Guard Against Throat-Scratch

Full pack of Pall Mall cigarettes on rock near Irondequoit Bay
Full pack of Pall Mall cigarettes on rock near Irondequoit Bay

There was a serious amount of smoking in “Once Upon A Time . . . In Hollywood” and a lot of smoking in “In A Lonely Place” and then some smoking in “Being John Malkovich,” the last three movies we watched. We were happy to find they are still great. Really great in fact. You can see why directors want to use these things. The mood, the pause, the period, the smoke, the prop for the actor. We found this pack of Pall Malls on a rock along the shore of Irondequoit Bay this morning.

3 Comments

3 Replies to “Guard Against Throat-Scratch”

  1. What do you think the story is behind the Pall Malls? I figure someone bought a pack because they had bad bad news — or maybe good news — so they smoked one and then left the pack behind for some other poor soul….

  2. I thought was really odd, a full pack, left out in the open on a big rock. It didn’t look to me like even one cigarette had been removed. I was afraid to touch it and photographed it as I found it. My first thought was that someone bought he pack, tore it open and in that moment recommitted to quitting the habit. That would be something I might do. But you’re probably right. They had one cigarette and left it for someone else. It would be the cigarette to have if you are only having one.

  3. I was in a fancy hospital once with a gangster’s moll (whose husband had her room filled with white lilies) and she turned me onto Dunhill Blues. I smoked them for a while. Also (sorry for the name dropping) Michael Stipe scorned my Merit cigarettes in Athens GA and said I’d have to switch if I stayed in town (I didn’t) (see 52 Men) My faves for a period were Rothman Blues; I thought of them as the Marlboro of Britain. ..Meanwhile, if you say the Pall Mall packet was completely full, I’d say you were right the first time, and the buyer had a good long smell of the tobacco before putting the pack down a rock and making a run for it.

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