Parliament (cigarette)
Parliament is a brand of cigarette manufactured by Altria (formerly Philip Morris). Parliaments are distinctive for their recessed paper filter, in contrast to the solid foam filters on other filtered cigarettes.
Varieties
Parliaments are sold in several different varieties:
- Blues (Full Flavor): Kings and Hundreds
- Lights: Kings and Hundreds
- Extra Lights: Kings and Hundreds
- One (nicotine - 0.1 mg, tar 1 mg): Kings
- Menthol Full Flavor: Kings and Hundreds
- Menthol Lights: Kings and Hundreds
- Menthol Extra Lights: Kings and Hundreds
- Super Slims: Hundreds
- Menthol Super Slims: Hundreds
Popularity
Parliaments are generally characterized by a sharp, tangy flavor. They are referred to by teenagers in America as "Parlies" or "Parlie Lights," which refer as one might expect to the light variety. Other popular nicknames for the full flavor and lights, respectively, include "P-Funks", "P-Steaz" and "P-Lights." The former takes its name from the popular funk group P-Funk, or Parliament Funkadelic, most famous for its headliner, George Clinton.
Though Parliaments represent a small share of Philip Morris's cigarette sales (1.7% based on sales figures in the first quarter of 2004), they are rather popular among smokers in their 20s in the United States and Russia.
Parliament cigarette brand can be even considered a kind of a phenomenon of the Russian market. The sales of Parliaments in Russia constitute almost 15%, while on American market the sale of Parliament has fallen to 3.5% from the entire Philip Morris range of products. Therefore, Parliament can be now considered the leader among premium-segment brands on the Russian market.
In the mid-1970s, Parliament cigarettes were the first to be sold outside of the US. However, Parliament occupied strong positions only in Japan, Argentina, Israel, Turkey, and recently in Russia. On the rest of European markets, Parliament cigarettes are not very well-known. Nevertheless, Philip Morris decided to launch a small but focused campaign, assuming that a huge ad campaign could negatively affect the image of a premium cigarette brand.
Recessed Filters
One cigarette study suggests that Parliaments have a recessed filter "to prevent the tongue from touching the filter face."[1]
It is widely known that, although not intended by its makers for this, Parliaments are commonly used by Cocaine users to "Bump" a small amount of cocaine.
In Popular Culture
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- In The West Wing episode The U.S. Poet Laureate, there is a classic scene in which Josh describes the moderator of a fansite devoted to him as "a dictatorial leader who I'm sure wears a muumuu and chainsmokes Parliaments".
- In the Family Guy episode "Quagmire Falls In Love" Peter's maid for the week cleans out his bellybutton and pulls out a carton of Parliament Cigarettes, to Peter's utter surprise.
Notes
See Also
External links
- Parliament Cigarettes packs from Encyclopedia of Cigarettes