Cigarette brand stereotypes?
Jax — This may be a Wal-Mart brand. It’s another cheap, generic, red-state cigarette. In high school, the dark, indie, long-haired guys smoked Camels. That was probably because of their association with Tom Robbins’ books. They seemed like a bad-boy cigarette; they weren’t cool yet, since this was prior to the infamous “Joe Camel” marketing campaign and the repositioning of the brand as a young, club-scene cigarette. They were just an old-school brand with a dusty, classic, noir feel. My grandfather smoked himself to death on Lucky Strikes. My grandmother smoked herself to death on Benson & Hedges. My Mom smoked Carlton menthols until she quit (she was slender and quite attractive, so don’t know what to say about that other than it was the 70s) and my Dad smoked Marlboro Reds until they quit. Definitely a manly, white-guy cigarette. I started out smoking Marlboro Reds and Camels early on, interchangeably at first. Then went to Marlboro Lights as I became a more entrenched smoker, beca
So, there’s a bar catacorner from my apartment that serves primarily Black clientele. Well, one night at around twelve, I run out of cigarettes. Since everything else withing a few blocks is closed, I decide to hit the bar’s cigarette machine. Now, I’ve never been in before (honestly, because it didn’t seem like a place where my pasty white ass would be welcome). But, I need cigarettes, so I walk in the door, walk up to the bartender, and ask for change for their cigarette machine. Having gotten that, I turn around and scrutenize my cigarette choices, expecting the standard assortment of brands. No. Literally every slot was filled with some sort of menthol nast–Newport, Kool, Parliament Menthol, Marlboro Menthol (Regular, Light, and Mild), and about a dozen others I don’t remember–except for one slot of Marlboro Medium 100’s. I bought the Marlboros. So, I’m going to go with: gangsters smoke menthol. (Now, hold on a moment before you flame me for being racially insensitive and equatin
Hell, I’ll bite. Here are the stereotypes I developed after working in a convenience store for a couple years, which may be way off-base due to any number of factors: Older, working-class black people smoke menthols. Sorority girls smoke Marlboro Lights. Working-class, middle-aged men smoke Camels. College girls who imagine that they are more cutting edge than they really are smoke Parliaments, or American Spirits.
Indonesians smoke delightfully mild cloves, of several locally produced brands (also available, unsurprisingly, through their embassy). They ain’t so mild. And they’re available all across the globe.
Yeah American Spirits are the choice of otherwise completely healthy hippies. I swear that in the first months after their introduction, everyone I knew misread the label “additive free” as “addictive free,” as in, cigarettes you don’t get hooked on. Hilarity ensued! That is, if you call years of smoking funny 😉 All the trucker-hat wearing, Vice-reading hipster bimbos seem to be into Paliaments right now. Go figure. Last year it was Lucky Strikes. Bah. I’m too busy to keep up with people who are busy keeping up with Ashton Koochie.
