot oohs, only the way he could- leaning way forward and smiling.

I've posted way too much on this thread... After four days cig free, picked up a box of Marlboro reds on my way home frome the grocery store to enjoy with my red wine tonight. Not feeling to guilty, as I've cut down to 1-3 per day.... Still wrong though! I've been smoking since 1982.

[quote]Pall Mall is still around

How did you pronounce it? In New Jersey, we said "Pell Mell."

I always thought it was pronounced “Paul Maul”. I should probably “Oh, Dear” myself right now. Luckily nobody smokes these days, which means I will never have to pronounce this....

A silly millimeter longer ... for you size queens.

My Benson & Hedges Lights 100's said that I was tired of my local store running out of Marlboro Lights 100's. Their loss and my gain. I swear those B&H Lights had a caramel brûlée thing happening at the far back of the palate. Far better. Glad I quit, however...

That's what I used to smoke when I smoked r87. Then I discovered Marlboro Ultra Lights.

I miss smoking.

A couple weeks ago, a chick gave me one of her Eve cigs she bought in Iceland. They were super skinny, not 5 mm in diameter. A box of 20 of them was square, about 1.5" x 1.5". I tried to find a pic online but can't.

I didn't smoke because I hated the smell of cigarettes but hung out with a lot of smokers in high school so I'd always have a pack or two of Half & Half cigarettes in my book bag and offered them to my pals because I liked the smell of pipe tobacco.

Just FYI, 2016 top US brands' market share:

Marlboro, 41%

Newport, 13%

Camel (filter only), 8%

Pall Mall Box, 7%

Pyramid, 2%

Maverick, 2%

Santa Fe, 2%

Winston, 2%

Kool, 2%

r80, those remind me of Capri brand super slims that my bright-eyed friendliest college friend used to smoke, menthol, while smacking on her peppermint gum.

I remember rather liking SPRINGs.

I think plain tobacco cigarettes are good for you. Tobacco is a grounding herb. People were happier and everyone got along better when we all smoked and drank. A cocktail with lunch, and before and after dinner - never hurt anybody.

I liked Camel Lights.

R91, no Parliment on that list? That's what I smoked mostly. I loved those things.

I liked 'em all.... That's part of the problem..... Think I could've gotten to day 5 sans cigs before I read this nostalgic thread!

Innovation dried up when smoking -- and smokers -- were banned.

Horrendous habit that killed millions of people, including my mother at the age of 55. There was nothing beautiful about smoking. I say this as a thirty year smoker. It is a major expensive, smelly addiction that made you a disgusting, smelly addict.

"Scotch Buy" said you should have been spending your income on food rather than cigarettes.

Terrible habit, R99. I started smoking as a kid, was lucky to finally quit at age 26. The whole time I was a smoker I was trying to quit, I smoked fro 13 years. Yes, we smoked young. Now we'd be appalled to se a 13 or 14 year old kid smoke, but we did back then. I celebrate 20 years this year as being a non smoker. I havnt touched a single one in 20 years. And never will, I don't think I can quit ever again if I started. I'm a strong guy but quitting smoking was the hardest thing I've ever done.

What's worse for you Camel non-filters or Lucky Strike non-filters?

I smoked from age 15-50, with a few breaks in there. For most of those years, it was Marlboro Reds in the flip-top box.

Raleigh in college. An RA used to swap his Raleighs for my Marlboros, because mine were weaker. I liked them so much, I changed for a couple years.

In Europe, I smoked Prince. If I couldn't find Prince, I smoked Gitanes. Gitanes stained fingers like crazy. But they were widely available and cheap.

If it was full flavor, filtered, and nonmenthol, I have tried it.

R101, I quit 8 years ago when I was 50 and Bloomberg raised the tax on cigarettes. $375 a month was OK but $400 a month was not acceptable! I guess, also, that I was simply done with it. Once one gets to that point, quitting is easy. I don't judge or preach to smokers, all I say is to relate my experience, when you are done with it, you will know.

Almost there too R104.... If I can continue 1-3 per day, I'd like to though.

Tried to quit countless times, reduced my daily #, tried again, and the last time I didn't fail was the end. 2 to 3 days of fighting physical cravings and then it was all habit-breaking. When I felt a psychological trigger at home I would get up and walk out of the house with my keys and storm around my block like a crazy person. Repeat. Don't remember how I stopped the something's-missing-something's-missing-something's-missing when I was in my car commuting to and from work. I suppose I just white-knuckled it and after a while it stuck.

I used Chantrix for two months. I would take it in the morning, get a cigarette and coffee buzz. It caused some nausea but the cigarette buzz was good.

I don't mean to preach, but I am so glad that I am done with cigarettes. I missed them maybe 30 seconds in eight years, which I find shocking. I really thought I would die a smoker, I loved it so much. I can't explain it. I simply came to a point in which I was just done with it. That moment was so unexpected.

With the oldest Obama daughter smoking in public perhaps cigarettes are cool again.

Parliaments are the fucking crack cocaine of cigarettes. You smoke one, and ten minutes later you want another one.

[quote]We were not "Proto-Hipsters", just cool! Sobranie Cocktail cigs in pastels for the gals, and Sobranie Black Russians for the guys

Yes!! I was trying to remember what those were. The student union bookstore sold them, and they were expensive but they looked so cool.

R110, did you see the pic another posted? Was nice to see them after I had mentioned them. I was at Uni in the 80's in London, and it seemed everyone "very cool" liked them!

Kent's

R112, my tennis coach smoked the hell out of Kents.... They tasted like ass, even when fresh..... Packaging did appear primo though.

Success

Vantage & True were good flavoured American brands..... Think they were Lorillard....

Viceroy...my grandfather loved these

Always the perfect stocking stuffer or gift for the neighbor!

Salems

Marketing. It was all marketing.

Cool R116.... Finally a brand I can say I have NOT sampled! Remember the name... When did those go the way of the Dodo bird?

Does anyone remember Larks? My uncle smoked those back in the day, I don't believe they're still made.

Picture of Larks.

Show us your Lark!

I remember Merits being very popular with women in the 80s and early 90s.

r94 is Trump's appointee for Surgeon General.

When I go to other countries, I'm always surprised at how many people still smoke.

My grandfather smoked Chesterfield non-filters. I remember the smoke smell being very strong.

My HS government teacher smoked Kents. At lunch, the smoking teachers gathered in the boiler room in the subbasement. I had him for sixth period. He gave off an intoxicating aroma of cigarettes, coffee with milk, and Big Red cinnamon gum. I swooned over him for two years from my second row seat.

I used to order all the cigarettes for a grocery store back then. Marlboro was always the most popular, but Winston and Salem were also up there as well. Kent and True sold pretty good, too. Merit was the yuppie cigarette, especially the Ultra-lights. Lark, Chesterfield, Pall Mall, Lucky Strikes were old-people smokes. Newport and Kool were strictly for blacks. Virginia Slims amd Eve 120 were for women, and Carlton was for people who wanted "healthy smoking". Benson and Hedges were for people who wanted to project a wealthier image. Tareyton was the working stiff's cigarette.

KENT, with the Micronite filter!

Remember guys, if you smoke the only way to truly look hot and masculine is to NEVER hold the cigarette between the middle and index finger but rather the index and the THUMB.

But if you MUST hold it between the index and middle then NEVER position it in a way where your fingers from a VERTICAL "V". The "V" must be set at AT LEAST a 45 degree angle from the head.

Right way:

WRONG way.

Although not optimal this still is acceptably manly.

Conversely, this is NOT.

Started late (20) with Cowboy Killers, then studied abroad in England where I smoked Rothman's and John Player. Back in the States I switched to Marlboro 100s and an occasional Dunhill when going out to clubs. Toward the end I tried clove cigarettes, but they didn't do much for me.

I smoked over a 15 year period, but for at least 4 or 5 years during that period I didn't smoke. I quit many times... sometimes I went 1-2 years, other times a few days. I thought so much about the possibility of coming down with lung cancer that I woke up one day and no longer had an urge to smoke. I rarely did after that. The last time (and it had been years since the previous time) was I saw CMBYN last year. I really wanted to pour myself a big glass of wine and smoke a few cigarettes after the screening.

I smoked Rothmans or John Player Specials except when I would work in The Netherlands when I would smoke Peter Stuyvesants or in a pinch Belindas.

Yes. Belindas.

I quit smoking in April of 1990.

I find it so amusing how the harpies on the hard left prattle on about "personal choice" , fat shaming" and the "virtues and benefits of cannabis" but they constantly treat cigarette smokers as if they are vermin in need of extermination. With every piece of anti-smoking legislation they almost sound like fucking Pentecostal preachers railing against mans "sinful nature" and warning of eternal damnation and hell fire. And this religious fervor and authoritarianism extends to e-cigs as well.

I hate cigarettes but if I don't have to breathe a smokers toxic exhalations in an enclosed space then they can do whatever the hell they WANT with their own bodies.

Right on R137! May good things come to your libertarian heart!

I will be shat upon and pilloried for this, but I do miss smoking and nonsmoking sections, as well as smoking in bars. And I'll admit that it's mostly nostalgic, that it was the time when I had the most fun.

R129... Thanks for your concise and considerate answer.... Cracked me up w/Merit being "The Yuppie Cigarette"! Only knew a couple people who smoked Merits.... Oddly enough, honest to Pete, one gal was named Merit she said that was why she smoked them! I tried hers, they were decidedly artificially flavoured to me, but smooth.

R137 - That's the crux of smoking. Rarely is it a truly solo experience. It usually affects others in some way. And thus, we have strict regulations in an attempt to keep it away from my nostrils. Aside from the direct, unwanted exposure, it also costs health care systems an enormous amount of money, which, we all pay for.

If I was dictator of the world, I'd outright ban tobacco. It has absolutely no benefit, and only detriments for the user, and everyone else nearby. Fuck it that some sociopathic corporations, and shareholders, gain wealth because of it.

[quote]Fuck it that some sociopathic corporations, and shareholders, gain wealth because of it.

Cry me a fucking river. Why aren't the alcohol corporations taken to task? Nobody gives a shit that their mind-altering poison is perfectly legal.

R142 - Are you a Republican? I ask, because you have this deflection thing going on. . .

[quote][R142] - Are you a Republican? I ask, because you have this deflection thing going on. . .

Not R142 but I have to ask you R143....are you a Dem? Because you have this hypocritical double standard thing going on...

And for the record I am neither. The right AND the left can kiss my fucking ass.

R144 - See, this is the big mistake you Americans always make regarding politics. The Dems are not 'left'. They are, in the rest of the civilized world, considered a right of center party. Still, controlled by the corporations, including big tobacco. The Republicans are so far right, they could be labelled 'fascist'. You really do need a sincere democratic socialist party in power for a few years to bring back a balance to your country.

Also, I wasn't really having a glass of wine at R143. I just wrote that to pull your chain.

We don’t want socialism in America, thanks very much, r145.

R146, who the fuck do you think you're speaking for?

You may not want it, but you need it. You are spiraling down the toilet in your model of greed capitalism. Becoming a 'shithole' country quickly.

[quote][R146], who the fuck do you think you're speaking for?

ME, for one!

A non-smoker for almost 30 years but that Canadian page took me down memory lane. Du Maurier, Rothmans and Players Light. My first cig was an Export A. Don't remember what brand was the last but glad to be free. Life is great without that smokey monkey!

Come outside with us

For those trying to quit, try weening off using a vaporizer. Not saying it will work for everyone but it Worked for me and I haven’t done either for a couple of years. Wasn’t very hard either.

Am I dreaming or did the major brands market a fad where the filters had crushable menthol filers?

Smoking is a nasty habit but I have to admit on CERTAIN guys it does look sexy.

2 PACKS OF L AND M'S A DAY GAVE MY DADDY HEART ATTACK AT 49.

GOD DAM CIGS!!!

But smoking only affects the smoker if done alone in an enclosed space, r154. FREEDOM!

[quote]But smoking only affects the smoker if done alone in an enclosed space, [R154]. FREEDOM!

Their body, their choice, RIGHT?

No judgements, RIGHT?

When I knew Johnny Marr (The Smiths) he was smoking Players No6. I don't think we'd ever heard of clove cigarettes at that point.

Back in the convent school in the mid '70's, we sneaked behind the wood shed to smoke Benson and Hedges or Dunhill. We gave each other Sobranie cocktail cigarettes for birthday presents and occassionally Fribourg and Treyer which had cool pin stripes down the side.

We thought we were so cool.

I tried a clove cig once, when I was in college. I only smoked it halfway down before I felt like I was going to be sick. Goddamn those things were nasty!

For gay men, it's Old Golds or nothing!

I started smoking in self-defense when I was 23. As a new cop, I was seemingly always partnered in a car with a chain-smoking senior officer. As the son of two chain-smokers, I grew up hating being around cigarette smoke. One rainy night I was on patrol with an inveterate smoker and I actually found it hard to breathe. My eyes were watering and I couldn't roll the window down because of the rain. "Give me a cigarette," I said. "I thought you never smoked," my partner replied. "Watch me," I said.

My theory worked. By smoking a cigarette myself, there were no more annoying symptoms associated with being around people who did. Yay!

The first brand I tried was Marlboro Red, for their sheer masculine appeal. I soon discovered I didn't really like the taste of them, soI switched to Lark. Lark tasted slightly like gingerbread, and it smelled like really mild pipe tobacco. Plus, there was a layer of tiny charcoal bits sandwiched in the middle of the filter, which made a satisfying crunching sound and feel when you rolled the filter between your thumb and forefinger.

Larks grew increasingly difficult to find, so I switched to Parliament Light 100s. They were mild, but not "vapid," like Carlton. Plus, the Parliament filter was recessed by a quarter-inch or so, so you could press your thumbnail against it to make little patterns.

It was easy to judge a person by the kind of cigarette he smoked. Interestingly, R159 mentions gay guys smoking Old Golds. I agree, but with qualifications: it seemed to me that only the oldest, queeniest guys smoked Old Golds—and they always did. In gay bars, I'd see a lot of guys smoking the long, skinny cigarettes like Virginia Slims and Eve. Marlboro Reds were then, as now, the most overtly sexual cigarette among gays in general. Marlboro must have had a hell of a marketing department.

Eventually, most of the world quit smoking but I did not. I was a rabidly militant smoker (translate that to full-on asshole), and I smoked where I wanted and when I wanted. I really was a dick. And one day I just decided to quit. Which I did. Cold turkey. It was the hardest thing I ever did. That was 20 years ago and I've never felt better.

An aside to those of you smokers who are having major trouble quitting: do try Chantix. I've known three (3) extremely hardcore smokers who have used it to quit the habit for good.

Marlboro Lights 100's are the cig of choice amongst really queeny gay guys.

Does anyone here remember the German cigs Shepherd 's Hotel, and Springwater? Both made by same company.... Smooth and rich like Turkish or Egyptian blends.... Springwater had a delightful black cavendish blend, so even non-smokers commented on the nice fragrance. Sadly, after Obama changing Cig legislation, these were verboten for import here, as they were considered "flavoured" cigs, due to their inclusion of vanilla.... They prob don't date back more than late 80's, but I could be mistaken. Miss them so much! Unparalleled aromas.

Alitalia among many Intl airliners used to serve us cognac and complementary Dunhill cigarettes in Economy class in the 70's, all free of charge!

Any mention yet of the subliminal art on the Camel pack? You know, the standing guy holding his boner and facing the lion that's fucking the camel?

I get Kool mixed up with Newports.

I smoked “Players” cigarettes back in the 1980s. I thought they were so classy and sophisticated. I liked the taste, too. I quit smoking, but I’ll always fondly remember that brand. I was in my mid to late 20s at that time. Many guys smoked in the bars back then.

r164 where? I don't see it.

NY socialite? Your brand is right at home-Sherman! A treat I reserved for holidays, VERY expensive, even then.

Poor SF Catholic kid? Parliaments, the old style with the recessed tip (Mom's brand). Graduated (errr..) to Pall Mall Red unfiltered kings. My Gran smoked them for 60 years. She died of natural causes. Sorry, anti-tobacco shriekers. If you were a pretensious art-y type hangin' SOMA or North Beach it was Gauloise or Dunhills. These days, it's Pall Mall Red 100s, MYO, or vaping.

They're there r167.......

When I was a kid working in a drug store, Alpine and Raleigh cigarettes came with a coupon tucked into the back of the pack. You saved them and traded them in for merchandise like S&H Green Stamps.

These days, Parliaments are very common among upper middle-class/wealthy types, at least in the Northeast.

I never did get my RCA XL-100 TV, R170. :-)

You are correct r170! The most "expensive" item in the gift catalog you picked from was the deluxe iron lung.

I had a relative that was in an iron lung for a year, R173.

He contracted polio in Venice (Italy). Never touched a cigarette.

According to this link, Obama preferred Marlboro reds

What sorts of cigarettes do Lesbian smoke, if Lesbians smoke cigarettes?

Obama has good taste

Funny R177! Sweet advert too.

R177 cigars

You couldn't get to the cigarettes but you could pinch cigars back in the day.....

R138, before you get too carried away, R137 doesn't want to pay for your health insurance for lung cancer treatments either.

[quote]What sorts of cigarettes do Lesbian smoke, if Lesbians smoke cigarettes?

Marb Lights/Marb Ultra Lights from what I've seen.

[quote]What sorts of cigarettes do Lesbian smoke, if Lesbians smoke cigarettes?

Vagina Slims

I fondly remember smoking Lucky Strikes. I’m guessing they aren’t made anymore. It’s a shame people have been so brainwashed about smoking and alcohol. People were happier and more sociable when smoking and drinking was commonplace.

As a child, I remember our home bar, and Mother mixing cocktails for my father for when he came home from work. And she did NOT use mixes! Daddy would come home and have a cocktail and a cigarette before dinner, and he and Mother would enjoy a cocktail together after dinner.

We knew not to bother Daddy until after he’d had his afternoon cocktail. But afterwards, he was relaxed and congenial and playful.

Lucky Strikes are still around. I just saw them on the cig rack at the gas station I went to yesterday.

r185 what cocktails?

Kinna Hora R182.... What a horrid thing to say.

R182 just soured a delightfully nostalgic thread for me.... And you shall have no luck whatsoever in trying to guilt me, as my mother was a travel agent for guilt trips, AND I'm Jewish!

Turkish Specials were all the rage in my Freshman UCI pack of hippie rebels in 1971.

My brand now is Jack Herer.

How many of you bitches ever gave or received a carton of ciggies as a gift?

Still do R191... Prob more now than ever, considering how high the taxes are on tobacco. Duty-Free, or traveling to states where they're cheap really make it worthwhile.... People appreciate it.

Benson and Hedges Menthol Lights was my last brand. Smoked for 20 years and then quit cold turkey.

My mom used to smoke Montclairs, in a blue pack. (Among different brands.) She also wore Tweed perfume. She died when she was 45 from BC.

IF YOU HVE JUST QUIT OR WANT TO???? Do NOT watch Mad Men. I felt like i was getting lung cancer by proxy watching that show.

I don't think I've ever known a black person who smoked, who didn't smoke menthols. 99% of the time it's Newports.

Please don't misjudge me. I would never wish anything bad to happen to anyone. Ever.

Dad was Lucky Strikes junkie and died of esophageal cancer. Mom loved her Winstons and died of COPD. As a kid I begged them to quit and was ignored. My child would actually pull the cigarettes out of their mouths, for which I would have been smacked hard had I done the same at the same age, Dad actually did quit then but the damage had been done.

Still I can appreciate the artistry of the pushers. Benson & Hedges did the BEST commercials. They said you were hip enough to appreciate a good tuba.

My dad, a white Queens NY guy smoked Kool. He quit a few years before lung cancer got him. The damage was done. He started having heat problems which got him to quit. Then came COPD, Emphysema, then Lung Cancer. A man who was a beautiful healthy muscular fit man struggling to breathe was awful. Don't smoke, gentleman. Quit today if you do.

[121], [122]: I smoked Larks for years; loved the smooth, slightly sweet taste. Whenever I was trying to quit, I’d switch to menthols, often Newport or Salem, because I hated them, and hoped that would spur my desire to quit.

I finally did quit, on August 1, 1985, over 32 years ago. Quitting smoking is very difficult to do in the short run, but very easy in the long run. I still surprise myself at not feeling any inclination to start again. And they stopped making Larks sometime along the way.

Years ago, a therapist I was working with told me nicotine is one of two substances scientifically proven to inhibit emotional response. I can believe that; during the ten years I worked on locked psych units, the patients craved smoking cigarettes more than anything else.

Smoking used to be ubiquitous. On planes in the 50’s, your meal tray would include a miniature pack of four Winston cigarettes, along with a tiny pack of six matches. Everybody smoked everywhere. There were even ash trays in movie theaters; I recall them in Radio City Music Hall. It was just the way life was.

So changed now. In New York City, smokers actually have to go downstairs and smoke outside. Wow. AA meetings back in the 80’s had clouds of smoke hovering over them. People smoked everywhere.

I used to love a cigarette after a meal. After I stopped, I’d just get up and leave after eating. Smoking was such a lingering kind of activity. My mother, who was an actress in the 30’s, used to say that if you didn’t know what to do in a scene, just light a cigarette, especially in a Noel Coward play.

So long gone now as to seem ridiculously unfashionable.

Smoking was wonderful and nearly everyone did it, everywhere. It was a nice lingering activity as you say R199. Relaxing, unrushed, it slowed things down and created a relaxed mood. After a meal, a quiet relaxing drive or walk. Now like is just too dames busy without enough hours in the day. My choice was for the most part Parliment Box. But I'd dabbled with Marlboro, Marlboro lights, Merit lights, Newport for a change here and there. Even Salem an B&H. But Parliment was my main stay cigarette. Perfect for me. Luckily I quit, proudly 20 years ago this year. I managed to quit at 26. It was a battle to quit the whole time I smoked. I'll never touch another cigeratte for as long as I live.

O.K.everybody.......

R199 Phillip Morris still makes Lark brand smokes.

This is how I kept from being as hippy as Ethel.

Dorals originally had plastic filters that had baffles and air channels.

R204, these polystyrene and plasticine filters are worse than the tobacco! Smoke English, European, or Camels... If you must smoke! All cotton filters.

Does anyone recall Phillip Morriss branded cigs sold in Asia? They were really good, but think it odd they didn't market them under one of their name brands, and even more curious they never appeared in any other markets. I liked the package design..... Very large swanky armorial device or crest w/a nice font... More detailed than the crest on Marlboros....

Hope someone here more clever with links can provide an image of the Posh PM's....I've searched online for an image, but come up empty handed.

[Quote] Nicotine is one of two substances scientifically proven to inhibit emotional response

What is the other one?

my memories are just of trying to get my mom to quit as far back as i can recall. I have asthma and was always coughing and everything stunk. I remember learning to drive with her in her old boxy volvo and she lit up and i almost ran off the road coughing. She smoked benson & hedges, like gold ones or something.

Tareyton smokers would rather fight than switch.

Always dug the Tareyton font and logo.... Thought it looked really cool.... Funny the poster upthread who stocked cigs yrs ago said Tareytons were the "working stiff's cig of choice"

R208: life

Indeed-y Sir Speedy! R12

R206 not sure about back then, but Phillip Morris International is a separate division. I owned the stock for a while and it always did well, paid a dividend. The investment advice I was given when I bought it was that in other countries people aren't as aware of the dangers of smoking and so PMI is a great longterm investment. I only sold it due to needing money for an insane amount of taxes I ended up owing.

Very interestingR214....Makes sense. They still smoke a ton in Asia. Last flights to finally no smoking were the non-stops direct to Asia. That company's stock was always up for the longest time, but they had weird splits, forget the technical name for it in finance-ese, but they created several separate corp entities after they split from KRAFT, Then they split again awhile later.

My mother smoked Parliaments for years, even when she was pregnant with me. Her obstetrician smoked in his office! (Not in the delivery room, thank God.)

When she got older Mom’s brand loyalty faltered. She cut down a bit and and branched out into other brands although never menthols, which she deemed trashy for some reason. (Mom also refused to smoke in the street, which she said was hopelessly tacky.) For the poster who asked about Now cigarettes, Mom smoked those for a while but she said that compared to her beloved Parliaments Nows were like “sucking your thumb.”

My ex partner liked to cultivate a suave image and smoked Benson & Hedges, Marlboro Lights, and some British things I can’t recall. Both he and my mother died way too young from smoking-related illnesses (stroke and COPD, respectively).

So sorry for your losses R216..... Most of us make pleasurable poor choices in some area of our lives at some point.

Thank you, R217. Both my mom and my late ex absolutely adored smoking, as odd as it may sound in retrospect given that it shortened their lives. There was nothing I could say or do to make them give up their habit, so I just accepted them and loved them for who they were and am glad that I had both people in my life, however briefly.

Parliaments and Marb Reds were my favorites. I also liked Merits and Benson and Hedges, occasionally.

If tobacco is so bad, how come the Indians smoked it for thousands of years and nothing ever happened to them?

R220 - Are you a Trump voter?

[quote] how come the Indians smoked it for thousands of years and nothing ever happened to them?

Maybe that stuff is the explanation why they never invented the wheel.

R220, that was pure, unadulterated by chemical additives, no paper impregnated with carpet glue and gunpowder, and not grown in soil with radioactive elements. Native people were not strung out on their "peace pipes" either. Ceremonial use and medicinal use back in the early period.

What r223 said. Native Americans only smoked tobacco occasionally, it wasn't an all-day, everyday habit like modern cigarette smokers.

Growing up in the 80s and going to college in the 90s, all the black people I knew smoked Newports, Salem or Kool. Never got the appeal of menthol or why so many blacks smoked nothing but.

R158 there was briefly a VAST range of clove cigarettes and some of them, if fresh, were delightful

R146, kindly sit down and shut the fuck up. A little Socialism is exactly what this far-right, Fascist-led country could use right now.

So r220 is some kind of Tobacco truther? What a moron

When I smoked I loved Merits, my favorite. If I had a guarantee that I could live to be 90-something in spite of smoking, I would leave my house right this minute to go buy a carton!

Both parents smoked. I hated it and never smoked. Mother eventually quit. Both loved Kools.

Back in the 80s, my friends' moms all smoked Benson & Hedges, Virginia Slims, Salems or Merits. Everybody's dad smoked Marb Reds.

Growing up, my friend's snobby country-club parents both smoked "Alpines," which were easy to purloin because they bought them by the multiple carton and never knew who had taken how many packs.

They kept them in the freezer, for extra Alpine freshness, I guess.

I'd forgotten all that until later in life when I read that Alpines were Joan Crawford's preferred brand.

Funny that Joan smoked menthols. Maybe they made the 100-proof vodka go down smoother!

[quote]Marb Reds

[quote]Marb Reds

Someone actually said "Marb Reds"?

I've heard people call them "Marb Reds" for many years.

Interestingly enough, all the smokers I've known in my life are dead: my dad and two aunts (all had congestive heart disease, none drank), one colleague from work (pancreatic cancer), an uncle (not a blood relative, smoked and was a heavy drinker), another work colleague (brain cancer, he was athletic in good shape, yet a heavy smoker, he died at 42) and another aunt (not a blood relative, not a drinker, lung cancer). A cousin, former smoker, not dead, had testicular cancer.

If another person tells me cigarettes don't kill or cause cancer, I'll viciously slap their face!

I only smoke decaffeinated, I'm active enough, thank you.

R236 who says that, nowadays?

Salem was the most popular menthol for many years, but it seems to have disappeared.

Parliaments are the ultimate "white people cigarette."

I smoked as a teen in the late 70s. All my teeny smoker friends in America smoked Marlboro Light 100s for some reason. They were so nice.

In England, I and my friends smoked Silk Cut. It was big thing then. Low tar.

I smoked More for years because they lasted a long time and went out if you ignored them. Or maybe cuz my dad did. But they looked like cigars so I went the lights, then Carlton, Eve. Now Misty. 2 or 3 a day.

Gosh! So many memories with this thread!

One grandfather smoked Lucky Strikes or as he called them “Toasties”. A couple of years before he died, he had to go on blood pressure pills and quit cold turkey. My other grandmother smoked can’t remember the brand but she always used a holder so as not to stain her fingers - and, she had different holders - ivory, amber, ebony. She was a pip!

Mom smoked B&H until she quit about 30 years ago. Dad smoked Camels - first non filter before progressing to filters. He gave them up for Lent about 40 years ago now. But when he was dying, in hospice care at home, he asked for them.

I also remember being able to go to the store for cigs for my parents as young as 8!

I started smoking in HS, maybe age 13-14? Marlboro Reds first. Bounced between Marlboro Reds and Lights for years. In fact, this is funny, went to a private all boys HS and we had a “senior lounge” where yes, smoking was allowed! Imagine that today! This was only in the 80’s too.

Switched to Parliaments I think in college - my freshman roommate smoked Merits and there was a cigarette vending machine in the student center. I did wind up going back to Marlboro lights - I think for the whole “Marlboro miles” thing.

When I was living in London, it was Silk Cut Purple or Carroll’s. After, I’d always ask anyone going thru Duty Free to pick me up a carton - so cheap then and now!

Just laughed at the memory of my mother giving me a cigarette case in my 20’s as she thought the bulk of a regular cigarette pack ruined the line of my suit lol That was the reason I switched to Dunhill reds back then - a 20-something using a cigarette case is far more pretentious than smoking Dunhills.

I’ve quit and gone back tons of time, and still a smoker now. I used to think I would hate no smoking in bars when it was rolled out, but honestly I never have. In fact, I’ve met a few fellows who became ONSs, FWBs, and in one case, “the one who got away” being outside smoking.

[quote]there was a cigarette vending machine in the student center.

So funny! If that happened now, there would be outrage - it would probably be a story on the news.

BTW, Parliaments and Merits were both very tasty cigs. I haven't seen Merits in years.

R244 - right?? We couldn’t have phones in our rooms, couldn't have a hot pot, couldn’t have opposite sex sleep overs, but we could smoke and when we ran out, buy a pack from the machine. The heads exploding if any of this were happening now! Lol

I vaguely remember bumming Merit off the roomie - there were different versions IIRC - blue, brown?

There were Merit Lights which had brown/yellow/gold stripes on the pack. I smoked those for quite a while, they were tasty AF. I switched between those and Parliaments, and occasionally Marlboro Lights. Merit Ultra Lights had blue stripes on the pack and I remember those were very popular with the ladies back in the 80s and 90s. Like I said I haven't seen Merits in quite a while, I believe they're still around, but not sold in most places anymore. Same with Benson & Hedges, another popular brand back then that's pretty much disappeared.

When I was in college in the 90s we had "smoking floors" in the dorms where we could puff away in our rooms. God, what a different world.

Thanks R244 / R246! My roomie smoked the Merit lights with the browns/yellow/gold stripes.

I was in college in the late 80’s/early 90’s and yes, it was a completely different world from my nephews and nieces in college now.

Were your dorms segregated by sex? There were two small dorms -like only 15-20 doubles in each- that were only boys and only girls. The rest had all boy floors and all girl floors. Lots of open doors, naked guys going back and forth to the showers, shaving at the sinks, etc. - lovely eye candy (and on occasion more) for a young gayling! lol I’m thinking that’s not the case anymore sadly.

I've always been a Marlboro man.

[quote]I've heard people call them "Marb Reds" for many years.

Marbs is for tards.

[quote]Jackie Kennedy smoked B&H's 100s.

She also reportedly smoked Salems and Marlboro Reds.

I hear "Marb" as shorthand for Marlboro all the time. Maybe it's a regional thing in the Northeast.

I haven't smoked them since 1987, r251, but before this thread, I never once heard of Marlboros being referred to as "Marbs." Oh, and I'm from the Northeast.

OMG! I moved to a "progressive" school in Oxford, England in 1980 ( I was so sick of my horrible boarding school) and we were allowed to smoke in class....and we ALL did.

[quote]When I was living in London, it was Silk Cut Purple or Carroll’s.

Never heard of Carroll's in my life

Dunno what to tell you r252. That's what I hear a lot.

Although they were ultimately associated with cowboys and tough guys, Marlboros were originally marketed as a "lady's cigarette."

True r256. Marlboro has an interesting history.

R241 You made me nostalgic for the Purple Silk Cut fags... My favourite! Most Americans I knew favoured Marlboro lights too, but many would complain the ones sold in Britain and Europe did not quite taste or smell the same. To me, they always had a slight whiff of a spliffy.

[quote]Most Americans I knew favoured Marlboro lights too, but many would complain the ones sold in Britain and Europe did not quite taste or smell the same. To me, they always had a slight whiff of a spliffy.

Yes they were very different and not nearly as nice.

American Marlboro Lights (100s) I compared to marshmallows for some reason. The seemed light and fluffy to smoke and they WERE all white.

Remember when you could choose between soft and hard pack?

I started smoking sophomore year in high school with Parliament 100's. By junior year I switched to Marlboro 100's. The package was gold rather than read. I quit three years after college thirty years ago.

Marlboro was also the brand of smokes preferred by babies.

When I was at boarding school in England our whole day was scheduled around our smoking. The different "safe" places to go to smoke at various times of the day

I follow a Facebook page associated with the school (not that I have a single nostalgic feeling for it) and they published a photo of some old building and I wanted to leave a message about how we used to go to the top and smoke on the balcony, but thought better of it.

There was quite a good British film made in the 80s, set during WWII called "Secret Places" - the title based on the secret places the wartime school girls would go to smoke. Two of the girls ended up being lesbians, so it might be of interest to a few people here.

Marlboros in the UK and Europe aren't the same at all to American Marlboros. They might as well be a different brand entirely. When I visit the UK I have to stop at duty free for American Marlboro Reds/Lights for my friends over there. American Marlboros are like gold to them lol!

Yes R263 and Yes R259. I believe the tobacco is grown in the Netherlands used for the EU/UK Marlboros, at least someone told me that back in the 80's.

More cultural appropriation.

The Americans call the Marl - boro

The Brits say Morl -bora

I say Mah-borough... Still smoke them on occasion too.

The beautiful people smoke Silva Thins.

I smoked Newports, because like this woman in this not-at-all subtle ad, I loved embracing musclemen and giant penises.

r153: Like that guy would be any less sexy without a cigarette!

It was funny how the Newport ads always had white people in them.

Curious though I knew more people of colour to smoke them than white people R271!

You’re right R254! I misspoke - Carroll’s is an Irish cigarette (same company that makes Majors and Sweet Aftons) I used to smoke when I’d be visiting. Living in London, I’d go over often enough, so in my mind I combined living in London with what I smoked then, forgetting I was in Ireland smoking these.

[quote]Remember when you could choose between soft and hard pack?

We called them soft pack and box.

I don't think soft packs are even made anymore. It's all box now.

Marlboro was always the most popular cigarette, followed by Winston and Salem, but in the Eighties the "yuppie smokes" took over, True and Merit.

Parliament was/is also a "yuppie smoke."

Lucky Strike -- "the taste to start with."

Always with a teenage boy smoking with a father or father figure. Can you imagine that today?

Unfiltered Philip Morris, now long-gone. It was the brand of choice of both Lucille Ball and Bette Davis. My grandfather smoked these.

Both of my parents were cut down by lung cancer from cigs. Horrible agonizing deaths.

I hate these fucking tobacco companies. They had pretty good ads though. Once in a while they did the right thing - like Virginia Slims sponsoring The First Professional Womens Tennis Association. With the Virginia Slims Tournaments. And none of the players were required to smoke.

When I was a kid in the 1980s, 99% of the adults I knew who were between 20-40 years old smoked Marlboro Reds. It was like there was no other cigarette. That was probably the most successful and persuasive advertising/marketing campaign of all time.

Ivy League bohos smoked: Luckys, Chesterfield, Camel, Nat Sherman, Export A, Dunhill, Davidoff, Gauloises, Gitanes

What decade was that r282? All the ones I knew smoked Spirits, Marlboro Lights or Parliament.

80s r283 Cornell Vassar Brown Colombia Yale Bryn Mawr

Oh, My era was the 90s/early 2000s. Tastes had changed by then, I guess.

Boy, if anyone should not have been in an an ad that says "Your throat can tell... it's Philip Morris," it's Lucille "Mame" Ball.

In the link of Superman flinging the (stereotypically Jewish??? That ad would NOT be made today) cigarette peddler into the stratsophere had this hilarious comment underneath it:

[quote] Superman murders a guy for offering a kid a cigarette? Oh, it was directed by Zack Snyder? Makes sense, now.

OP asked for 60s, 70s, and 80s. We were all in love with Paris which in the 80s was still dirt cheap - and downright dirty. Unfiltered Gauloises were Mid-Eastern tobacco and delicious, as were unfiltered Camels. Duty Free was a dream then. Those were the days! Perfume still smelled great and was designed to mix with heavy smoke.

Started with Pall Mall, then Terryton 100s, the Salem menthol 100s, then More Menthol. The good thing about More was they went out if you put them down. I quit in 1977. I decided that 55 cents a pack was ridiculous.

People who want to smoke just when they are by themselves? The trouble is that such a creature does not exist. They want to talk to other people when they smoke, and they want to smoke when they talk to people.

Benson & Hedges were great cigs, but I believe they were discontinued some time ago.

Oops, wrong link.

Nope, r291. Still a premium brand.

I haven't seen B&H in years, had no idea they were still sold in some places, r293.

The brilliant Silk Cut ad campaign, when the advertising authority banned any non-abstract imagery, they just went all-abstract. Made me smoke 'em.

To all those whining and complaining about how hard it was to quit:

Puh-leeze.

I’ve quit hundreds of times.