Pubdate: Fri, 22 Feb 2002
Source: Washington City Paper (DC)
Copyright: 2002 Washington Free Weekly Inc.
Contact:  http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/489
Author: Brian Montopoli

GOT A BLIGHT?

An East-Of-The-River Neighborhood Takes Aim At Phillies Blunts

When an embattled community considers which products it wants off store 
shelves, single containers of alcohol are usually first on the list, 
followed by rolling papers and the small baggies used for crack cocaine.

But one Southeast neighborhood has recently proposed an addition to the 
inner-city hit list: Phillies Blunts, the cheap, ghetto-fabulous cigar 
credited with everything from hiphop band names to the coughing fits of 
rebellious 13-year-olds.  "Philly" Blunts have so infiltrated the cultural 
consciousness that they have their own exalted place in the vernacular, 
right next to Mentos and J.Lo.

And in the Penn Branch community, they're on the chopping block. Led by 
activist Roscoe Grant Jr., the community is asking stores to agree not to 
sell Phillies Blunts, along with other nefarious consumer goods. If the 
stores refuse to comply, the activists will petition to block renewal of 
their liquor licenses.

"A lot of the crimes being committed here are being perpetrated by people 
who are drinking single beers or buying a Blunt and filling it with 
marijuana," says Grant. "It trashes our community."

Representatives of Altadis U.S.A. Inc., which manufactures the Phillies 
lines of cigars, wonders how a cigar can wreak such destruction. "I've 
never known a Phillies Blunt to be used for anything but what it is meant 
for," says company Vice President Rick McKenzie. "I think this whole thing 
is a little ridiculous. Phillies Blunts have been around years and years, 
longer than any of this other stuff."

As for Grant's allegations about the swapping of tobacco and dope, McKenzie 
cites technical difficulties. "I don't know how they get the cigar back 
together," he says. "What--you cut it and then tape it back together? So 
you are smoking Scotch tape? I think the idea might just be an urban myth."

If so, it's a pretty common one. Back in 1992, rapper Redman, in his song 
"How To Roll A Blunt," laid out how to reassemble the emptied-out cigar: 
"Take your finger and your thumb from tip to tip/Roll it in a motion then 
the top piece you lick/Seal it, dry it wit ya lighter if ya gotta." And 
according to the online Probert Encyclopedia, the term "Philly Blunt" has 
come to represent all cigars "with marijuana replacing tobacco." It's not 
surprising that Grant wants Phillies off the street.

But Phillies are many people's first cigar; their harsh taste and 
machine-wrapped texture are, for better or worse, tied to coming of age. If 
Grant & Co. succeed in taking Phillies off the local shelves, they won't 
get the product out of our collective consumer memory.

"The Philly Blunt is a pretty bad cigar," says longtime D.C. resident Chris 
Gange. "But the price is right, and if somebody wants them, they should be 
able to get them."
- ---
MAP posted-by: Ariel