Pass Me The Ciggy Papers (Golden Virginia Tobacco)

Member Name: kenjohn

Product:	Golden Virginia Tobacco
Date:	04/01/07 (11370 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cheaper than packet cigarettes.

Disadvantages: An acquired taste. Can be difficult to master rolling them. Smoking can kill you!

~ ~ Once upon a very long time ago there was a 14-year-old Scottish schoolboy with a liking for nicotine, but with a budget (pocket money) that just about stretched to the odd packet of crisps. All things are relative, and even back in the mid-1960’s, when a packet of cigarettes cost about three shillings (15 pence) they were still an expensive commodity, the Government ensuring (as they still do) that if you want to indulge a filthy habit then you will have to pay through the nose for doing so in terms of taxes levied.
So this young lad, being an enterprising young fella, decided that the only way he could indulge his habit economically was not to buy expensive “tailor made” cigarettes in packets, but instead to make his own using hand rolling tobacco.

~ ~ In my opinion, hand rolling tobacco has many advantages over manufactured cigarettes. Although it costs about the same price in terms of the weight of tobacco purchased, you can roll smaller cigarettes using less tobacco, which obviously saves you money. On my own reckoning it takes three of my roll-ups before I have used (or smoked) as much tobacco as you would get in your average king size cigarette.
If I were smoking packet cigarettes then I would average about thirty a day, which at today’s prices here in Ireland (about €8 for a pack of twenty) would cost me about €12 a day, or a mind boggling €84 per week. Using Golden Virginia hand rolling tobacco, my tobacco of choice for many years, a 50 gram packet lasts me about 4 days. At retail prices (which I rarely pay, more on this later!) this would cost me about €4 a day, or €28 a week. (At a retail cost of around €16 for 50 grams) So at current retail prices my weekly saving is around 66%, or €56 each week. (A lot of money!)
So if you are going to smoke, and are price conscious, then buying a hand-rolling tobacco such as Golden Virginia is an option obviously worth considering.

~ ~ So why do I prefer Golden Virginia to all the other brands of hand-rolling tobacco, or indeed to packet cigarettes?
The main reason is the taste. Despite the fact that I save considerable amounts of cash by rolling my own cigarettes, this isn’t as important as it was when I was a penniless teenager, and if I didn’t enjoy smoking Golden Virginia then I could now well afford to smoke packet cigarettes. In my twenties, when I was more image conscious than I am now, I would occasionally buy a packet of Rothman’s or Benson and Hedges King Size if I was going on a night out, as hand-rolling tobacco has over the years become somewhat synonymous with either skint dole merchants or pot smoking.
But the simple truth is that once you have acquired the taste for roll-ups, then it’s very difficult to return to the tasteless and chemically treated crap that the cigarette manufacturers and Government charge you a fortune for. Golden Virginia has a “bite” that you simply don’t get from packet cigarettes, and when you draw in a lungful then you immediately get the taste and nicotine hit that all smokers crave. About the only tailor made cigarettes I’ve ever smoked that even come close to giving you the same satisfying smoke as Golden Virginia are the old “Capstan Full Strength Navy Cut”, which I’m not even very sure you can purchase anymore. (They contained so much tar and nicotine I think they might well have been banned!)

~ ~ Over the 40 odd years I’ve been a smoker I’ve also tried dozens of other hand-rolling tobaccos, including all the popular ones such as Old Holburn, (too sweet) Drum and Samson, (Dutch tobaccos, and too dry and harsh) and other brands such as Rolled Gold, Cutter’s Choice, etc. About the only other hand-rolling tobacco I will occasionally buy that comes close to Golden Virginia in terms of satisfaction and taste is Rolled Gold. Now and again if I’m running out and there’s no Golden Virginia available then I’ll buy a small 12.5 gram pack of Rolled Gold to tide me over.
I even went through a spell of buying in my tobacco direct from a website in the USA. They sold it dirt cheap, (around $16 for a pound weight) and advertised it as “pure Virginia tobacco”, and while it was fairly acceptable after a while I found myself going back to my old favourite.

~ ~ Another reason I smoke Golden Virginia is I genuinely believe it isn’t as bad for your health as manufactured cigarettes. Golden Virginia is advertised on the attractive green and yellow packet as “a blend of Virginia and other fine tobaccos”. Despite extensive research both on the manufacturer’s website (Imperial Tobacco in Bristol) and on “Google”, I can’t discover what the “other fine tobaccos” actually are.
One thing I do know is that the manufacturers don’t load it up with dozens of ancillary chemicals and additives to improve the taste. There’s been a lot of controversy over the past few years about what cigarette manufacturers actually put in their products, with accusations levied of them including chemicals to increase the “addictiveness factor” of the product in order to increase their sales. I’m reassured that when I smoke Golden Virginia I am smoking “pure” tobacco. For example, when you put down a roll-up in an ashtray and leave it there it will go out after a short period of time. With manufactured cigarettes the additives (salt peter?) will ensure that it burns away to nothing in next to no time.
I also asked my own doctor whether or not there were any health advantages to smoking very light brands of cigarettes such as “Silk Cut Extra Mild”, where the amount of tar and nicotine has been reduced to the absolute minimum. His advice was that, if anything, these “light” cigarettes were actually *WORSE* for your health than any others, as they have the same amount of additives as any other type of cigarettes. He also said that with the likes of “strong” smokes which are high in nicotine content (like Golden Virginia) the smoker only tends to inhale them into the top half of their lungs, as they get the “nicotine hit” they crave much more quickly. He reckoned that if I were to attempt to change over to smoking light cigarettes I’d be inhaling them so deeply (to get my required nicotine hit) that the smoke would be coming out of the end of my toes! (His words.)

~ ~ Making your roll-up cigarettes is a tad difficult for somebody not used to it. But after a little bit of practice you’ll soon be a dab hand. Initially you can invest in one of those ingenious wee cigarette making machines from the likes of Rizla, but personally I much prefer making my own by hand. This is another (small) additional cost you have to consider when considering using roll-ups, by the way. Cigarette papers (most popular brands are Swan and Rizla) will cost you an extra 30 cents (here in Ireland) for a pack of fifty. You can also buy the papers in different styles, such as extra thin, (blue in colour) liquorice, (black) and straight (red) or with cut corners. (Green) You can also buy King Size papers if you wish, but expect to be branded as a pot smoker if you do so! (Heh, heh)

~ ~ Back to price. Here in the Republic of Ireland you pay through the nose for tobacco products. In a retail shop or supermarket a 25 gram pack of Golden Virginia will cost you about €8. In Ireland the 25 gram pack is the only size available. In other countries you can buy 12.5 gram and 50 gram packs.
However, if you shop around on the web using a search engine then you’ll come up with a plethora of sites (mostly based in Spain or the Netherlands) that will offer to ship it to you by post. One such site that I’ve looked at offers you 10 x 50 gram packs for €78.83 (Sterling £52.82) inclusive of postage. This works out at only €7.88 per 50 gram packet, which is less than half the retail price here in Ireland. So if you’re prepared to take the chance of your precious tobacco being seized by Customs (and it *DOES* happen occasionally!) then you can save yourself even more money. You pay your money and take your chances. Of course, I couldn’t *POSSIBLY* say whether or not I use such sites, on the grounds that it may incriminate me. (Heh, heh)
One totally legal way of obtaining your tobacco cheaper is to buy it when your abroad in countries like Spain, (the cheapest at only €33 for 10 x 50 gram packs) France and Italy. Under current European Union legislation you can import as much tobacco as you wish so long as it is for personal consumption and not for resale. It’s amazing how much tobacco the average golf bag can hold! (Heh, heh)

~ ~ I’ll finish this review by adding a disclaimer. This review *ISN’T* intended to encourage any non-smokers to take up the habit, but more for information purposes for those who *DO* choose to smoke.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

© KenJ January 2007

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Summary: Cheaper than packet cigarettes. Tasty! But smoking can kill you!