Tampons - An Inventive Bulgarian Alternative

Tampons - An Inventive Bulgarian Alternative

I know smoking is bad for you but here in Bulgaria it is considered normal to smoke and unusual not to. This will change as the EU grips Bulgaria by the throat and forces the people there not to smoke by raising the cost of cigarettes tenfold.

The cost of cigarettes has double in the last couple of years and is due to increase by another 43% in the New Year, so Bulgarians being Bulgarians find a practical way of dealing with this. The answer they have now is to roll their own cigarettes, which works out at around half the cost of factory made smokes. My partner uses filters in her rolled versions and this is where the tip comes in.

This weekend she ran out of filters so being a practical women she looks for something that could replace it as we were in the village with no shops that sold roll up cigarette accessories. It was that time of the month when potential baby producing women bleeds and she had some tampons in here handbag that dealt with it. Sunday morning I woke up and found one of these tampons cut into pieces. She had used her tampon as cigarette filters!

Well this is how it is in Bulgaria, such a practical people as ever with no scruples about dealing with a problem in whatever way works that lay in front of them. I must add that the tampon in question was unused! (In case you were wondering.)

It worked so well that my partner has decided to use tampons instead of conventional filters as it actually works out cheaper and works just as well. My advice of course is to give up smoking all together which would be a bigger saving, but this is Bulgaria and the smoking goes on.

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10 comments:

  1. Hi Martin,
    Well, this one really stumped me till after reading your post! Bulgarians are very creative! We could all learn something from their creative ways! Thanks for sharing!

    Have a great day,
    Sher

    PS I was relieved it was not a used one that was used as a filter! :0)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sher: Unfortunately in this part of the world we (Bulgarians, Romanians, Serbs, etc...) have to be "creative" because we miss or cannot yet afford the basics of the life. I hope that you'll never have to be "creative" in such a way...Believe me, you're lucky to live in England. I Know that Martin will strongly disagree with me, however England does not mean always "evil"...:)
    Martin: we, smokers, are grown up people fully in charge with our bodies and souls and fully aware of the risks we're taking. We do not want to harm anybody around. Most of us are decent enough to ask for permission before lighting a cigarette. Rising taxes and prices will help only the cigarette smugglers...When you have a little time please see http://www.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/rothbard138.html - it is an excellent article by Murray Rothbard, and it is not very long..:)
    Здравей, Галя...:)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Martin In Bulgaria9 November 2009 at 18:00

    Hi Diana,
    Thanks for your comments. Sher is an American expatriate living in the The Czech Republic.You might want to visti her site, http://sheroffthebeatenpath.blogspot.com/.
    That aside the article has a valid point and runs true puritians are the scurge of a free world. I live here and am a poor as most Bulgarians belive it or not. Saving money just to buy basics is how we live here. I just wrote a small smoking article on my other blog http://www.tipsnwrinkles.com/2009/11/dont-do-it-smoke-that-is.html. My feelings for smoking are confused to say the least as an ex-smoker who loved the habit and still wants to smoke every day. For me the cost and health it too big a price to pay.
    Take care Diana and thanks for the Zdrave to Galia, I will pass it on.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Sher, I'm sorry for the mistake regarding your location from the post below...:)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Martin, I've let Sher know I'm sorry for the mistake..:)
    I'm (still) living in the neighboring Romania, which is very similar with Bulgaria in many ways. Therefore, the famous creativity is the "salt & pepper" of the everyday life for many of us.
    Some of us (unfortunately not many) are also aware that the concept of "individualism" / "personal freedom" is losing its popularity among western people and we are worried about that, since our pre - 1990 life experience taught us a bitter lesson we can't forget.
    Thank you for choosing to live among us and to know us as we are. Most of the time I'll be here just reading, I'm sorry if this time I "talked" too much, but the topic enticed me...:)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Martin In Bulgaria11 November 2009 at 20:13

    Hi Diana,
    A big topic Diana and something that I feel is down to personal preference. I have chosen to live in Bulgaria in 'poverty' many wouldn't or coudln't. Wealth is always the favouered alternative to those who have the choice, but in our own new respectvie countires millions just don't have that choice. Coping with poverty is part of evedryday life here as you know, but that doesn't stop us being happy in the main.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I live in the United States and we are also dealing with regulation of smoking.

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