Up in Smoke

I used to smoke. I don’t anymore because I quit cold turkey 46 years ago. Good thing too. And I’m just talking about economics, not health.

When I was a college kid, cigarettes were 25¢ a pack for Kool filters. If you decided to smoke a manly cigarette and forego the filter, Lucky Strikes or Camels cost only 20¢ a pack when bought in a carton of 10 packs.

At the height of my smoking, I was sucking on two packs of ciggies a day. That’s a lotta t’backy smoke being filtered by my lungs. And that translated to 40¢ to 50¢ a day … $2.80 to $3.50 a week … upwards of $234.00 a year.

The other day, at Safeway Supermarket, I saw this display:

On sale, cigarettes cost $8.59 a pack (and that’s pretty much a low promotional price, as I’ve seen prices in excess of $9.00). Most of that cost, in case you’re not aware, goes to taxes and not the tobacco companies.

If I were still smoking two packs a day today, my annual expense would exceed $6,250.00. Compare that to $234.00 back in the day.

I made a smoove move back then when I quit.