Tasting Rothmans cigarettes.
This British brand has a long history. Few people know, but the founder of the company, Louis Rotman, was born in Ukraine and gained his first experience as a cigarette twister at a tobacco factory in Kiev. And in 1890, after emigrating to England, Louis registered L. Rothman & Co. At first it was a small tobacco shop on Fleet Street. The popularity of the brand was brought about by the quality and low cost of cigarettes, plus there were many publishing houses on Fleet Street and journalists who unintentionally became the best advertising agents.
By the beginning of the 20th century, Rothmans was already a thriving company with offices in fashionable areas of London and exporting to Holland, India, Australia and South Africa. The brand more or less successfully survived the troubles of the twentieth century and not only preserved the integrity of the company, but also significantly expanded its sales market.
Now the Rothmans portfolio of cigarettes is perhaps the largest. The brand’s cigarettes are available in almost all formats and in several broad varieties, such as king size, international, demi and demi click flavored “button” series, as well as the budget version of royals. This review will feature two types of the “classic” line Rothmans Royals and Rothmans Blue, as well as the only cigarettes from the numerous “push-button” series — Rothmans Duble Click.
Rothmans Royals. Despite the similarity of the names with the name of the budget version, this is still a “classic” series of king size format, the strongest cigarettes of all types. A white coloured pack with rounded edges. Traditionally, the central place is occupied by the brand name in the corporate font, which has not changed significantly over the past 50 years. The sides of the Rothmans and a few graphic elements in red are also traditional.
There are twenty king size cigarettes in a pack. For the mid-price range, Rothmans Royals looks pretty smart)) Yellow filter paper incorporates contrasting letters of cigarette brand and type. The rimmed paper bears the family coat of arms and a separating stripe in ‘silver’. The design of the cigarettes is original and easy to remember. However, the construction quality of the cigarettes themselves is not as good. If the filter is glued evenly, then the seam of the cigarette paper often has gaps. Sometimes even with tobacco particles stuck in the seam itself.
The filter is simple, acetated. The filter consists of two identical cylinders and a mouthpiece with a denser structure. Looking ahead, I will say that the reviews of these cigarettes among smokers are very different, but what is equally good is the filter. More precisely, the design of the mouthpiece, it is dense, does not deform and does not get wet during smoking.
The blend in a cigarette is light and consists of yellow and light-yellow fractions, with a small amount of dark yellow and brown. The blend mainly consists of strips of different widths. The surrogate leaf is present, but in small quantities. Characteristic of the cigarettes: tar 7 mg., Nicotine 0.8 mg.
If you do not compare the taste with the old Rothmans, then it is good enough. Especially when compared to modern mid-budget cigarettes. It is very similar to Winston, but it seemed denser and a little more saturated to me. I didn’t have any negative reaction to the cigarette despite the presence of the surrogate leaf in the blend. Normal, strong, average. The price is 4.35 USD. while allowing this variety to become a daily go to for those who prefer hearty varieties.
Rothmans Blue. The design of the pack is stylistically the same — the same white background, the brand’s signature font and the “linear” sides. The only difference is in the blue ribbon in the middle of the pack, vaguely reminiscent of the previous design, which has not changed for many years.
There are twenty king size cigarettes in a pack. In the “blue” version, the design of the cigarettes is very similar to the Royals, but there is no mention of the brand, and the filter has wavy, light lines resembling the profile of a bottle. The design of the filter is exactly the same as that of the “strong” version — a regular acetated one, with a dense acetated fiber mouthpiece.
Visually, the pack seems lighter than the “strong” version. And there are actually more light-yellow fractions. The cutting is a little rougher, large chunks and slices of stripe are found. Characteristics of the cigarettes: tar 6 mg., Nicotine 0.5 mg.
The blend of these cigarettes is not any different, but the blend of Rothmans Royals diluted with surrogate, for “lightness” … Hence the difference in taste, which, in fact, does not exist. There is a fairly alkaline, dry smoke irritating the mucous membranes of the eyes and nose. There is a clear taste of burning paper, but the taste and density of the “red” variety is not. If you are going to switch to “light” varieties of cigarettes — this is not the best choice. If you really need “light” cigarettes from this manufacturer — pay attention to the next one.
Rothmans Aero Blue Double Click. This is the only compact and flavored representative in my review. Rothmans’ compact packs are a little narrower and thinner, commensurate with the size of cigarettes. All varieties of the “push-button” Rothmans have a dark blue background in their design, a ribbon with the brand name in a blue and dark blue gradient and an image of the button or buttons, as in this version.
There are twenty compact cigarettes in a pack. The design is quite fun — the filter is white; the sides, dividing strip, brand name and “wave” on the filter in “silver”; “targets” of capsules in the form of dark blue and yellow circles with silvery elements. The filter has one perforation line. The photo shows that the seam of is not always tight, in some places has “bubbles”. However, this “feature” has no effect on smoking, because the edging paper is rather wide.
Despite the fact that the filter in this variety is named the same as in the previous ones — Premium Filter, it has a slightly different design. First of all, there are not two “drums” of acetated fiber inside, but one. And it contains two flavoring capsules. The mouthpiece is dense and acetated.
Yellow fractions predominate in the blend. There are many fewer light yellow and brown fractions. The cut consists of short strips, short fragments of the same strips and thin slices of veining. Surrogate leaf is present, in small quantities.
When smoking without using the “button” option, the smoke of these cigarettes does not do any harm. The taste is average, cigarette-like, in line with many modern cigarettes. That is, the taste is not tobacco, but it isn’t revolting either. At the same time, cigarettes of this type are really “lighter” than “red” ones, but there is little to no paper-burn taste in these cigarettes. The capsules in the filter are durable and when smoked, the flavors do not mix with the smoke.
As intended by the company, each Aero Blue cigarette carries two complementary flavors. “Yellow” is similar to melon flavor with moderate menthol, and “blue” is something like currant with more pronounced taste of menthol. If you press both capsules, then the melon is barely noticeable, apparently due to the fact that the “berry” capsule is closer to the end of the filter. At the end of the cigarette, the berry capsule shudders into the nose. I think it would be superfluous to say that when smoking with capsules, nothing remains from the minimal cigarette taste=) In general, not bad cigarettes, among the “push-button” ones.
