[visiblink]

This kind of calculation is what convinced me to quit smoking before going to university in 1990. Cigarettes were $5 / pack. I smoked a pack a day.

$5 x 365 days x 4 years = $7300.

Given that I was saving up the money beforehand, quitting was the difference between starting school in 1990 or 1991.

I felt like a 'cold turkey' for about three months. But it was so worth it.

[massysett]

The old quip here:

Doctor: "if you multiply the cost of your cigarettes by your consumption, you'd have enough money to buy a Ferrari."

Smoker: "do you smoke?"

Doctor: "No."

Smoker: "Then where's your Ferrari?"

[cadamsau]

Doctor: "I used the money to buy things with greater utility than a Ferrari."

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[ChrisMarshallNY]

> Cigarettes were $5 / pack.

I quit in 1980 ($0.65/pack).

They are now close to $15/pack, in NY. I know, because I have a family member that still smokes.

This does not even touch the cost to health.

[conductr]

That $5 number is suspicious to me, or perhaps just geographically skewed. In early 90s, I went to the store and bought cigarettes for my mom almost daily and I remember it being about $2.

[visiblink]

The $5 figure was from northern British Columbia. Cigarettes were much cheaper in the U.S. at the time (Canadians used to bring back a couple of duty-free cartons on a regular basis) and in Ontario, where the government reduced the taxes to counter smuggling.

Edit: in the link below you can see that over the course of 1990, cigarette prices rose from $35 to $48/carton (so $4.80/pack if you bought them by the carton) in 1990. They were, of course, more expensive if you bought individual packs, or if you lived in the north.

https://otru.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/update_may2002.p...

[ChrisMarshallNY]

I remember visiting Canada, in the 1970s, and cigarettes were about $4 a pack. Everyone used to buy big cans of Export tobacco, and roll their own. Apparently. pre-rolled cigarettes were taxed heavily, but loose tobacco was not. I think this is still the case, in many nations. I have a friend from UK, who is always smoking hand-rolled "fags."

[conductr]

Oh wow. Yeah definitely a US thing then. Completely makes sense, sadly.

[biztos]

I paid $5/pack for Nat Shermans in SF in 1994/95. IIRC there were super cheap brands for around $2 but they were skanky, Shermans and Dunhills and American Spirits were all around $4-5.

[srcreigh]

May be a NY thing. I bought Marlboros in Sunnyvale in 2016 and paid $5-6 USD per pack.

[ChrisMarshallNY]

NY is insane. It's about taxes. The City is much worse than the 'burbs (about $12/pack, out here).

If I go down to MD or VA, they are about $5 less.

[jcpst]

My wife asked me if I would try and quit when she was pregnant. 12 years later, I’m so glad I did. For myself, for being an example for my kids…

My friends who still smoke cigarettes are now seeing the start of some of the typical health complications.

[JKCalhoun]

Yep, quit when my first daughter was born. Rough as hell for the first year, but that was now 23 years ago.

[ryloric]

Covid made me quit, I just couldn't get any cigs at all due to lockdown. I was pissed for two weeks, then I just got used to it.

[sergiotapia]

Is a pack a day normal? During college I would feel bad that I had smoked three cigarettes a day. I've since switched to cigars, and have about one a month at most.

[visiblink]

I don't know if it's still normal. In the 1970s and 1980s smoking a pack a day was fairly typical. Two packs a day was considered excessive, but most people knew someone who smoked that much.