Cigarette



Cigarettes are rolls of fine cut tobacco leaves wrapped in a cylinder of thin paper for smoking. Solid Snake and Amanda Valenciano Libre were known to smoke cigarettes.

Amanda Valenciano Libre and Chico
Though Amanda preferred to smoke cigarettes, she accepted a cigar from Big Boss after he rescued her unit in Rio del Jade, Costa Rica. Big Boss later helped her roll a cigarette while tending to wounds she sustained while fighting Chrysalis. Amanda chain smoked cigarettes due to a fear of mosquitoes that she developed after surviving a potentially bad case of malaria. Her brother Chico, was also a smoker, although Big Boss made him promise to quit while recruiting him into the Militaires Sans Frontières, in order to redeem himself for endangering his comrades under torture.

Militaires Sans Frontières personnel
Huey Emmerich formerly smoked cigarettes, although he wasn't allowed to while working in the labs for the Peace Sentinel, since the smoke and tar would ruin the precision equipment. He instead developed an electronic cigarette to bypass this, which expelled vapor rather than smoke. Cécile Cosima Caminades preferred to smoke unfiltered French cigarettes. Although MSF subcommander Kazuhira Miller was not known to have smoked tobacco himself, he did previously sell cigarettes to U.S. soldiers in Japan at ten years of age, eventually running the small shop himself after his mother fell ill.

Vladimir Zadornov
KGB agent Vladimir Zadornov used to smoke cigarettes, although he quit prior to the events of the Peace Walker Incident due to it "ruining his lungs." The forefinger of his prosthetic hand was equipped with a lighter, that was originally meant to allow him to smoke.

United States Naval Prison Facility personnel
Glaz smoked cigarettes of the brand name The Rokovoj Bereg, and the bald Marine also smoked cigarettes.

Soviets, SANR and various African PFs
The Arms dealer who visited Nova Braga was a smoker, as evidenced by his intel photo during a briefing among Diamond Dogs, where he smoked a cigarette while meeting with a CFA soldier on what was presumably business-related matters.

Soviet soldiers in Afghanistan as well as soldiers belonging to the Private Forces Contract Forces of Africa, Zero Risk Security, and Rogue Coyote in the Angola-Zaire border region were seen smoking cigarettes while relaxed and guarding the base a few times.

Solid Snake
During the events of the Outer Heaven Uprising and the Zanzibar Land Disturbance, Solid Snake smoked a brand of cigarettes known as Lucky Striker (ラッキー・ストライカー). In Zanzibar Land, Snake smoked a cigarette to calm his nerves, prior to hang gliding from the Tower Building, after a suggestion from Master Miller.

A pack of cigarettes and a scope were Snake's only belongings upon his arrival on Shadow Moses Island in 2005. He was able to smuggle them in his stomach, since Naomi Hunter's earlier shot had suppressed his stomach acids. During his infiltration, he smoked a brand of cigarettes called Moslems, which were designed to cut down on second-hand smoke. To locate infrared sensors Snake had to blow the smoke over them.

During the Tanker and Big Shell Incidents, Solid Snake continued to smoke cigarettes. During the former event, he disposed of a lit cigarette over the George Washington Bridge shortly before infiltrating the dummy tanker USS Discovery (tanker), for which Otacon berated him, although he also kept them on him as a "good luck charm." In the latter event, he supplied the cigarettes to Raiden in case he needed them. Although Raiden himself said he didn't smoke, he later admitted that he had briefly, although he had quit some time prior to the mission.

During the events of the Guns of the Patriots Incident, Solid Snake smoked The Boss brand of cigarettes, which were filtered hand-rolled cigarettes containing 16mm of tar. He stored them in a small box and stubbed them out in a portable ashtray. A few times, Snake would also smoke them on the Nomad, even when smoking was not allowed on the plane. During his mission in South America, Drebin 893's pet monkey, Little Gray, became addicted to cigarettes, after snatching one of Snake's lit cigarettes. Although Drebin initially refused to allow Snake to give Little Gray another after the latter beckoned for one, he eventually relented by the time Snake, Meryl Silverburgh, and Johnny Sasaki infiltrated Outer Haven. Snake later quit smoking after the events of the insurrection, as one of his first steps to fulfilling Big Boss's final wish to Snake.

Nastasha Romanenko and Richard Ames
Nastasha Romanenko was a heavy cigarette smoker. Her ex-husband Richard Ames of the DIA smoked Chesterfield-brand cigarettes while overseeing Solid Snake's operation on Shadow Moses.

Behind the scenes
The Cigarettes are a recurring item in the Metal Gear series. Most of the supporting characters in the series often chastize Solid Snake for smoking, with only Nastasha Romanenko not minding too much, other than giving a general warning about the health effects.

In the original MSX2 version of Metal Gear, the Cigarettes item serves no purpose for the majority of the game. It is only useful during the game's ending, as equipping them will grant the player more time to escape Outer Heaven, by slowing down the timer countdown of the self-destruct sequence. In the re-released version, however, the ability to detect infrared sensors was added, as well as the slow depletion of the Life Gauge, first featured in later games of the series. While the negative health effects of using the Cigarettes were not included in the original version, the game's manual does mention the General Surgeon's Warning in its description of the item. The manual also depicts them as the American brand Lucky Strike, which is owned by British-American Tobacco.

Like its predecessor, Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake also features the Cigarettes item, though this time it is required on one occasion, in order to hang glide from the Tower Building by calming Snake's nerves. Contacting a certain radio frequency with the Cigarettes equipped, will allow the player to listen to music from the in-game soundtrack. The packaging for the Cigarettes icon resembles the brand Lucky Strike, though this was altered in the re-released versions. Again, like the original Metal Gear, the re-released versions feature the depleting Life Gauge effect of the Cigarettes when they are equipped, which was not present in the original MSX2 version. In one of the game's opening cutscenes, a cigarette pack can be seen amongst some military equipment: in the original version, the brand is identified as "Bal Mal," whose name and pack design is based on that of the real life Pall Mall brand; in the re-released versions, the name and pack design is changed to the fictional "Gator" brand.

"Cigarettes Highly addictive and hazardous to your health. Snake's favorite brand."

- Cigarettes description in Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes

The brand name for the Cigarettes in Metal Gear Solid, Moslems, were only named in the Japanese version, and were a reference to the brand of cigarettes in Policenauts. In addition, the specific type of cigarettes were different between translations. In the Japanese version, they were "bent cigarettes," whereas in the international versions, they were "smokeless cigarettes."

The "Fogger" (発煙筒, Hatsuentō? literally Smoke Emitter) was used in Metal Gear: Ghost Babel to detect infrared security beams. A smoke generator, it is the only such item that doesn't deplete Snake's health. It is described as a "Device that lights up and emits smoke." It was primarily added in for the younger age bracket. Although Snake is seen smoking briefly in the opening scene of the game, the cigarette itself is hidden from view.

In Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, the Cigarettes will help to steady the player's aim in First Person View, though the Life Gauge will still deplete.

Although the cigarettes don't appear in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, a narcosis gun that is modelled after a cigarette can be obtained by the player. In Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D - The Naked Sample, a GRU soldier intends to smoke some cigarettes while on patrol in Dolinovodno, though he accidentally fumbles the cigarette box and drops it into an ivy patch near Naked Snake's hiding position. The soldier then searches for it by poking his head out of the hole, and then attempts to feel for it blindly, with Snake narrowly avoiding being discovered. Eventually, Snake covertly helps the soldier by handing the cigarette box to the soldier.

The Metal Gear Solid novelization portrays how Snake got cigarettes onto the island differently. Instead of smuggling them inside his stomach, Snake stole a pack of from a Genome Soldier, and had to adjust to its taste throughout the mission.

In Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, the Cigarettes replenish Snake's Psyche, but lowers his Life. Also, if guards smell the smoke, they will investigate to find the source. In a pre-release trailer, Otacon initially thought that Snake quit smoking, but Snake admits that the reason why he hadn't smoked in a while was because he didn't have a light until he saw a still radiating burn on the wall. In addition, examination of Sunny's character model's back pocket, while she is wearing an apron, shows she has a case of cigarettes.

In Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes, a bald Marine smokes a cigarette after talking to an undercover agent.