Smoking the “World”: L&M Loft cigarettes from Kazakhstan
This line of cigarettes appeared on the market three years ago and are positioned as flavored capsules. At the moment, Loft is only available in two flavors, and that’s what we’re going to try today.
However, Loft is officially produced only in the licensed production facilities of Philip Morris in Ukraine and Kazakhstan. It is quite possible that Loft is a regional line, and it happens quite often.
To the question of the legality of the samples. All the packs are equipped with the new codes adopted this year and excise stamps of Kazakhstan. I have no doubts about the originality of the cigarettes. Now let’s take apart these cigarettes in more detail.
L&M Loft Mix. Both varieties are available only in the Compact format and in appropriately sized cartons with rounded edges. There are common elements in the design, such as the black background of the pack, the stylized Ligget & Mayers coat of arms, and the brand name. The individual elements are a pretty realistic “button” image and some abstraction, highlighted by the color corresponding to the variety. In Loft Mix it is red and its light shades.
The pack contains twenty compact cigarettes with acetate filter and one line of perforation on it. The construction and quality of the cartridges is quite good, the filling of the cigarette mixture is normal.
The design of the cigarettes is catchy, memorable and not as garish as the earlier “L&M Compact 2 in 1” button cigarettes. In general, the design is more austere and consists of the silver brand name and the dividing strip, the stylized image of a red “button” and the background under the “button” is covered with light gray wavy lines. Stylish, simple, informative and without frills.
The cigarette filter is three sectional and consists of two “drums” of acetate fiber, one of which holds the capsule with flavoring and a cardboard mouthpiece, which the manufacturer calls the “air section.
The bag in the cigarettes is predominantly yellow, with much smaller inclusions of light yellow and very few fractions of dark yellow. The slicing is consistent with all modern L&M varieties — rather chaotic, consisting of differently colored ribbons, flakes, and thin slices of vein. Surrogate leaf is also present, and there’s no need for it now. Tar-characteristics of cigarettes now do not specify, therefore we will try and try to determine them “by eye”.
Traditionally, to start with, I try smoking without the activated button. The smoke is not particularly distinctive, the usual medium cigarette flavor with a papery bitterness. Both the taste and the strength is about the same as L&M Blue Label cigarettes. The capsule seems to be slightly “siphoned”, because the usual taste is smoothed by a slight, barely noticeable menthol.
But if you crush the “button” at once, you won’t remember any medium-cigarette flavor. The only flavor will be the flavoring, which is closest to the taste of a mix of watermelon, melon, and a moderate, not pungent menthol. By the way, very good taste, especially if you compare it with classmates, at least there is no “soap” in it at all and the smoke leaves a pleasant aftertaste. I don’t know how much they will cost when they reach the mass market in Russia, but Maxsimus offers this L&M Loft variety for 80 rubles per pack, and this is a reasonable price for cigarettes.
L&M Loft 2 in 1. These cigarettes, as previously mentioned, are also presented in a “compact” format and have similar design elements. The only difference is the color of the “button” and the radial abstraction — purple and violet.
The pack contains twenty cigarettes with a three section filter. The design and quality of the sleeves are not distinguishable from the previous variety.
The design of the cigarettes themselves is slightly different — the “button” is of course purple, but there are no light gray “waves” on the filter. The thing is, perhaps, that this variety came on the market before the “red” counterpart and has the original design. I would not be surprised if in the near future the design of “purple” L&M will be “pulled up” to the same standard Loft.
The filter of this variety is also three-sectional, but different. It consists of a section of acetate fiber with a generous saturation of carbon chips, a section of pure acetate fiber holding the capsule with flavoring and a cardboard mouthpiece, the so-called “air section”.
The color of the bag is very similar to the Loft Mix composition — a preponderance of yellow fractions, about a third of the light yellow fractions and a sort of occasional presence of dark yellow. The slicing seems to be a little more accurate. Or rather, there are just less flakes and more ribbons of different lengths and widths. Both thin vein slices and surrogate leaf flakes are present. Tar characteristics are also not known.
When smoking without the “button” the taste of the smoke is similar to the previous type, the only difference is that the capsule does not mix its flavor. When you smoke a cigarette without the button, there is a faint aroma of the capsule, but not when you smoke it. With the button activated, the flavor belongs undividedly to the flavoring. And it’s quite pleasant, refreshing, without the “soap” flavor is very similar to some kind of hookah “blueberry with ice” or something like that. The menthol in the flavoring is quite moderate, without burning too much.
If we consider L&M Loft cigarettes in the context of “button” cigarettes — they are quite decent, with high-quality flavoring cigarettes. Comparing them to unflavored varieties is not correct. Again the positive factor is the same price, 80 rubles, which although not by much, but cheaper than other “button” analogues.
