Other James Bond cigarette brands

While Morland cigarettes were James Bond’s regular choice when in London, he did switch briefly to Duke of Durham King-sized in Thunderball while cutting down to ten a day, and even smoked a cheroot in Moonraker.

And in The Man With The Golden Gun Senior Service becomes the James Bond cigarette brand as he cuts down on his habit as part of his post-brainwashing recovery, missing his daily target of twenty-five by five; not bad considering his previous intake of nicotine.

Given that his regular habit was sixty a day the regular James Bond cigarette supply was soon depleted as soon as he was sent on a mission overseas. Morland cigarettes finished, 007 would be forced to smoke a local brand instead.

A number of brands are mentioned by Ian Fleming, which he no doubt field tested during his own visits in the field, which are noted below:

The other James Bond cigarette brands

In the United States and Bahamas he goes for Chesterfield king-size (Live And Let Die, Goldfinger, and Thunderball), a brand which is still popular today in Europe.
Bond smokes Diplomates in Istanbul, which were recommended to him by Darko Kerim and were “the most wonderful cigarette he had ever tasted”.
He accepts a Player’s cigarette from “Captain Nash” on board the Orient Express, despite hating Virginia tobacco, just to put Nash at ease.
Royal Blend is 007’s choice in Jamaica (Doctor No and The Man With The Golden Gun).
While in Paris in From A View To A Kill he smokes Laurens Jaune.
Senior Service is the brand in Thunderball, The Spy Who Loved Me and The Man With The Golden Gun.
And Shinsei is what he is offered in Japan, which he found “good and sharp on the palate and lungs” and compares to a slow burning firework. Bond lights his Japanese cigarettes with a match rather than his regular Ronson lighter while disguised as a miner prior to infiltrating Blofeld’s “garden of death” in You Only Live Twice.

Some of these brands are still popular today, but a number are untraceable online and, like Morland’s, are presumably no longer available.

Health Warning: You know as well as I do that smoking is bad for you, so don’t start just because James Bond did. These days we have much better information about the dangers of a habit that is becoming increasingly unacceptable and if you do so it is at your own risk; don’t say I encourage you.

Written by: David Leigh

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