Cigarettes

Gary Sisco · September-8th-2007, 12:10 PM

Once my deepest addiction, I'm very happy to say that it's been 15 years this past month since I went cold turkey on the Camels.

I had a young friend staying with us for a couple of months, recently, however, helping me out around the place. We'd agreed to provide him with our unoccupied apartment, food, a regular pint while he did. What I hadn't counted on because I don't think about them anymore is that he smokes cigarettes.

Man, I was fucking amazed how expensive they are, now. When I quit, a carton of Camels in Vermont was $17. A pack of Camels today is about $5.75 and generics are much more per pack than "premiums" were when I quit.

I finally had to tell him, Look, we're going to have to change the deal. I'll give you pocket cash for what seems like a fair exchange for the both of us, and you can decide how to spend it. Food, beer, cigarettes, you decide. I can't afford to provide you with all three and pocket money on top.

I smoked three packs a day when I quit. That would be $17.25/day habit today. Yikes.

When I quit, shortly after my car shit the bed and I had to take out a credit union loan to buy another used model. Turned out my car payments were ten dollars a month *less* than what I'd been spending on Camels back then.

Incidentally, that's one of the things that bucked me up to deal with the cold turkey withdrawal: It was wheels or cigarettes. Couldn't be both.

You have to have wheels in Vermont, to survive. There's no public transportation system.

shrugs · September-8th-2007, 12:26 PM

Camel unfilters at 5.75?

$4 here in New Orleans. I don't smoke them but know people who do. Camels with filters can be had for as cheap as $3.35 if you know where to go.
Then there are the cheapo smokes you can get at around $2 a pack.

I smoke American Spirits. I go through 1 or two packs a week. I pay $3.75 a pack for them. I don't smoke at work at all. I have tried to quit completely but it just doesn't seem to happen since I go to bars to hear live music and I gotta smoke after a few beers or drinks.

Y'all have some serious state taxes added to the smokes I gather. Wonder what it goes to?

patricia · September-8th-2007, 12:52 PM

Here in Alberta cigarettes range from about NINE DOLLARS a pack for a generic brand, to THIRTEEN DOLLARS A PACK!!
The rationale is, they say, that when people have to pay that much for cigarettes, they will quit because they can't afford to smoke.
Although it's true that some people do quit because of the cost, more quit because they just think it's a dumb habit, or because they fear the health-damaging aspects, or they just see no benefit to continuing.
But, I don't think that cost alone is the reason that most people quit smoking, if they do.
Of course, cigarette tax, coupled with booze tax is a huge source of revenue for the government.
Somebody commented to me that it's interesting that the revenue from booze and cigarette taxes is calculated for the upcoming year, when figuring out the budget for government projects.
He wondered just how much those in government really want people to quit drinking and smoking?

I have often suspected that there are more than one or two government hacks in the tax dept. who kick themselves that pot is not a taxable commodity that would generate even more revenue.

aashbourne · September-8th-2007, 12:59 PM

i don't smoke, i never have even had a lit cigarette in my hand, my brother smokes like a chimney, and my dad smokes, people wonder why i don't, i just think its disgusting.

cigs are really expensive here, i know a pack of budget cigs, are about $7, my brother smokes peter jacksons which cost him $8.50, and my dad smokes a brand called Canadians which are around the same price.

in manitoba where he works, a pack of cigarettes costs about $12.50 due to their outrageous tobacco tax, but i think it is a giid thing they are that expensive.

Scott Dolan · September-8th-2007, 01:28 PM

They were right around $6 bucks a pack in Chicago too. I haven't smoked in over 17 years. I swore once they got to $1.25 a pack I'd quit.

Can't believe what they go for these days. But a lot of that is due to sin taxes.

Gentle Giant · September-8th-2007, 01:37 PM

Standing O to all who've managed to quit and stay tobacco-free (was going to say "smoke-free" but....). Slow, expensive suicide.

Gary Sisco · September-8th-2007, 01:39 PM

I don't think cost alone makes people quit, either, but at the same time I can't imagine how anyone really strung out affords it. It wasn't cost at all when I quit. It was having a biopsy done and the doctor telling me that I would for certain get mouth cancer if I didn't quit smoking cigarettes. So, I quit. Took me a year, two attempts, the last successful.

True about the taxes but taxes or no, it's what they cost.

They've always been cheaper in the South, Shrugs.

I was really amazed, though. I just hadn't thought about them in so long I guess I hadn't really noticed just how much the cost had increased.

shrugs · September-8th-2007, 01:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gary Sisco

They've always been cheaper in the South, Shrugs.

.

Unless you're on a military base............

Gary Sisco · September-8th-2007, 01:58 PM

What, does the PX charge full freight these days?

There were five or six guys in my boot camp company who started smoking in boot camp because it was the only privilege we got. Strange but true. During WW2, also, cigarettes were included in rations. Millions got hooked that way.

shrugs · September-8th-2007, 02:08 PM

Cheaper on bases when I was in a few years back.
Kicks part is, the DOD had cut rate prices on cartons for patrols and deployments and then the VA gave hell and some when it came time to pay for the lung cancer that the same vets had aquired....

I would love to see what the taxes are spent on. Same as I would love to see what Lottery revenue money is actually spent on.

shrugs · September-8th-2007, 02:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gary Sisco

During WW2, also, cigarettes were included in rations.

I smoked some cigs that were part of the submarine escape hatch life boat provisions. Might as well roll up shavings from the tube of a toilet paper roll....

stonemonkts · September-8th-2007, 05:56 PM

It really is a minor miracle that I quit. It will be 8 years on September 23rd.

I quit because I almost died from a ruptured appendix. Me, on the sofa, for a week: "Leave me the fuck alone, it's just a stomach virus".

Then me on the sofa, after I touched my lower abdomen: "Emergency room please".

The surgeon rushed me into surgery. When I woke up, with that holy fucking shit pain, the surgeon said it was the largest appendix he had ever seen, and I would be in recovery for a week, or maybe more. Lucky I'm alive, etc...and so on.

Back to quitting. What made me quit was the realization that the pain I was feeling from having my stomach muscles cut must pale in comparison to open heart surgery. Also, being bed laden for a week gave me that head start on quitting I needed. I never, ever believed that I would or could quit smoking. But I knew I would never smoke another cigarette after that ordeal, and I never have. Purely based on fear.

Monte Smith · September-8th-2007, 07:02 PM

On the other side of things, I have an aunt who gets paid not to grow tobacco.

GoodSpeak · September-8th-2007, 08:48 PM

What bothers me in all this is the anti-tobbacco folks are wanting to gouge us cigar lovers right along with cigarette smokers.

Lung disease is one thing, but no cigar smoker in his right mind will inhale a cigar.....he'll cough up his spleen, fer crissakes.

No comparison and no plausible link to lung cancer, either.

stonemonkts · September-8th-2007, 10:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GoodSpeak

What bothers me in all this is the anti-tobbacco folks are wanting to gouge us cigar lovers right along with cigarette smokers.

Lung disease is one thing, but no cigar smoker in his right mind will inhale a cigar.....he'll cough up his spleen, fer crissakes.

No comparison and no plausible link to lung cancer, either.

Gouge? How?

GoodSpeak · September-9th-2007, 01:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stonemonkts

Gouge? How?

Taxes.

There is a national movement afoot to raise the taxes on cigars to the same level as cigarettes due to the risk of cancer. This would be akin to to raising auto insurance rates because NASCAR drivers are habitual speeders.

Sheer foolishness.

Valerie · September-9th-2007, 02:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GoodSpeak

What bothers me in all this is the anti-tobbacco folks are wanting to gouge us cigar lovers right along with cigarette smokers.

Lung disease is one thing, but no cigar smoker in his right mind will inhale a cigar.....he'll cough up his spleen, fer crissakes.

No comparison and no plausible link to lung cancer, either.

are you telling me that you have never heard of cigar smokers getting cancer in the tongue/mouth?!? my father did and so have many others!

Gary Sisco · September-9th-2007, 07:50 AM

I don't care if people smoke or not, cigs or cigars, as long as they're not doing it in my house or my vehicles. It's their body. They can fuck it up if they want to.

You're fooling yourself about cigar smoke, though, Goodspeak, though I have no interest in lecturin you about it. Smoke if you want. I don't care.

GoodSpeak · September-9th-2007, 03:20 PM

Of course there is a risk to any kind of smoking. It is why I limit myself.

But I will tell you that the 4-5 cigars I have a month isn't any worse than the polluted air we are forced to breathe. You still don't inhale a cigar and I dare say, any thoughts along the lines of addiction are something of a stretch compared to cigarettes.

tippy · September-10th-2007, 10:07 AM

worth every - hack HACK - penny.

Cem · September-10th-2007, 10:14 AM

About $16-18 CAD with some ZigZags. Lasts me less than a week.

tippy · September-10th-2007, 10:22 AM

Hey man I used to do Drum when we were "cool" hipster juniors!!! Quite awhile I did Drum actually but got into filters. There was some blonde stuff too I liked but I don't remember now who made it. My first favorite ciggies though were grandma's Kools when I was in first grade. Until I got caught, that was the end to my early smoking career.

Cem · September-10th-2007, 10:45 AM

I guess, I still haven't outgrown that "cool hipster junior", Tipster.

I smoked Drum 20 plus years out of 28 I've been smoking. We'll see how I make out on the back 9. More tar but fewer chemicals, I gather. I smoke the Spirits, when I can get them cheaply. I can't remember which colour. The strongest ones. I also enjoy Gitanes, Galoises and smoked Sweet Caps for several years:

tippy · September-10th-2007, 10:59 AM

hmmm, never even heard of Sweet Caps. It's a good name. Smoking with gloves now that is old school! At one time I was purchasing my spirits over the internet by the carton for about $3 each and then I saw this horrifying local news report about some guy who got audited by NY tax commission and ordered to pay full taxes on his internet ciggie purchases. Gulp! So I quit that. In the 90s I did Camel filters and saved enough camel bucks to get the Sony portable cd player I've been using for about 15 years both as a portable and as my main cd player to plug into my system. Outlasted two component CD players so I quit replacing. ha ha !!!

Gary Sisco · September-10th-2007, 11:07 AM

Goodie -- The only way to test your thoughts about addiction is to quit and see what happens.

I'm not being moralistic, only trying to respond rationally to your last. I don't care who smokes or doesn't outside my space. What people do with their bodies is their own affair, to me.

Jazzzoline · September-10th-2007, 11:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gary Sisco

Goodie -- The only way to test your thoughts about addiction is to quit and see what happens.

I'm not being moralistic, only trying to respond rationally to your last. I don't care who smokes or doesn't outside my space. What people do with their bodies is their own affair, to me.

In a society where people's health is paid by everyone, which is the case in Québec, we cannot think that way. Healthy people means lower healthcare costs, lower taxes.

Gary Sisco · September-10th-2007, 01:27 PM

In a society like the US's, health clearly isn't a priority.

Hey, I didn't make it. I was born into it.

Cem · September-10th-2007, 01:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jazzzoline

In a society where people's health is paid by everyone, which is the case in Québec, we cannot think that way. Healthy people means lower healthcare costs, lower taxes.

The government is taxing the hell out of tobacco & the industry creates jobs, so health care costs & those may cancel each other out...?

GoodSpeak · September-10th-2007, 01:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gary Sisco

Goodie -- The only way to test your thoughts about addiction is to quit and see what happens.

I'm not being moralistic, only trying to respond rationally to your last. I don't care who smokes or doesn't outside my space. What people do with their bodies is their own affair, to me.

Done it and on numerous occasions.

When it gets over 100 degrees, I have absolutely no desire to sit in a pool of sweat puffing a cigar. I'll go weeks during the summer. In the winter when it is in the 30s at night, I won't have any stogies then, either.

To me it's like not having desert after dinner...yeah, it'd be nice and all but no big thing if I don't. Make sense?

Gary Sisco · September-10th-2007, 01:40 PM

It's not my body, Goods. If it makes sense to you, it makes sense to you.

I can go for weeks and months without a drink. Once I went for almost ten years. I still consider myself something of an alkie, if not the every-day kind. You know what they say. One day at a time. So I say, Today I'm going to drink.