Reviewing American Spirit Light Blues

The Nitro+Chiral game Slow Damage introduces it's main character, Towa, by having him be woken up and be told he's late for work after passing out drunk on his couch. His response to being told to get ready is to immediately light a cigarette and start looking for lukewarm booze in the bottles strewn about his floor. Relatable! Within the first few hours of the game, it's made clear that Towa smokes a lot, a comical amount even. It's brought up so frequently that he's lighting a cigarette or taking a drag that a friend of mine made a drinking game out of it and ended up ridiculously hungover. 

I'm honestly not quite sure where the information came from, as I'm not finished the game, but it's seemingly common knowledge within the fanbase that the cigarettes he loves so dearly are American Spirit Light Blues.

I had to try them. At least for the bit.

A quick google search told me that these cigarettes are branded as American Spirit Bolds in Canada, useful information! I went to two convenience stores and ended up finding them at Circle K.

I'm new to cigarettes. I smoked weed for a while, but quickly learned I don't like being high and just enjoy the physical sensation of smoking. I don't like the headrush from nicotine either, so typically I only have a few puffs on weekends, not enough to develop a dependence. I also typically only smoke Pall Mall Smooths, which I like because they're cheap and weak. This is my first time trying something a bit on the pricier side, but the 20 dollars gone is worth it for Towa.

Immediately upon removing the plastic from the package, I was greeted by a pleasantly surprising earthy smell, almost like green tea. It was quite a strong smell, but it wasn't the typical tobacco smell you'd expect from cigarettes. It's almost sweet, but not overwhelmingly so. I like it a lot. 

An issue that Pall Malls have is that they tend to not hold a light very easily, and will need to be relit a few times during even the shortest smoke breaks. The American Spirit lit right away, and held it nicely. It didn't burn too fast either, I didn't feel like I was just inhaling ash like I sometimes do with Pall Malls. 

They seemed to be more concentrated than I was expecting, the smoke feeling heavier on my lungs and a bit harder to inhale. It wasn't harsh though, it didn't burn either, just felt... heavy. I've always had trouble smoking bongs due to how concentrated the smoke is, and it definitely wasn't as extreme as those experiences, but it was a little different from smoking a blunt or a lighter cigarette.

These ones definitely have a higher nicotine content than what I'm used to, and I could only take a few puffs before putting it out and away for later. A Google search told me I was right about this, American Spirit Bolds have 0.7 mg of nicotine where the ones I'm used to have 0.1 mg.

The earthy smell did translate into the taste. They tasted like smoke first and foremost, but there was a noticeable sweet undertone to the flavour, a lot like sweetgrass. The flavour also stuck to my tongue afterwards, which was quite pleasant. I like pairing my cigarettes with a coffee, and I found that when the flavours mixed together it created an almost spiced taste, like cardamom.

All in all I thought it was a nice experience. I don't think I'd ever want to smoke them as much as Towa, but it would be a nice once in a while treat. I'd give them a 8 out of 10 rating, removing two points for how concentrated the smoke was and the resulting headrush. But these factors are probably just a skill issue on my part.