Being a smoker, cigarettes become as much important part of your life as toothpaste and other household necessities. However, sometimes it’s easy to forget that those little white sticks actually have a name.
While a cigarette is bad for your long-term health, its popularity is still strong due to its addictive properties. In this post I’ll tell you what some of the most common british slangs for cigarettes mean in British English.
Top 8 British Slangs For Cigarettes
Fag
Fag is the most common british slang term for cigarettes. The Oxford English Dictionary defines a fag as “a cigarette smoker.” It’s also an adjective that means “favourable,” “kindly,” and “helpful.” You can use it in sentences like:
In Britain, fags were pretty common in the day as an alternative to cigarettes. It was often made of loose rags or cheap cigarettes paper.
Examples
Would you mind providing me with a fag? I am in dire need of one.
My mood is down right now, so I’d appreciate a nice fag.
Bine
Bine is a slang term for cigarettes. It is a common term used in the UK to refer to a cigarette.
Bines originate in the North West of England, where they are used to describe cigarettes because they resemble small cones with wide ends.
Bine are also called “reds” because of their red packaging (like other tobacco products).
Example
If you want to smoke a bine, go outside!
Ciggie
A short form of cigarette, or a slang term for cigarette. We can just say that this is a cute way to refer to a cigarette.
Examples
The smoke alarms won’t go until you throw away your ciggie.
Come on, let’s have a ciggie. I’m so hungry.
Blem
By the early 2000s, Blem was used more widely by the southern UK population for words such as “cigarettes” or “marijuana” and may have originated in the Caribbean.
Examples
Get some blems for me whenever you go to the shop.
Gasper
A gasper is a cigarette, particularly a type of cigarette that has high tar without any sort of filter tip, such as Woodbine or Capstan. This term originates from the fact that you are left gasping for air after every puff. It’s usually small, thin and smoked by women. Gaspers are also rarer than cigarettes and therefore more expensive—so if you want to keep your wallet fat and happy, it’s best not to get addicted.
Gasper is a british army slang for a cigarette believed to date from around the time of the Second Boer War 1899 – 1902. Gaspers can be found in any corner of the world where there are people who enjoy lighting up without actually smoking anything (or even inhaling). They come in all kinds of shapes and sizes: from twisty-ties to slim cigarettes with plastic tips; from menthols to flavored ones like menthol blast or mintsicle; even ones that look like miniature cigars.
Example
Please don’t have a gasper today! You’re not feeling well.
Oily Rag
It is a term used in cockney rhyming slang in order to refer to a cigarette, or what is more commonly called a fag. It is the act of smoking them.
Examples
Smoking an ‘oily rag’ is another option.
Smoking my oily rag outside is now illegal.
Tab Time
Tab time in the UK refers to a tobacco break or a time to smoke cigarettes.
Examples
Would you like to go out for a little tab time?
Snout
This is British slang for cigarettes that originated from prisoners touching their snouts in order to be allowed to smoke. The word snout can refer to cigarettes in either singular or plural form.
Examples
You got a snout mate?
I need to get some snout.
Conclusions
It’s not surprising that we have so many different words for cigarettes in UK because we are such big fans of smoking. I hope you learned something new and enjoyed the list of British slang for cigarettes. Don’t forget to share it with your fams in UK.
If you’re a person living in UK, and have some other british slang words for cigarettes, please let us know in the comments section.
