I'm working on a short story that has something similar to the mythology attached to the "Devil." Basically there's a cigarette case that has any cigarette when opened. People bum cigarettes and yadadada. Stereotypes are there for a reason, wrong or right, but what I'm asking is are there any cigarettes you picture a specific type of person to? Menthols, American Spirits, L&Ms, Camels, Marbolos, etc. I have a decent idea myself, but wouldn't mind hearing opinions from other people and from other countries.
Menthols and/or Newports - African Americans American Spirits - Pretentious art students who have yet to discover 'vapor' cigarettes Camels - Older men who write detective noir fiction Marlboro Lights - People like myself who're supremely confident that because they smoke "light" cigarettes they won't have to deal with cancer in twenty years
Marlboro Lights 100s: Rough-voiced cougars who are down for anything. They smoke half to two-thirds and bend them out in overflowing ashtrays Cloves: goths/emos Unfiltered Parliaments: Old men with bushy nose hair and huge eyebrows.
UK smoking has evolved to mainly tobacco-smoking. [Due to cost - and this has eliminated many of the subtle or social divisions of years past.] Youngsters ask for a 3-in-1 [baccy, papers & filters] at the counter, old people request a 'half ounce of Golden Virginia' to the bewilderment of new metric staff. Purchasing from this corner store, a working man might buy 'The Cutter's Choice' which is very, very cheap[est], the most orthodox [this is 'man important'], and tastes revolting. However, any, all man is happiest carrying a pouch of the always Euro-smuggled - the aforementioned Golden Virginia. Old Holborn found now only in care homes and The British Museum. Some women still smoke straights - Silk Cut/JPS/Embassy No.1, as do part-timers and children. Traditionally wealthy people smoked Marlboro Lights, Dunhill for our Princess Margaret. Pay day, lottery win: go for Lucky Strikes, Camel. French fags divide opinion. Gauloise, Gitane are okay really. Quick mention for stalwart B&H, that's about it. The problem for your, OP, story is that 'world readers' won't understand your references, a gibberish, possibly like my own five paragraphs.
High school kids seem to like Marlboro Reds. (Seems they are a lot of peoples first cigarette.) But many people like Marbs outside of Cowboys and rednecks. Camels are simply a popular brand, not many smokers would turn down a Camel. American Spirits are considered 'healthy' smokes. (Kinda strange to me, but hey.) Poor people will generally get a 6oz bag/can of what they like that is cheap along with either cig-tubes or rolling papers. (I get Sparrow Pipe Tobacco and Zen full flavor tubes.) Some Poor and Middle Class women will smoke menthol lights. Ridiculous Women smoke Mistys (Doubly so for the twig thing 120's). It really is much to complicated to narrow it down to demographics that specifically smoke one brand or another. I have tried many brands of smokes, because I don't really care. Though I am a Camel 99's kinda guy.
Hey! I smoke camels, and I'm far from a old man. Though I may enjoy writing detective noir fiction...
I spent the first 35 smoking years sticking with Marlboro Lights. For the past decade, I've switched to making my own using loose tobacco & a machine that puts inside a filtered tube. Costs about $20 a carton instead of the $60 or so other people are paying.
Nobody I know smokes. I would struggle with the premise of this story if it were modern day. I'm just one data point, but I wanted to mention it. Edited to add: I thought of one person, so, almost nobody I know smokes.
I know a few people who smoke, but not many, so add another datum to @ChickenFreak 's struggling-with-the-premise count. Additionally, as @matwoolf suggested, this seems America-centric: I've heard of some of the brands mentioned, but that's about it; any implication would go over my head. Which may be fine if you're only writing for Americans. For what it's worth, most smokers I know roll their own -- cheaper and they're able to customise to their preferences. One I think buys cheap cartons when she's in Malaysia. And based on my experience, cigarette-minded teenagers will take whatever they can get their hands on, although I knew one poser who would get cigars and smoke them where as many people as possible could see him doing it.
It's funny, I hardly know anyone that rolls their own now, apart from students. (I'm in the UK). From what I remember: If you were posh, you smoked Benson & Hedges, if you were broke, you smoked Lambert & Butler. Women always seemed to smoke Silk Cut or Marlboro Lights. Never met anyone (outside of the States) that smoked Marlboro Red, apart from (bizarrely) roll-up smokers that couldn't get their hands on rolling tobacco.
When I used to smoke it was Camel Crushes (my other half smoked the light and I like the menthols), win, win.
I feel like this might be regional, at least in regards to the U.S. I live in a metropolitan area in the Midewest and my experience here is much the same as yours; no one in my social circle smokes, not do any of my co-workers. However, when I go to visit my in-laws who live in a small town in Western Tennessee it's a much different story. Out of the 9 adult family members we visit there, 8 of them smoke (including my BIL who is in remission for cancer!). And when we hang out with their friends, the majority of them are smokers too. So if @ToBeInspired were to set his story in a small rural southern town, I think he'd find plenty of takers for his ciggies.
I also have relatives in a small town in West Tennessee! Well, used to; they got old and mostly died. And, yes, you're right. I remember being simply delighted when more restaurants started being nonsmoking--until then, I always demanded that we go to the place with chess pie, barbecue, Hummel figurines, and a nonsmoking sign. But plenty of people smoked everywhere else. I think that I hoped that in the decade or so since I'd been there, that had changed.
Usually with a genteel southern accent. Possibly a DAR member. My frumpy, working-class, Baby Boomer-aged mom has been religiously smoking Salem Ultralights since long before I was around. She's a southerner too, but not genteel enough for Virginia Slims. I'm a Marlboro reds kind of guy myself. Like my taste in music, my taste in tobacco is stuck in high school.
I remember when I first visited the town about 15 years ago, you could still smoke inside the mall. At the time I'd never lived anywhere outside of Upstate NY, and I was just blown away by people smoking everywhere! Most public places are non-smoking now (I think even the bars, but I'm not 100% sure as I don't go out to bars while down there), but once you get into people's homes it seems like everyone is smoking like a chimney. I grew up with parents who were smokers and watched my father die (literally, he passed right in front of my eyes) after a long and terrible battle with lung cancer. He died in 1999 and I still have the occasional nightmare about it. It's not surprising that non of my friends smoke, because I really hate being around people who are smoking. I put up with it from my in-laws because their house, their rules, but if they come stay with us they're not allowed to smoke in or even around my house.
