Laredo (cigarette)
Encyclopedia
Laredo was a tobacco
Tobacco
Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines...

 kit introduced by Brown & Williamson
Brown & Williamson
Brown & Williamson was an American tobacco company and subsidiary of the giant British American Tobacco, that produced several popular cigarette brands. It became infamous as the focus of investigations for chemically enhancing the addictiveness of cigarettes...

 in the early 1970s. It was sold with the slogan "If you want something done right, do it yourself". The kit consisted of a tin of tobacco, a plastic cigarette-making device, and loose cigarette papers and filters
Cigarette filter
A cigarette filter has the purpose of reducing the amount of smoke, tar, and fine particles inhaled during the combustion of a cigarette. Filters also reduce the harshness of the smoke and keep tobacco flakes out of the smoker's mouth.-History:...

. The Laredo brand tobacco and a filter were inserted into the device, and then a lever was pulled to compress the tobacco. Another lever slid the plug of tobacco and the filter into an empty cigarette paper tube to form a homemade cigarette.

Although the gimmick was hailed as being innovative for its time, the tobacco itself was criticized for being bland and the devices had a tendency to jam. According to one smoker, "Invariably, the tobacco wouldn't distribute consistently so every cigarette was different - always bad. Some were so tightly stuffed that there was no way to draw. Some were so loose that they tended to go up in flame (or the tobacco just fell out)". The product was eventually discontinued.
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