Things from Russia for the most part

[narcasse]

I’ve been attempting to get my hands on some Belomorkanal (Беломорканал) cigarettes for a little while now mostly because I’ve never tried that style of cigarette before and because they have the reputation for being rather strong. They’re what’s termed ‘papirosa’ style which involves a cardboard tube that serves as a cigarette holder with a tube of rolling paper stuffed full of tobacco at the end all of which seems to work rather well. Taste-wise, they’re a little harsh first thing in the morning but go amazingly well with malty tea. It’s the difference between accidentally inhaling while smoking your cigarillo and taking your time to enjoy it. These cigarettes in particular make for a nice, quick smoke when you don’t want to sit around for longer. In fact, the only problem is that afterwards you end up with little cardboard tubes in your ashtray which along with your sheets of foil that fall out of your bookcase on the other side of the room at inopportune moments along with a stash of baggies make it look like you’ve been up to a little bit of dragon chasing.

The malty tea to go with the cigarettes is Orimi Trade’s Princess Kandy, which their site describes as ‘really strong tea’. It’s not amazingly strong and reminds me more of a medium sort of Assam. It’s rather smooth and reasonably heavy therefore isn’t the sort of thing I’d drink all day long but it’s certainly not a bad way to start a morning and works nicely as a late afternoon tea as well. It’s not a large leaf tea but the leaves are surprisingly small in comparison to the other sorts of Ceylon tea I have and it’s strong enough that if I’m being really lazy I can reuse the tea in my strainer twice to brew myself a second cup without there being much difference in flavour.

I may have to experiment with more Russian cigarettes now that I’ve found a way to acquire them, not least of all because unlike the Moldovan cigarettes I picked up some time ago the tobacco doesn’t just fall out when you get close to the end of the filter/cardboard holder.


In other, non-smoking, news, I’ve finally managed to get hold of a copy of volume 5 of Mitsukazu Mihara’s Doll which seems to be notoriously hard to find. It’s still a wonderful set of stories with an overarching theme and now finally I can read the final volume which I’ve had for over a year now. I really do love the starkness of the artwork and the story themes. And unlike Confidential Confessions the stories here just make me sad rather than angry.


And finally, on a random give-away note: I have, for reasons best not gone in to, in my possession a pair of ladies UK size 6 royal blue jutti, which I’m told is a traditional type of Punjabi shoe. They’ve not been worn and I can’t say that I’d have a use for them so if anybody’s so inclined to take them off my hands I’d be most grateful.

Comments

[blasphemiliar.livejournal.com]

Upon looking at those jutti I couldn't help but be reminded of Radu's dainty little shoes in the Trinity Blood manga. Please don't tell me you were thinking of cosplaying him.

[reichsfreiherr.livejournal.com]

I’ll bet his ones were larger than a women’s UK size 6. Those things are tiny. Then again, maybe he has tiny feet to go with his magically unwinding turban that stays on his head while he leaps through the air like something out of Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake.

[blasphemiliar.livejournal.com]

If it stays on his head then it may be he wears a pre-winded turban, which is akin to those elastic ties that are given to young children with butterfingers. They may be useful for some situations but in the end the fact that you can't do up your own tie/turban/pants is going to become a laughing point for others. We almost set fire to our TV when my brother and I were playing with matches and spray-on deodorant. It only encouraged us further, until the flame decided to leap back towards the can.

[reichsfreiherr.livejournal.com]

I hadn’t thought of that. Though maybe it’s just a balance issue and they have to keep putting a pre-wound one on him because he keeps trying to shake it off due to a phobia of having things on his head; we never get any images of him actually wearing the hat that goes with his Imperial uniform after all.

[blasphemiliar.livejournal.com]

If his hair is reasonably thick like mine; it's on steroids then he's probably trying to avoid hat hair. People with thin locks are fine because the hat/turban/cat sits on their head without having to squeeze anything, but if it's thick you end up with a fashionable dent in your hair.
How about napalm? My brother had a really evil looking friend who was a dead ringer for Harry Potter. This kid, Damian, was brilliant and at age twelve he and my brother were mixing up home-made napalm in his backyard from a recipe he had found online.

[reichsfreiherr.livejournal.com]

[blasphemiliar.livejournal.com]

Pipe-bombs? Child's play. An erstwhile friend once, god knows how, managed to come across one such text. Now, if we had carried through with one of my plans for the placement of explosives...But we weren't that crazed. We were just young and fourteen and optimistic that we would have a world-wide Kommunist state...*wipes away tear of wistfulness*