I recently watched and enjoyed the 4-part adaptation of China Mieville's bizarro, noirish 'The City & The City.' Throughout, the character of Inspector Tyador Borlu (played by David Morrissey) smokes small cigars, which he sometimes breaks in half.
Periodically I become obsessed with trying to figure out what a character is smoking or drinking in film. My wife says it's a pointless exercise because the prop folks probably created something fake anyway. Plus the story takes place in some alternate version of our world, so there aren't going to be recognizable brands, etc.
But for anyone who's seen it (and I recommend it, particularly for smokers, since it implicitly takes a strong pro-smoking position), what type of cigarillo do you think he's smoking? Mini, club, purito, short? A chico broken in half? I'm guessing a ring gauge of 28-30, maybe a little bigger, so not a mini or a club I guess. Do any of you guys like this type of small cigar and prefer one kind over another? I used to smoke Garcia y Vega gallantes when I was in college. They weren't great. I imagine a nice Partagas club or Cohiba short is a world fuller and more interesting.
Second, more complicated question. If you've seen it, you can't help but notice that the sound design/editors place real emphasis (real airtime) on the sound of the wrapper crackling with each long draw. It's a beautiful sound. But I've never heard a cigar sound quite so animated -- it almost made me doubtful that it was an actual leaf wrapper and not brown paper. Or I considered the possibility that the effect was recorded elsewhere and dubbed in, as sound guys do, on the direction of someone who really cares about the sensory delights of burning tobacco. Unlikely but who knows?
The only stills I could find are below. If I've convinced anyone to check it out, I guess my work is done.
Periodically I become obsessed with trying to figure out what a character is smoking or drinking in film. My wife says it's a pointless exercise because the prop folks probably created something fake anyway. Plus the story takes place in some alternate version of our world, so there aren't going to be recognizable brands, etc.
But for anyone who's seen it (and I recommend it, particularly for smokers, since it implicitly takes a strong pro-smoking position), what type of cigarillo do you think he's smoking? Mini, club, purito, short? A chico broken in half? I'm guessing a ring gauge of 28-30, maybe a little bigger, so not a mini or a club I guess. Do any of you guys like this type of small cigar and prefer one kind over another? I used to smoke Garcia y Vega gallantes when I was in college. They weren't great. I imagine a nice Partagas club or Cohiba short is a world fuller and more interesting.
Second, more complicated question. If you've seen it, you can't help but notice that the sound design/editors place real emphasis (real airtime) on the sound of the wrapper crackling with each long draw. It's a beautiful sound. But I've never heard a cigar sound quite so animated -- it almost made me doubtful that it was an actual leaf wrapper and not brown paper. Or I considered the possibility that the effect was recorded elsewhere and dubbed in, as sound guys do, on the direction of someone who really cares about the sensory delights of burning tobacco. Unlikely but who knows?
The only stills I could find are below. If I've convinced anyone to check it out, I guess my work is done.