I know that Sax, clarinet & flute players use these papers to clean the pads and I usually get the Blue for my Sax playing daughter, (and the newsagent cannot understand why I dont purchase any tobacco!)

Also available are red, green and silver. However can someone please tell me the difference between these colours. My daughter doesnt know the difference. So which is the better one for cleaning the pads?

I'm assuming that Rizla in France is the same thing but just spelt differently. One of the colours will correspond to gummed paper.

Actually in France the blue one is gummed (my husband uses it to make cigarettes with) I have some ungummed paper for my oboes but they are a different brand. My oboe teacher does have a Rizla packet, which isn't blue, but I can't remember which colour it is. The other colours correspond to a slight difference in thickness.

I don't think thickness really matters what is important is that the papers don't have any glue on them. If she is currently having to cut the gummed part off, then it would be worth asking your newsagent which colour is ungummed.

I asked this question a while ago and Maizie gave me the link to Wikipedia which tells you all about the different papers...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rizla#Rizla_types

There's also the Rizla web site, but it's less concise than Wikipedia.

Thanks fellow forumites!

I have no idea why I spelt it incorrectly as I buy the stuff fairly regularly for her - brain not functioning today!

Wikipedia gave me the information I needed - the king size dark blue gum free is the one to go for in future. Blimey there is an orange liquorice flavoured one as well

You could try green, they've got cut corners on the non-gummed side.

I didn't know that there were ungummed ones.

I read this with interest, not one person said it is actually unwise to use papers to clean under pads they should come with hazard warning. They can lead to premature wear and tear of pads and can if very wet break of and get trapped so use what ever colour you chose and use with caution

That being said I use green . You can buy papers specifically for the purpose of cleaning under pads and some are powdered too they tend to be more expensive though

https://www.beckettsmusic.co.uk/shop/Script...?idproduct=8586 this is just an example of what i am talking about.

Powdered papers, like no-stick powder, aren't a great idea, in my opinion. You risk leaving deposits of powdery gunk on your instrument...

(edited : powdered papers, not powdered pads, oops...)

Agree 100%. I didn't even know they were still sold! Having a powdery anything near an expensive woodwind instrument is not a good idea.

I sometimes use ciggie papers under a few pads if I've been playing for a long time. I leave them there while I'm swabbing the bore. Never had a problem.

Steve

Doesn't it depend on what your pads are made of?

I use mine under cork pads on the oboe and didn't think it was a problem with cork.

I also wouldn't have said I used them to "clean" the pads - I use them to mop up water.

I dont agree with powder paper just merely stating it was available, i imagine it would be like using talc .

I too would agree that they would be unlikely to affect cork as a harder material, the pads with "skins" are most vulnerable, people tend to drag ciggy papers through.

The original post made reference to cleaning so this is why i used the term, i too use for mopping up water too. and i have had papers disintegrate when particularly wet like playing in very cold churches luckly managed to dig it out.

That's a fairly accurate assessment!

Son has always used the red papers on his clarinet, as recommended by his teacher. Never had a problem with bits breaking off as far as I know.

When he was younger I had to go with him to buy them, as the shopkeeper wouldn't sell them to a minor. He told me off once for encouraging my son to smoke! We tried to explain, but you could see he was thinking "Pull the other one...".

In an attempt to give "equal billing", there are other brands such as Swan that do the trick too!
Suppose powder paper - like pad-savers - everyone has an opinion on. Not exactly talc from what i've seen of them, more like French chalk, but suppose like for gymnasts, would be useful for keeping your finger's dry and not slipping off the keys in exams if not used on the pads!!!
Again, depends how people use them - if they're gonna rip them from under the pads then you may as well be using sandpaper. It's been said before, but close the pad on the ungummed part and open it again before removing. The 'gummed papers' only have a small strip of glue along the edge, not the whole paper otherwise it'd be a bit of a messy roll-up - not being a smoker...having a father who used to use them many years ago (still has an original Rizla Roller from over 30 years ago!) Agree that the colours simply apply to different thicknesses (how about Rizla White or Silver for lightweight?)

Yes, I found a box of black OCD ciggie paper in Camden Market a few years ago. It was a roll of paper and you just pull off and tear the amount you need. It was incredibly thin - similiar to rice paper - and she really liked it even though it was gummed on one side. But it did have the tendency to tear so had to be used carefully, which was no bad thing. However it was double the price of the Rizla. I'll go see if they have an ungummed version. The local Health shop also have a non-bleached version but that looks like brown paper and much thicker. The purpose made ones by Yamaha are astronomical! In the meanwhile we now have a dozen King Size Dark Blue Gum Free Rizla

From what I've seen, the paper sold specifically as 'pad cleaning paper' is just acid-free tissue paper, cut up into squares and sold at a considerable markup. Or am I mistaken?

Perhaps it's a good thing that I started music after leaving school.

I'm a non-smoker but have about 3 packs of ciggie papers and loads of cheap cigarette lighters (I keep losing them, buying more, then finding the others again!) for melting glue in pads and lighting gas lamps, cooker etc.

But I can just imagine trying to explain this to my old Headmaster!! In those days they gave a lot more than just a stern warning!!

Steve

My daughter's school has a music option class which is the pride of the school and two weeks ago the option was inspected by the Recteur (the regional head of education). Amongst other things, it was planned that the senior wind band would give a small concert. The head came in to see the pupils just before they played and apparently started having kittens because there were all these little boxes (reed cases), cigarette papers and little canisters of liquid (water for oboe reeds) beside the stands. Apparently he had visions of the Recteur thinking they were turning out drug addicts instead of musicians

I've always had green ones for my oboe, but the Blue king-sized un-gummed ones sound much better. Oh and I kept it with a 2B pencil for skin pads for leaving small carbon deposits.

Yes oboists keep strange kit. needle-nosed pliers, copper wire, small cutting block, tongue and reed-knife, set of watch makers screw-drivers, small pieces of wet and dry paper. cigarette papers, small pots of water,and rolls of plumbers tape.

I have asked for ungummed papers in tobacconists before, and they have looked at me as if I am a bit mad! I'm not a smoker so am puzzled as to why a smoker would want an ungummed paper and why, therefore, tobacconists would sell them.. Where did you manage to find them? I cannot find any trace of them in Bristol. Foolishly, I just bought 2 packs of king size blue papers , at the specialist tobacconist near work, only to discover they were gummed so clearly not dark enough blue.. I can't find any mention of dark blue papers on Rizla's web site, either, only gummed papers. Have I missed something?

I was once behind someone buying Rizla papers in the local newsagent's. The conversation went something like this.

"Yes sir, Blue, Red or Green, or perhaps you'd prefer the giant size"

"Yes the Giant size please"

"Very sensible sir. So much better than glueing all those little ones together!!"

(The customer then bought 10 Silk Cut as well. So why did he need cigarette papers. I was so confused. )

He probably need the papers and the tobacco to mix with something else Tom.

Oh you live an innocent life where obviously no weed grows and the grass is greener!

Not that I've ever tried the stuff. It sets of my Asthma, as I found out when my hall-mates joint filtered its way down into my room and I could not breathe.

What - in the Netherlands?

I use them for the oboe too, but I've always just used green As I don't smoke I don't know the difference!!

He obviously doesn't go to the coffee shops that begin with a K.