Cigarette = папироса/сигарета/сигаретка

[david-us.livejournal.com]

Do these three words refer to something different?
папироса
сигарета
сигаретка

I did a little research and it said that папироса has a cardboard mouthpiece. That seems odd. Are there such cigarettes in Russia? Or, is that referring to a "filter", that is common with American cigarettes?

сигаретка appears to be in some kind of diminutive form. Do they have "little cigarettes", smaller than the average size, in Russia?

Which is more common?

David Emerling
Memphis, TN

Comments

[karakal.livejournal.com]

Yes, your 'папироса research' says right. Папиросы are still widely available.
And yes, сигаретка is simply a diminutive form of сигарета.

[dekarmi.livejournal.com]

http://www.google.com.ua/images?hl=uk&q=%D0%BF%D0%B0%D0%BF%D0%B8%D1%80%D0%BE%D1%81%D0%B0&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&biw=1024&bih=647

pictures on "папироса"

[serpent-849.livejournal.com]

as a non-smoker, to me they're all the same :D
diminutive here doesn't necessarily mean they're physically smaller

[serpent-849.livejournal.com]

my friends don't say папироса though. both my grandfathers did.

[serpent-849.livejournal.com]

fwiw one of them smoked астра (which he called астма) and ява. dunno about the other one

[vsjo-taki.livejournal.com]

cigarette = сигарета, certainly.

Сигаретка has not "уменьшительный", but "ласкательный" meaning.

Папироска, папироска is a sort of Russian speciality. :-) Папироса and сигарета are frequently synonyms, папироса has a bit obsolete nuance.

As far as I know, there are no "small cigarettes" in Russia, smaller than average size. Even though, they would be called сигареты, not necessarily сигаретки.

The most common word is сигарета.


Anastasia Kuznetsova
Basel, Switzerland

[emperor-spock.livejournal.com]

'Сигарета' is by far the dominant product in this market. People who smoke 'папиросы' either roll them on their own, or have unusual (nowadays, at least) habits — like the elderly.

As to 'сигаретка' and, for that matter, 'папироска', the diminutive doesn't diminish size of other physical characteristics — it diminishes formality. Technically, of course, it could refer to a really small cigarette — but do you see lots of these in your daily life? I know I don't (i.e. there's nothing but a negligible chance of your running into the 'size' meaning).

[emperor-spock.livejournal.com]

'or other physical characteristics'

[karakal.livejournal.com]

I'm a smoker. A cigarette smoker. 25 years ago I smoked папиросы. Never seen people roll папиросы on their own. Самокрутки is quite a different thing.
Of smokers I know, two still smoke папиросы. Both are in their mid-40's. The elderly?

[emperor-spock.livejournal.com]

I have seen a plenty of people who roll these on their own.

Well, had you read my comment carefully, you would have noticed that the older people were mentioned as a group likely to smoke these, not exclusively.

[karakal.livejournal.com]

I've seen none. Technologically, it would be not easy a task to perform :)
Perhaps you are telling of самокрутки or more probably косяки. The latter are indeed made of папиросы. Tobacco from a папироса is mixed with marijuana and then the resulting mix is stuffed back into the папироса. Perhaps this is what you've seen.

It's not my intention to open a heated argument. I just hope our remarks are of general use :)

[khathi.livejournal.com]

No, back in seventies and early eighties there were still people who rollled their own cigarettes from loose tobacco. I remember seing cigarette paper and cardboard mouthpieces in tobacco shops specially for such people in around 82. But by the late eighties the custom pretty much died down, as loose tobacco gradually disappeared from sales.

[towarysc.livejournal.com]

The only папиросы still on sale is "Беломорканал". They are often used by stoners to make a joint, but I like them per se though I'm a member of younger generation:)
As my acquaintance once said: 'When I go a shop and ask for Belomor, no customer believes I'm gonna smoke Belomor!'

[eloise-13.livejournal.com]

as a smoker, i can think of only one context in which i would use the word "сигаретка", which is a situation when i ask smb for a cigarette (like "простите, у вас сигаретки не найдётся?"). simply for the sake of politeness =)

[aimersun.livejournal.com]

Imagine, you ask someone: "Простите, у вас сигаретки не найдётся?", and he or she gives you a cigarette of a smaller size. :)

[eloise-13.livejournal.com]

guess, i'll have to make do with whatever's offered to me in this case =) at least they won't give me a "папироса" - i'm not a big fan of cigarettes without filters =)

[orie.livejournal.com]

папироса is mostly bought by older people somewhere far from big cities.

some time ago it was also bought by students who converted it into a joint :) but I suppose it's hard to buy it nowadays in the city

cardboard mouthpiece is definitely NOT a filter, it is about 2/3 length and empty.

you can see the picture at wikipedia, though it's not very detailed http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9F%D0%B0%D0%BF%D0%B8%D1%80%D0%BE%D1%81%D0%B0

[riegel.livejournal.com]

you can still get them in moscow, you just need to know the places. and i guess almost all the people buying them here in the city, use them for joints)
another funny thing is that Беломорканал, oe simply "Беломор", - the classic and most famous Soviet-era папироса brand, is now owned by Japan Tobacco =)

[orie.livejournal.com]

here is the good set of photos:
http://diminblog.livejournal.com/133851.html

you can see that the mouthpiece is definitely empty

also you can see the way how many people bend it

[russtam.livejournal.com]

У тебя брюки в полоску, дай папироску =)

[khathi.livejournal.com]

Well, to sum all above, "папироса" is a cheap filterless cigarette, often made from cheaper and stronger sorts of tobacco, and mostly popular with the old people. who often find modern cigarettes too weak for their tastes. As it lacks a filter, it has an empty cardboard mouthpiece instead of it, as to not burn the smoker's lips. "Папироска" and "сигаретка" are indeed diminutives, but as most Russian diminutives thay have nothing to do with size, but mostly with formality.

[zwilling.livejournal.com]

Speaking more commonly, diminutive forms are often attributes of an informal request for something. As eloise_13 said in comments above, the word сигаретка is used when a person asks somebody for a cigarette. With this diminutive form, he/she "subconsciously tells" something like "I ask for such a small thing, it will be easy for you to share it". Well, this is my little psychological theory. :) I wonder if there is anything similar in English.

[oprion.livejournal.com]

Then there are also - пахитоска, цигарка, козья ножка - all ultimately reduced to a lowly бычёк.