A Taste of Filipino Cigarettes

Finally, after quite a long wait, more than a year after posting Chasing Filipino Cigarettes, I've managed to get hold of Filipino Cigarettes. It took a trip to the central market of Gapan, Nueva Ecija to get these because they're not available here in Metro Manila. A previous discussion with the makers of these cigarettes didn't really help much, to which they suggested to go to Tarlac to buy their products.

Each pack contains 30 cigarillos, no filters unlike the more popular American Blended ones. Their packaging, wrapped in printed paper, much like the way it was done before during the late Spanish times. Might not be the best way to preserve flavor in the sticks, but who can complain since they cost very, very cheap. One of the brands sells for around 12 pesos.

Chasing Filipino Cigarettes

The Philippines used to be the largest exporter of tobacco in Asia, all thanks to the tobacco monopoly in the 1700s. Those were quite harsh times for Filipinos, and it seems that era had almost left no traces. We are not starved of tobacco anymore. Look all around, American blend cigarettes are everywhere. American blend! I asked myself the question, why a foreign blend? Isn't there a Filipino blend?

Apparently there were. Aside from our grandparents wrapping their own tobacco in leaves and lighting them straight up, there are cigarettes Pinoy style. I remember visiting provinces of the North and South Luzon and seeing old ladies smoking dark long sticks of tobacco with the lighted end in their mouth. Classic right? Well, those are hard to find in Metro Manila.