Parliament cigarette tasting.
This brand was first introduced in 1931 by Philip Morris. Parliament is one of the first brands to offer filter cigarettes long before the start of the anti-tobacco campaign. The first Parliament filters were paper filters and were offered solely as a convenient addition, which made it possible to not use a mouthpiece.
Today, many brands produce cigarettes with a cardboard or acetated mouthpiece, but Parliament was the first brand to introduce this innovation. Once the brainchild of Philip Morris was at the top of the market for a long time, but now it only accounts for 1.7% of global sales (Marlboro accounts for 41.1% by comparison). However, it is too early to give up on the brand, it is actively developing, offering its versions of popular products.
In today’s review, we will only look at two varieties widely available on the market. And these are Parliament Night Blue and Parliament Silver Blue — this pair will help determine not only the overall quality of cigarettes, but also the manufacturer’s approach to lighter cigarettes.
Parliament Night Blue. First, about the general design features of the “regular” brand line. The construction of the pack is solid, made of medium density cardboard, the box lid closes tightly, the edges of the pack are rounded. The color scheme of the packs is the same for all varieties of the “Blue” line and formats (king size and super slims) — it is a white background of the pack and a colored rectangle made of holographic film; its shade corresponds to the “strength” of cigarettes. Night Blue has it in dark blue. This rectangle contains the logo and brand name, grade and filter type. The filter, however, is the same for all varieties — recessed, but more about it below.
The pack contains twenty king size cigarettes, wrapped in a paper box with a textured brand name. The design of the cigarettes is stylistically consistent and easily recognizable. Traditional white filter paper has the brand “tick” in “silver” and the brand name in the branded typeface. The rimmed paper has the brand name inscribed in blue ribbon. The cigarette paper is also worth mentioning. The so-called “combustion control rings” of the brand’s cigarettes have been abolished, replaced by diagonal lines and the brand name again. A few years ago, it was reported that these “rings” contribute to many domestic fires by preventing the cigarette from going out on its own. And lo and behold, Parliament is ahead of the rest of the world! However, with this modification, the cigarette still doesn’t go out on its own, it just burns faster than the tobacco. I’ ve tested it firsthand.
The filter consists of two “kegs” made of acetate fiber. The first is of medium density and very rich in carbon crumb saturation, and the second is made of pure acetate fiber, but it is much denser. The structure is crowned with a mouthpiece made of thick cardboard. The filter paper carries one perforation line.
The pack of cigarettes is predominantly dark yellow, with small bits of brown and light-yellow fractions. The slices consist of short and narrow strips and small flakes of leaf. However, there are also vein slices and surrogate leaf in the composition of the cut, but there is very little surrogate here. Characteristics of the cigarettes: tar 8 mg., Nicotine 0.5 mg., CO 9 mg.
The smoke has a normal tobacco taste, but very it is weak. The surrogate leaf, fortunately, does not show itself in any way, there is neither bitterness nor the taste of burnt paper. The density of the smoke is sufficient, but the “strength” is not enough, as well as satiety. The paper of the cigarette burns out in one fell swoop, literally in 6–7 puffs, and the tobacco does not have time to burn out. All in all, the tobacco blend isn’t bad, even the flavour is there.
Parliament Silver Blue. These cigarettes are “lighter” than the previous ones and the pack is outwardly distinguished by the scale of the rectangle on the front side of the pack. Here it is blue-gray. In the rest of the design, everything is the same and stylistically repeats the design of the entire line.
The pack also contains twenty king size cigarettes, they are also enclosed in a paper “capsule” with a tear-off label. Differences in design are on the front — a ribbon with the grade designation in “silver”.
The filter design and filling with carbon chips are completely similar to Night Blue. Perforation on the filter paper is also present.
And if the filter design in “strong” and “light” cigarettes is the same, then “lightness” can be achieved either by adding a larger amount of surrogate leaf, or by changing the tobacco pack. We must pay tribute to the manufacturer — he chose the second path. The first thing that catches your eye is the abundance of yellow-green fractions. To “lighten up” the cigarette, the manufacturer has added an oriental leaf to the blend. Otherwise, the colour of the blend is very similar to Night Blue — there are dark yellow fractions in the majority, and brown and light yellow in the minority. The slicing is just as reminiscent of its ‘stout’ counterpart — thin ribbons, few vein cuts and small flakes of leaf. There is no more surrogate leaf than in the previous blend. Characteristics of the cigarettes: tar 3 mg., Nicotine 0.2 mg., CO 4 mg.
