OT: Cigarettes $5.50 a Pack?

[Voyager]

A friend of mine told me that cigarettes are now $5.50 a pack. I'm glad I don't smoke those damn things. That price is outrageous! I think they were $1.60 a pack when I quit in my early 20's (I guess that dates me).

I cannot imagine how someone could afford a 2-3 pack per day habit. That would be over $300.00 a month!

Anyone still smoking around here?

[Don]

I know Benson and Hedges has been 5 dollars a pack for the last year or so here in California. The cowboy killers are still 3 something I think.

[Voyager]

I'll bet Tito has a built-in cigarette roller in the dash of his Malibu.

[stevew2]

I'll bet Tito has a built-in cigarette roller in the dash of his Malibu.

He burns basics ,I smoke Carltons @ $6.25 a pack,unless i go to Virginia where I pay $42.00 a carton{$4.20 a pack}Either way it is retarded to smoke. Titos cigarette lighter stopped workin in "94' just like his little dick

[bluejeangirl76]

A friend of mine told me that cigarettes are now $5.50 a pack.

5.50? Where ever you live, those who smoke are lucky. I have no idea what they cost in the Chicago area now that the new tax has been added, but they were well upwards of $6 before the tax. They gotta be $7-8 by now, I don't know.

[Behshad]

I'll bet Tito has a built-in cigarette roller in the dash of his Malibu.

He burns basics ,I smoke Carltons @ $6.25 a pack,unless i go to Virginia where I pay $42.00 a carton{$4.20 a pack}Either way it is retarded to smoke. Titos cigarette lighter stopped workin in "94' just like his little dick

Thank goodness youre math is better than your spelling {if you knwo what I mean}

[Rhiannon]

They went up because of some new bullshittery Obama passed. I think it might be for children's healthcare, actually. In which case I don't mind it, but knowing big tobacco and government lobbyists I wonder how much of the $8/carton increase goes where. The extra $8 is no big importance to me personally, especially when I consider some days I spend $8 on lattes alone. It's just like with the $4 gas. Those who can afford it, won't feel it... and those who can't aren't likely to quit and will just have less money.

[stevew2]

I'll bet Tito has a built-in cigarette roller in the dash of his Malibu.

He burns basics ,I smoke Carltons @ $6.25 a pack,unless i go to Virginia where I pay $42.00 a carton{$4.20 a pack}Either way it is retarded to smoke. Titos cigarette lighter stopped workin in "94' just like his little dick

Thank goodness youre math is better than your spelling {if you knwo what I mean}

you boob

[brywool]

Probably off topic here...
I hate smoking. I hate singing in clubs with smoking. I hate cigarettes. Killed my mom.
BUT- they either need to outlaw them or get off the smoker's backs. Up in Washington, the "You need a crash helmet to take a crap state", they've banned smoking in public places and are now starting to go after apartment complexes that let peeps smoke in them, etc. They're also wanting to ticket smokers that drive and smoke with kids in the car.

I understand a lot of this stuff, but I don't agree with it at all. We don't need to be legislating that stuff. IF YOU DON'T WANT PEOPLE TO SMOKE, QUIT MAKING THE THINGS and outlaw them. It'll be like prohibition, but it kind of is getting that way anyway. Quit overtaxing smokers and drinkers, etc. "Vice taxes". Stupid. Let's get the peeps addicted, then tax the crap out of them. If you don't want to go to a smoky bar, then don't. My band heard all this BS from people "Wow, I'd come to see you more, but I hate the smoke". Okay, so now they've banned smoking in public places (like bars??) and these people still don't show up.

I don't agree with the anti smoking in bars thing. It's stupid. I also don't agree with people that freak out around smokers and just be rude to them. If you don't like it, walk away. Is it really THAT big of a deal where you need to get in their face? Stupid.

[conversationpc]

I'll bet Tito has a built-in cigarette roller in the dash of his Malibu.

[Rocker Chic]

Hell, they're about $8 here in NY already and about to go up again.

So glad I quit over 15 years ago. I'm absolutely LOVING the smoke free bars and restaurants now.

Debbie

[Ehwmatt]

I saw smoking kill my grandfather when I was younger. I've never tried a cigarette, had some cigars of course. Never will try a cigarette, can't stand them.

I'm a big fan of having smoke-free public places, like we do in Cleveland (or is it Ohio?) now, but I do think we need to stop one step short of getting completely draconian on smokers. Companies having their employees pledge not to use tobacco and testing them for nicotine/tobacco and things of that sort are offensive to my sense of liberty/freedom.

I hate, no, LOATHE second-hand smoke and I'm always on my friends/mother to quit, but trying to tell someone they can't do something otherwise legal on their own time, as in the company example above, is just terrible. As for raising the prices... well, if people are buyin, then why not?

[brywool]

Hell, they're about $8 here in NY already and about to go up again.

So glad I quit over 15 years ago. I'm absolutely LOVING the smoke free bars and restaurants now.

Debbie

I love smoke free restaurants too, but I guess I don't like the way that they've turned smokers into lepers. Just bugs me. As far as bars, you're in the minority. Most bars up here took a major business hit when the smoking ban passed. It really hurt the local music scene. However, the tribal casinos have no such laws AND know how to run with a music program, so that has worked out well for us.
I'm of two minds on the whole thing. I just don't dig the us vs them mentality.

[Ehwmatt]

Hell, they're about $8 here in NY already and about to go up again.

So glad I quit over 15 years ago. I'm absolutely LOVING the smoke free bars and restaurants now.

Debbie

I love smoke free restaurants too, but I guess I don't like the way that they've turned smokers into lepers. Just bugs me. As far as bars, you're in the minority. Most bars up here took a major business hit when the smoking ban passed. It really hurt the local music scene. However, the tribal casinos have no such laws AND know how to run with a music program, so that has worked out well for us.
I'm of two minds on the whole thing. I just don't dig the us vs them mentality.

I pretty much agree with you here and earlier. Being around smoke honestly wouldn't bother me too, too much (especially when I'm drinking) if I didn't wake up with the smell in my clothes! Especially since I need a jacket 9 months of the year here, it sucks getting that shit in a jacket.

Bars that are exclusively bars maybe should have been exempt from state/city-wide smoking bans. Or, perhaps pay a premium tax to continue having smoking privileges if the goal is to confiscate money from working people and business owners, which seems to be the MO these days.

[bluejeangirl76]

So glad I quit over 15 years ago. I'm absolutely LOVING the smoke free bars and restaurants now.

I do too. I've been all for these bans forever. The bars can't be losing much... smokers are persistent fuckers and they WILL congregate outside to smoke regardless of... well, anything. Neither rain nor sleet nor.... wait.... that's not smokers. My bad.

[brywool]

So glad I quit over 15 years ago. I'm absolutely LOVING the smoke free bars and restaurants now.

I do too. I've been all for these bans forever. The bars can't be losing much... smokers are persistent fuckers and they WILL congregate outside to smoke regardless of... well, anything. Neither rain nor sleet nor.... wait.... that's not smokers. My bad.

hasn't worked that way in WA. Of course, it doesn't help that we have extremely tough DUI laws too, but when the smoking ban happened, that's kind of when the bottom fell out. As Ehwmatt said, they should've excluded bars.

[Voyager]

Hell, they're about $8 here in NY already and about to go up again.

WTF?? Damn! If you smoke two packs a day, that's $5,840.00 a year or $486.67 a month! That is enough for a payment on a decent vehicle, or even a cheap house!

[Ehwmatt]

Hell, they're about $8 here in NY already and about to go up again.

WTF?? Damn! If you smoke two packs a day, that's $5,840.00 a year or $486.67 a month! That is enough for a payment on a decent vehicle, or even a cheap house!

And if people thought about these things, maybe we wouldn't have so many in the situation they're in now...

Food for thought.

[Rick]

A friend of mine told me that cigarettes are now $5.50 a pack. I'm glad I don't smoke those damn things. That price is outrageous! I think they were $1.60 a pack when I quit in my early 20's (I guess that dates me).

I cannot imagine how someone could afford a 2-3 pack per day habit. That would be over $300.00 a month!

Anyone still smoking around here?

My wife smokes like a factory. She's at least 2 packs a day.

I smoke a pack every two or three days. Haven't bought one since they've gone up. The wife told me they were going up again.

[artist4perry]

I am highly alergic to cigarette smoke. My eyes swell shut when I am around great amounts of it. I also had a friend who had one lung, and could not eat in restaraunts for years before banning came about. Children are getting serious health problems due to second hand smoke. A gentleman I know who smokes never got sick, but his wife suffered greatly from the cancer from second hand smoke.

Having that said, I understand it is a hard habit to overcome. And I know folks who just don't want to quit. They are not mean or bad people, they just enjoy smoking. The sad thing is when one persons enjoyment can cause others serious problems after a while. I appreciate that I have smoking friends who understand that not everyone loves it as they do, and politely choose to smoke away from others who do not smoke.

Trust me nothing is less fun than having your eyes swell up to where they are slits and it feels like someone poored kerosine into your eyes and set them on fire.

I think it is the governments way of "weening" folks off of them. They are not saying you cannot smoke. But it will come at a high price. Not always effective though. An addiction at a higher cost seldom gets people to quit.

[MrsPerry]

$300 a month is half my monthly budget.

[cheekymonkey]

A friend of mine told me that cigarettes are now $5.50 a pack. I'm glad I don't smoke those damn things. That price is outrageous! I think they were $1.60 a pack when I quit in my early 20's (I guess that dates me).

I cannot imagine how someone could afford a 2-3 pack per day habit. That would be over $300.00 a month!

Anyone still smoking around here?

That's nothing compared to up here where the premium brands are $9-$10 a pack. If you're cheap, you can also drive to the reservation and buy the cheap smokes for a carton of loose cigs for $8.00, (it's like smoking steel wool ciggies-brutal). For some reason they can sell them but they're illegal as they don't have the government stamp (translates the fuckers haven't put 75% taxes on them), so if you're caught with them it's a $5,000.00 fine. Awwwwwwww the government.

[Rick]

$300 a month is half my monthly budget.

Then you better stop smoking!