Cigarette Brand Guides & Buying Notes
Brand notes, buying guides and dispatch updates. Written for people who already know what they smoke and want the detail a product page cannot carry — how a format differs from its neighbour, what actually changes between two tar ratings, and what to expect when a carton arrives.
- All 96
- Brand Comparisons 11
- Buying Guides 31
- Japanese & Korean Cigarettes 15
- Menthol Cigarettes 12
- Prices & Duty Free 21
- Smoking Culture 6
Cheap Cigarettes Online: Where the Saving Comes From
There is a real discount available online, and it has a specific cause. Understanding the cause tells you when a price is legitimate and when it is a warning sign. T…
The Cheapest Cigarette Brands, and Why Cheap Exists
Every market has a value tier, and it exists for a structural reason rather than a quality one. Understanding the structure tells you whether the saving is worth tak…
Seven Stars: Japan’s Full-Strength Flagship
Seven Stars occupies a position in Japan that is hard to translate: the premium full-strength brand, the one smokers graduate to, the one with a reputation for being…
Why Cigarettes Cost More in Cities
The gap between a city pack and a suburban or rural pack in the same state can be larger than the gap between two states. Three mechanisms produce it, and only one o…
How Many Cigarettes a Day Is Typical?
Surveys in the US consistently put average daily consumption among smokers at roughly half a pack — around 10 to 12 cigarettes. That average conceals a very wide dis…
Marlboro vs Newport: Two American Archetypes
Marlboro and Newport are the two largest cigarette brands in the United States, and they are not really in competition at the level people assume. One is the definit…
Menthol vs Regular Cigarettes: The Real Difference
The difference between a menthol and a regular cigarette is one additive and everything that follows from it. The tobacco is broadly the same material; the experienc…
Marlboro Red: What You Are Actually Buying
Marlboro Red is the reference cigarette for a large share of the world's smokers, which makes reviewing it slightly absurd — most readers already know what it tastes…
Newport 100 vs King: Which Format
Newport comes in two formats that matter here: the standard king-size box and the 100 box. Same brand, same menthol, same 20 per pack. The extra 15 millimetres chang…
Duty-Free Cigarettes, Explained Properly
Duty-free is one of the most misunderstood terms in tobacco retail. It does not mean tax-free in every sense, and it does not mean the product is different. It means…
Cigarette Brands by Country: A Field Guide
The cigarette industry looks like it has hundreds of brands. It has four or five companies and a very long list of local names, many of which are the same product un…
What Tar Actually Measures
The number on the side of a pack — 10mg tar, 5mg tar — looks like a specification. It is a measurement artefact, and understanding how it is produced explains a grea…