Comments on: William Burroughs and Cigarettes

By: Jesuslegs Diamond

Jesuslegs Diamond — Thu, 15 Sep 2022 23:11:58 +0000

Lucky Strikes were also blatant on the first “New York Dolls” album that came out in 1973. David Johansen, in full drag of course, seems to be gazing at a pack on the table, like he was just about to light one up. With the I.Pop connection it must have been part of that scene. They are so toasty!
Old Gold, my friend would steal from his father – it was that kind of cigarette – what your dad would smoke – “Old Molds” we called them.
There is a photo of Bull Lee just finishing shooting up in the ReSearch publication.
Pepsi remains the drink of the old school black guys. It’s about all my father-in-law drinks. That and Chevas – and Kool cigarettes. He’s a black guy.
But where are the fucking Gauloises? “The immense Gauloise” as Leonard Cohen described them. The existential cigarette with the power of a flame thrower. Used to smoke the ones with the little filters. So cool in their little blue packaging. Can’t get em now. C’est la vie.

By: J Warwick Sweeney

J Warwick Sweeney — Mon, 12 Jul 2021 12:27:16 +0000

Moreover, Senior Service was Dent’s brand. He was a chain smoker, it killed him, aged 73.

By: J Warwick Sweeney

J Warwick Sweeney — Mon, 12 Jul 2021 12:25:00 +0000

The habit of soaking tobacco in Cannabis Indica is something that Doc Dent did so there is strong circumstantial evidence that this was learned behaviour and possibly even endorsed by Burroughs’ physician. Everything else is also connected; the suit and tie, being an iconoclast, the literature. Most of the themes, vocabulary and even some events in ‘the naked lunch’ for instance are contained within Dent’s writings.
The ‘green’ reference above by Barry Miles is v interesting because apomorphine stains green??
Could burroughs have been mixing the two?

By: Barry Miles

Barry Miles — Sat, 23 Mar 2019 10:15:40 +0000

During the years when Burroughs lived primarily in London – 1960-1974 – his drink was whisky and water. Usually Johnny Walker even though he lived only a block away from J&B’s shop on St. James’s Street (they were major suppliers during prohibition and delivered in bulk to Canada at that time). Bill was never a connoisseur of drinks, and usually simply bought the cheapest. Alcohol was used to get drunk, not to appreciate in its own right. He knew little about wine but could be quite a gourmet regarding food. He liked to at well, appreciated caviar and the like.
In London Bill smoked Senior Service as Jim says. One of his oft repeated quips was that Senior Service was the only service you were likely to get in England as waited for sales staff, plumbers, electricians to attend him. In the late sixties-early seventies Bill used to get tincture of cannabis on prescription from his doctor as a cure for paranoia: ‘Pot is illegal and I’m paranoid that I might get busted.’ It came in a bright green alcohol suspension, designed to be taken like medicine. Bill got through a bottle a week by dipping his Senior Service in it and letting the cigarettes, which were now bright green, dry out on the top of his night storage heater. Then he would carefully replace in their pack. He happily lit up after a restaurant meal – legal in those days – and though people could be seen sniffing the air with a puzzled look on their faces, no-one ever challenged him. He sat impassive, in his three piece suit, smoking his digestif Senior Service.