555 State Express三五

A London brand that became an Asian institution, and the best straight Virginia blend here.

In production since 1895

Far East buys every product it reviews at retail. We take no money from tobacco manufacturers, run no affiliate links and sell nothing. Prices shown are indicative retail in the product’s home market.

Our notes

555 is nominally British and effectively Asian — it has been the gift cigarette across Southeast Asia for fifty years. The blend is a clean, bright Virginia with a bready mid-palate and none of the casing sweetness that defines the Chinese houses.

It is the cigarette to hand someone who says all cigarettes taste the same.

What works

Clean unsweetened Virginia character
Bready mid-palate develops as it burns
Gold pack is the most recognisable object in the catalogue

What does not

Priced as a gift item, not a daily smoke
Regional blend variation is significant

Specifications

12 mg

Tar

1 mg

Nicotine

84 mm

Length

Pack

Medium

Strength

Regular

Flavour

King size

Format

Filtered

Filter

Tar and nicotine are the manufacturer or market-label declarations, measured by machine under ISO conditions. They do not describe what any individual smoker inhales.

Smoking kills. A high reader rating means people who smoke it like it. It does not mean it is safe, and no cigarette in this catalogue is safer than any other.

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