New Baccy Tin

Remember when smoking used to get you free stuff? I remember my father collecting the vouchers from his fag packets and trading them in for things that didn't interest me very much, but they were free.

I have brass petrol lighters embossed with Cutter's Choice and Golden Virginia, I used to have a little rolling mat that was useless but well, it didn't cost anything. There was a brass holder for Rizla papers, I can't remember what happened to that. I have green and red Rizla mugs with the name in gold leaf (not microwave safe but they'll scare the antismokers).

For years I have kept my baccy in a plastic-lined leather pouch that once had 'Rizla' embossed on it but which has deteriorated to the point of being embarassing. I've been considering alternatives for some time, but they had to be cheap or free. I do still have an Amber Leaf tin, unfortunately I have long since lost all my Franklin's tins, and the Amber Leaf tin has a 'Yer gonnae die, ya bas' warning on it.

Well, in the last week Tesco have stopped stocking petrol lighter fuel. My favourite lighter is a Zippo with a pig image, which was given to me by a Syrian student who worked with me for eight weeks and produced a very good publication. I even met her parents - her father was Somebody in the Syrian government (in 1992) and he gave me a massive cigar; her mother was a quiet, smiley woman who gave me amazing Syrian food and a hand-stitched tablecloth I dare not use. A family full of successes and skills. But I digress.

The pig image... might have been an insult considering they were Muslim but I really don't mind if it was, it was so much fun to meet them all.

Anyhow, our local Tesco no longer stock petrol lighter fuel. When I ask for it now, I get a look that I'd expect to get if I asked for three sticks of dynamite and a fuse, from the same girl who's been selling me lighter fuel for years. Okay, I thought, it's been my supplier of fuel, flints, papers and filters for a long time even after I switched my baccy supplies to Man with a Van but there are other places.

One of them is the local pound shop. One tin of lighter fuel, one pound. No problem. It's five minutes from Tesco (in this town, most places are five minutes from just about any other place). They also have papers but the ones in the yellow packets, don't bother with those. Bull brand papers are okay and those are eight packs a pound at the moment.

So anyway, I was in there, stocking up on lighter petrol which would save me the bother of prising the lid off Plastic Man's fuel tank and dipping my Zippo in on a string, when I saw the baccy tin above. One British Pound and it was mine. It's actually red but the photo is pretty reasonable considering how much of Grant's Ale Cask Reserve I've imbibed this evening. Yes, those are my blunt-ended typing fingers.

This is sold as a tin with a pack of rolling papers so it's pretty obvious what the tin is for. However, since it contains no tobacco products as sold, it does not have to have a warning label. It is a tobacco container you don't have to die for. Get one before the Righteous spot the loophole. There are many designs, I was quite taken with the old test-card tin but this one was better.

Bull brand is British and has a website. Well worth a look.

And so, the old faithful tatty leather pouch is finally laid to rest. I'm happy, I still don't have dead organs draped across my baccy container.

I wonder if they'd consider making a Leg-iron tin?


UPDATE - I will need to spend another pound on another tin. I've just realised I can get three or four Electrofag batteries, a load of cartridges and even a USB charger into one of these things.

No reason really, other than to horrify the easily frightened. Take out the bits of Electrofag and 'hand-roll' them, and just watch their blood pressure rise. They'll need to suck a diesel exhaust for an hour to get the nicotine out of their lungs. None of them can manage that, I'll bet.

Hmmm... a battery that charges if you roll it in your hands.... now that would be interesting.