The Power of Hatred

If you are a smoker in Australia who now believes that the flavour of your chosen brand of cigarettes has changed for the worse since the implementation of plain packaging, then let me help you understand the reasons why you may believe it.  It is because the anti-smokers hate you.  Oh, rest assured that they hate tobacco companies, too.  But the anti-smokers are using you to get at the tobacco companies, and they will go to any extreme to achieve their crusade's goal of prohibition, including propagandising mere anecdotal reports without any basis in fact.

So what about that flavour?  Did it change?  Maybe it has for you, but it's not because of how the external packaging looks. It could be because Australia's plain packaging legislation also dictates how the cigarette can be made, e.g. the type of paper that can be used (it must be white), what the filter can look like, etc.  So there may be some real physical changes to the cigarette that has altered its flavour, or it may be because the manufacturing process has been altered.

Or it could just be all in your head. Mind over matter.  I don't know.  But what I do know is that the anti-smokers love the fact that some of you think the flavour of your machine-made cigarettes has changed, because they also intend to legislate which flavourings and additives can be used during the curing process -- and that will greatly alter the flavour of your tobacco. This is all part of the denormalisation programme, all part of the endgame.  You are but pawns in this game, and you will be sacrificed as the crusade marches on. Count on it.

There are, however, numerous things that can alter the flavour of a cigarette.  The obvious factors are the tobacco blend and the curing processes.  Paper and filter types, too, play a substantial role in taste.  But did you know that the length and diameter of a cigarette also determine the flavour?  It is believed that slim cigarettes generally taste better than king size cigarettes because of the slim cigarette's smaller diameter -- something to do with the airflow through the cigarette, I believe, although I cannot recall exactly why this is so and I'm too lazy to look it up today.  Those who roll their own cigarettes can easily confirm this by rolling a slim cigarette and comparing it to a thicker-rolled one.  You will definitely notice a difference in flavour between the two.

So, I strongly suspect that those in Australia who smoke roll-ups have not noticed any change in flavour.  Because the only difference for them is the imagery on the packaging. They still roll their cigarettes as they've always done, using the same papers and filters.

I don't know whether to believe if four out of ten people who visit a sole Australian shop think the flavour of their chosen brand has changed.  I suppose anything is possible in the New Inquisition.