Ethanol and tobacco

Lauder’s finest scotch whisky

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lauders scotch

Lauder’s blended scotch whisky comes in red packaging. This is a
duty free 1 liter bottle of this fine ethanol product from Scotland. I
had kept this in my room and forgot all about it until when I was
packing to come back to Kuching. Imagine that! Ethanol products go forgotten
in the sixthseal.com household! I could hardly believe my own eyes when
I saw this premium scotch from God knows when sitting lonely in my
table, which coincidentally was covered with cloth.

lauders scotch scotland

I suspect my mother had put that supposed “dust filter” on, for
nefarious purposes. What a sight to behold when I flipped up the cloth
and found this gem, which I immediately packed and earmarked for
consumption in Kuching. 😉

lauders scotch bottle

The bottle looks beautiful! It’s molded with concave areas on the
four sides of the bottle with the label at the bottom. Very unique.
Nice to see, nice to hold, once broken, considered sold!

lauders scotch label

Lauder’s scotch is a product of Scotland and contains 43% alcohol.
It’s a 1L bottle coz it was purchased by my dad from one of his trips –
only duty free liquor are sold in 1L bottles. I don’t know why my dad
buys liquor coz he doesn’t display them and he doesn’t drink. I take it
that he’s purchasing it for my drinking pleasure. Heh! Thanks dad! 😉

lauders scotch unique

It tastes really great…premium scotch is always wonderful,
compared to the el cheapo alcohol I’m forced to drink right now due to
dire financial straits. This one has a nice aroma, with complex flavors
and a nice bite. Nice is the word to describe it. The bottle is so
beautifully designed that it’s almost too good to drink…

lauders scotch drink

I said almost. 😉

Prescott cigarettes review

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prescott

This is Prescott cigarettes, a brand I haven’t seen around. It’s not
very popular – it doesn’t have a large market share from what I see
from its limited distribution outlets.

prescott sampoerna

Interestingly, Prescott is made by PT Sampoerna – the famous clove
cigarette manufacturer from Indonesia. However, Prescott is one of its
non-clove cigarette lines, it’s using “Fine Virginia Tobaccos” and is
supposed to be “International Quality”.

prescott my

Prescott has the MY watermark that is mandatory for all cigarettes
now. This means that it’s a licensed product. Malaysia recently
introduced a new law with hefty fines for retailers and end users (a
pretentious word for smokers ;)) who has unlicensed cigarettes in their
possession.

prescott cigarettes

It looks like a standard full flavored cigarette. It tastes
remarkably nice, with heavy woody overtones. The flavor certainly gets
high acclaims from me. The nicotine content is just about right too,
strong, but qualitatively it doesn’t have as much freebase
nicotine…it just doesn’t hit you as fast as a Marlboro.

Liushuiyin (Flowing Water Music) Herb Blend cigarettes

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liushuiyin

I noticed this box of Liushuiyin Herb Blend cigarettes at a coffee
shop one day. It’s an unlicensed product – there’s no MY watermark on
it and it’s imported in by a Sarawak based company.

liushuiyin herb blend

The box says Liushuiyin but the Chinese characters read as Zhong Nan
Hai or Central South River. The actual translation should be Central
and Southern Seas or Sea Palaces. Liushiyin translates to flowing water
music.

liushuiyin china

This product is made in The People’s Republic of China; or just
China damn it, no point in typing five words when one would do just
fine. 😉

liushuiyin cigarettes

Here’s what the cigarettes look like – the traditional white filter
for mild cigarettes instead of the brown filters for full bodied
cigarettes. I noticed an array of air intake holes at the filter point.
The name of the cigarette, which is Central and Southern Seas, is
printed on it.

liushuiyi serial

There’s also a strange serial code of some sort towards the end of
the cigarette. Yes, I pack it, smokes better, lights better. Anyway,
all the serials in the pack are the same T4 – 31. I don’t know if it’s
a batch code or something.

liushuiyin herbs

I sacrificed one of them to look at what this “herb blend” is all
about. There’s something else inside besides tobacco, but not
psychoactive mind, just a flavor additive. It actually tastes like
sweet herbs when you smoke it. It’s good for a fun smoke, but I’ll pass
for daily smoking – it doesn’t pack much weight in the nicotine
department.

Prime Time little cigars

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prime time cigars

These are Prime time little cigars, which I saw retailing for RM
2.90 each. There are three flavors for these “little cigars” – cherry,
vanilla, and chocolate mint. I got one of each to try them out.

Prime Time Little Cigars – Cherry Flavored

prime time cherry

The mini cigars all come in a plastic tube that’s the size of a
normal cigarette. They have an interesting twist open top that reveals
a little cigar with a filter.

prime time little cigar

The “little cigars” looks remarkably like a cigarette. It has the
same design, except these Prime Time little cigars are wrapped with
tobacco leaf instead of cigarette paper.

prime time tobacco

The filler is tobacco that’s not very unlike what a normal cigarette has. The only difference is the wrapper.

prime time filter

The little cigars have a filter too, which immediately disqualifies
it from being a cigar. I would not call it a cigar by any stretch of
the imagination.

prime time burn

I tried the cherry flavored one first and it did have hints of
cherry when inhaled. The taste is stronger when it’s smoked cigar style
instead of cigarette style. There’s a nice nicotine hit when you inhale
it though. Prime Time little cigars burns perfectly…just like a
cigarette. I would have expected burn lines like cigarette for it to
achieve such a feat but I couldn’t see any.

Prime Time Little Cigars – Vanilla Flavored

prime time vanilla

There is a slight hint of vanilla extract on these ones. I rolled it
about it my mouth and took my time in tasting it before exhaling and it
did have a vanilla taste, it’s just not very noticeable. This one
tastes like a normal cigarette, just a little stronger.

Prime Time Little Cigars – Chocolate Mint Flavored

prime time choc mint

Chocolate mint! I loved these ones. There’s a definite chocolate
taste to the little cigar, and it leaves a wonderful chocolate mint
aftertaste that lingers on. It’s like one of those after dinner mints –
it tastes exactly like that. It’s very nice, this flavor is the best of
the batch. It’s chocolate! It’s mint! It’s chocolate mint! 🙂

prime time cali

Oh, and The State of California would like to remind you that this
product contains/produces chemicals that can cause cancer, birth
defects and other reproductive harm. 😉

Spain Smint Supports Smoking

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smint promo

I found this Smint promotional packaging which has Smint,
er…mints, in a Pez-like dispenser and a Smint lighter! Light up the
day with a free Smint lighter, it said. Now, I’m sitting there (or
standing rather) wondering about why they would package a lighter with
Smint.

free smint lighter

Are the marketing people aiming to capture the smoking demographic
by throwing in a free disposable lighter to go with their cool, sugar
free (with Xylitol), breath freshening product? Or is there a more
insidious marketing plan in place…an unholy agreement between big
tobacco and Smint to put lighters in the Smint that are Made in Spain
to encourage children to smoke?

smint no kiss

Or maybe to burn ants or whatever children do nowadays, I don’t know. 😉

Now, my dear readers, sixthseal.com is not going faux political or
quasi activist on you, I just wanted to see if I could make a post
title with four S in a row. 😉

The amazing cigarette price hike in Malaysia

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malaysia cig price hike carton

We expected a 3-4% price hike. We expected it to be under RM 6. We
expected a couple of cents increase. We were wrong. It turns out that
each pack is selling for RM 6.50 now, and that, my friends, is a
fucking amazing (I’m not good with math, so I’m covering up for it by
not calculating the percentage) increase. It’s a RM 1.10 increase! Even
the contraband Rave cigarettes are going for RM 3.50 now.

There seems to be a consortium of coffee shops who started putting
the RM 6.50 (for “premium” brands like Marlboros – the ones I smoke,
Dunhills etc) in effect yesterday. Two places quoted me that price,
though some grocery shops are still selling it at the old RM 5.40
price. It’s a good thing I have a friend who owns a chain of grocery
shops and he’s selling it to me at RM 50 per carton (RM 5 each) for
Marlboros. It’s all legit, MY watermark, new stock etc. He’s a good old
friend I’ve known for 9 years, and he promised to freeze the RM 50 per
carton price for me and some of our close friends.

Don’t ask about reselling though, I won’t do that, like I said we’re
good friends…”blood brothers” in Chinese. :p The price hike is a
bummer though, and although some sources claims that the figure is not
confirmed yet, all the places have put the cigarette tax increase in
place, so that’s a moot point. I didn’t stock up though, coz I can
always get it from my friend at our “old price” (RM 50 per carton).

pm lm

Nevertheless, when he came over to my place late last night, I told
him I’m switching to L&M (another Philip Morris brand which tastes
kinda like Marlboro) in protest. RM 35 per carton (retail is RM 4 per
pack) sure beats RM 50 any day. I will always love Marlboros but
sometimes the government goes a little too far with this anti-smoking
campaign. I’m sure it’ll buffer the coffers of Malaysia’s war chest
too, this tax increase. I’ll love to see a study if it leads to an
increase in crime when nicotine starved low income bracket groups find
themselves stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Well, I’ve got work to do now, I’ll update again later and reply all
comments then. Have a nice Monday everyone, and to all cigarette
smokers out there…I feel for you, mate. We’ve been shafted again and
again…I imagine this amazing price hike is going to compensate for
the expensive botched “Tak Nak” anti-smoking campaign.

New Mild Seven limited edition run boxes

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mild seven limited f1

These are the new Mild Seven limited edition run cigarette boxes. It
came out some time this week and the full flavored ones (below) depicts
a speeding F1 car while the lights version (above) shows a stationary
F1 vehicle. I thought they would go better in the F1 Mild Seven Pit Party
[sixthseal.com] limited edition cans, but for some marketing reason I
can’t comprehend, these limited run ones came only came out this week.

Oh, and cigarette taxes are going up…again…

Fassbind Kirsch liquor chocolates

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fassbind kirsch choc

Fassbind Kirsch chocolates is another product line in the liquor chocolate industry that is made from real alcohol.

fassbind brand choc

Fassbind is a little known brand and kirsch is classified under
“brandy” if I’m not mistaken. It tastes like good brandy. Fassbind
Kirsch can be found in its original state at 41% alcohol.

fassbind kirsch filled chocs

The liquor filled chocolates comes in the form of standard block
milk chocolates filled with the liquor in question – in this case, it’s
Fassbind Kirsch.

fassbind kirsch syrup

It’s important to note that the centers are filled with liquid
liquor, so please don’t make the mistake of biting into it and letting
it spill all over…like me. 😉

Malaysia Boleh cigarettes

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john cigs promo

Malaysia Boleh! Jenama Bangsa Malaysia (The Brand of the People of
Malaysia). This is a relatively new entry into the cigarette market –
John cigarettes.

john cigarettes

I found it in a coffee shop somewhere. It’s wholly made and owned by
a Malaysian Company. I just hope Phillip Morris don’t file a lawsuit
based on the er…similarities, shall we say, with their respective logos.

john cigs

It currently only comes in one variety, no menthols, no lights, but
that’s not an issue since I don’t go for those. It only costs RM 2.80,
around half the price of “premium” cigarettes like Marlboro and Dunhill.

john cigarettes my

It has the “MY” silk print on it – Malaysia recently launched a
campaign to get rid of all unlicenced cigarettes by imposing fines on
both retailers and end users and this affected the low income bracket
market by removing low cost cigarettes like Rave from the shelves.

It looks like that void is filled now, with these Malaysian made
cigarettes. I personally found it pleasant, somewhat like
Marlboros…for half the price. Two other test subjects reported
“sharpness” and an “acidity”, respectively, which I also noted, but
hey, it costs half the price of Marlboros. I think I’ll stick to
Marlboros though, but I’m just telling you, if you’re not choosy, you
might like John cigarettes.

…and er, support Malaysian made goods. 😉

Stolichnaya vodka chocolates

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kch liquor chocs

I found a wide range of liquor based chocolates in the confectionary
shop at the airport while waiting for my flight just now. I’ve had them
before, but never did get a chance to review them.

stolichnaya choc

I decided to get one for a snack – the Stolichnaya vodka chocolate. These aren’t liquor flavoured chocolates – these are the nice ones with REAL liquor syrup inside.

stoli choc swiss

The vodka is imported from Russia, obviously. Stoli is Russian vodka. The chocolate is Swiss chocolate though.

stoli choc shots

I estimate that each block has the alcohol equivalent of 1/4 of a
vodka shot, so that makes two shot glasses worth of Stolichnaya vodka
in the chocolates. It certainly won’t get you anywhere, but it tastes
good.

stoli choc center

The center really is intriguing…filled with vodka syrup, which
will spill if you tip it. It tastes great, nice texture with the burst
of familiar vodka when you bite into the chocolates. Highly
recommended, it’s made with real alcohol, but don’t expect that to get
you anywhere, just go for the great taste.

stoli choc children
Contains alcohol / Not to be given to children!

This has got to be the funniest sign I’ve seen on a package…

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