rothmans

heya


just another of them posts where i try some exotic, peculiar or out of the ordinary (for me if no one else) fags, look you see. so, if you are one of the enlightened many what do not like cigarettes, now would be a good time to skip this post. alternatively, stick around, for yes, enthusiasts of the great man, there is indeed some quality Spiros action to come.

to that end, indeed my chum Spiros has been on his travels again. well, as the greatest legal mind of his generation he is in some demand, and so is required to visit various nations from time to time, so as to make them resplendent with the benefit of his vast knowledge.

it was to South America that Spiros was summoned this time. which part? pretty much all of it, from what i could work out. well, it's a continent with several issues, and the legal talents of Spiros are the ones most likely to fix them, with particular emphasis on undoing the mess what the Spanish left.

my hopes, dreams, ambitions and aspirations were that my chum would be able to find me some fancy, exotic cigarettes which were exclusive to South America. perhaps a brand called Gringo, maybe, or even better one called Panama. alas, no. he search and sought and all that he could find for me was some Rothmans, as in yes, Rothamns of London. although Roth Man sounds better, as a tribute to David Lee Roth.

quite how time have changes is there for all to see in the fact that one can now purchase Rothmans in a place such as South America. once they were, of course, (probably) the reserve of the elite and the landed gentry. up until the turn of the 20th century, perhaps as late on as the eve of the First World War, one was only permitted to purchase Rothmans tobacco products if they were a property owner in a posh, swanky area of London, such as Grosvenor Square.

undoubtedly certain economic pressures, including but not limited to the impact of the First World War and the emerging presence of American tobacco products, led to a fiscal rethink. a decision was (probably) taken to let certain well kept middle class patrons, such as merchant bankers or those with an interest in shipping, purchase them too, before finally all sorts of riff raff (like me) could access them.

yes, that is some South American wildlife, or nature, what Spiros sent us a pictue of. that, i am fairly sure, is a llama. or, if not, a beast of the fields of South America what looks a good deal like what i would imagine a llama to look like, so same thing.

strangely, or perhaps even curiously (probably the latter), one does struggle to buy Rothmans in England these days. it is entirely possible that they are made to be sold exclusively in non-UK territories these days, so as to export memories of a bygone age pertaining to the golden era of the London life.

as you can observe in the above, there's a bit of niche branding on the filter of these Rothman cigarettes. the presence of the word "Belmont", and for that matter the Rothmans seal (or emblem), would of course not be permitted on fags for sale in the UK, what with all forms of unique branding now outlawed.

provenance of Belmont? my understanding (and i could be quite mistaken) is that it was a place name made up by that Shakespeare fellow for one of his plays; undoubtedly a lighter comedy. needless to say, it has been borrowed or culturally appropriated by several others since; so that they may cash in on the association. and why not, so they say, or to be, or not to be.

some proof or other such evidence that Spiros was indeed in South America so that he may get me these most smart fags? why not.

yes, yes, you can say he is "making a footprint on both sides of the world", etc, if you wish. also, he went into some detail about how he tried to ensure that his gentlemen bits were evenly spread across north and south, but the people he was with advised against photographic evidence being taken of such.

what came first, the place Ecuador or the equator? that is a good question if you are interested in such things. sadly, however, i am not particularly interested at the moment. with that being the case, then, back to the most splendid Rothmans of London fags experience.

formidable, i think, would be the best word to describe the filters on these Rothmans / Belmont cigarettes. as you can see the filter end of the fag is of a normal, rudimentary length, but as pictured above the actual filter part itself is only half of the allotted length. that's quite a statement. i am not all together sure what the statement is, but it is one.

the effect of this half filter thing is to give a stronger smack off of the fag. whilst our nanny state fags are filtered and have all sorts of smart ingredients removed, these are the full deal. you know you are well and truly smoking like it was always meant to be done when you have a go on one of these, cor blimey.

yes, of course there is every chance that the half filter thing is an economic measure, which is to say that Rothmans have cut the filters in half to save money. it would strike me as more costly to design such a filter, but what do i know. perhaps an effect of this will be that people all around the world who taste the Rothmans think all English fags are like this. not so, i can tell you.

oh, that's just some random picture of a bar in South America what Spiros sent me. no doubt he was there to have some sort of top level meeting, but hopefully he had a pint of the local sauce. i am particularly impressed with that drinks cabinet,  "Tequila Patron". this is probably due to the inexplicable joy i take from the word "patron". it's smart, it's sound, it's classy and it should be used a lot more than it is.

that's just the side views of these Rothmans / Belmont fags, for those of you with a peculiar or particular interest in cigarette packaging. at times like this i do perhaps wonder if i should have learned Spanish or something so that i may understand such frugal wording. i can make out Colombia and Chile on the above, but i have no idea at all how them two countries relate to the fags. perhaps they don't, and that is all saying that they do not.

some video of Spiros down in South America? i see no reason why not, especially as this video shows him in a quite natural state despite being in a foreign land, which is to say wearing a hat and surrounded by happy, merry and other such descriptive words men, some of whom he may well indeed have formed short term yet mutually beneficial friendships with.

what do i know of South America? not that much. i studied Che Guevara, of course, and as something of an indirect consequence saw Evita too. mostly, though, i would say the vast amount of my knowledge and understanding of South America comes off the song and the video for Undercover Of The Night by The Rolling Stones. oh, yeah, now i think, there was that Oliver Stone film with James Woods and James Belushi, plus some actors not called James. Salvador i think it was.

oh yes, this other picture Spiros sent me has just reminded me that, i think, the documentary Cannibal Holocaust was recorded down there. looks a bit dangerous, then.

picture above is, i believe, a statue or similar of a traditional South American fisherman, or if you like (and Spiros likes, very much), sailor. i have had to guess that, for all Spiros spoke of was the intricate sequence of knots and ropes what a gentleman of the sea had on and around his personal space area. in short, discussions and practical examples of this were most enthusiastic, it seems, and Spiros was able to make some even more interesting that usual short term yet mutually beneficial friendships with members of the gentry of South America what are practitioners of such.

but, back to the fags. as i have shown every other aspect of these cigarettes, so far as i am aware, i suppose it would only be fitting and fair to have a gander at the "business end" of them. this would be the case should you, like i very much do, consider the tobacco content to be the business end. no, i have not yet met someone who considers the filters, or the warning labels, to be the best part.

something of a darker leaf tobacco in them, then. not quite so dark as to be black like what Russian or Turkish ones are reported to be like, and ones that i want to try one day, but dark all the same. so you can't say "none more dark", for there are darker ones out there. i think.

perhaps this is a new experimental blend of Russian tobacco anyway, laced with that rather splendid sounding novichok stuff. if it is, don't worry so much about me. should the Russians want me out of the way they will find a means to do so, and to be honest if they want to do it via supplying me with cigarettes, well i am not going to argue. besides, as per previous posts, it is a proven scientific fact that i am immortal, for as i have not died yet there is no scientific, factual evidence to say that i will die, ever.

overall, these are some of the finest and bestest of fags what Spiros has ever sent me, even if it does turn out that they have some pesky, minor illegal chemical weapon in them. sure, i mean, no, they are not my beloved Marlboro Red, but hey, these have a name what sounds like they are a tribute to David Lee Roth. that's an instant sign of quality.

anyway, time that i spend writing this is time taken away from smoking the Rothmans or similar. so, i had best get going.

normally i would say something like thanks for reading, etc, but for some reason all these posts what i do about the fags (and Spiros) get loads of readers anyway, so all i can say is i hope you got what you looked for, or came back to see more of.




be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!