I don't know - never having paid attention - what "name-brand" "coughin' nails" go for. But I do see "generic"-branded cigs advertised for around $5. Even one pack a day, at that price, would be $150 a month. Hard-core smokers in more highly taxed states or cities spend a lot more than that. Whenever somebody complains to me about not being able to make ends meet, but half a grand a month goes up in a cloud of cigarette smoke, I quit listening.

I did dabble in it, as well as trying chewing tobacco once (that was enough), in the 1970s. A carton of name-brands was around $18, I think.

And yet it seems like where I live there is no shortage of vape/smoke/cigar shops opening so there must still be millions addicted and big money to be had in it.

quote:

Originally posted by jimacp:
In college (1970-74), there was a cigarette machine in the student union building. A pack was 25 cents.

College in mid 1950s, distributors gave free sample packs. Same business model as drug dealers in the schoolyard: "First one's free, kid. Next one will cost you."

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:
And yet it seems like where I live there is no shortage of vape/smoke/cigar shops opening so there must still be millions addicted and big money to be had in it.

They're washing machines.......laundromats.........the popular way to wash money these days.

I quit on January 7, 1987, 4 packs a day. Was driving home, lit a smoke, opened the window and threw it out, never smoked another. I told my wife we'd put the money towards a new boat, worked because we did a get one.

In the mid '70s I'd go to the local grocery to buy a carton, there was the cutest girl working there. A couple of years later I walked into a print shop and this cute girl walked out and said "Camel Filters?" We eventually lost touch for 30+ years and around 2020 reconnected through photography. So, smoking did turn out something good.

OK , we all know cigarettes used to be cheap. What is the average price of a pack of name brand smokes TODAY ? Marlboro , etc.

I was in Pa. the other day and they were 13 and small change per pack at a gas station store...I guess if someone asks to bum a smoke you have to ask for a dollar...
I quit and saved the money, still do...it's a lot...

60

One of my best friends in life told me that if she and her husband would quit smoking, they’d save upwards of $700 per month.

When I was a kid my grandmother would buy Doral cartons by the CASE!!!!!

quote:

Pulling out of an Irving/Circle K gas stop this morning and the sign in the window said they'd happily sell you a carton of Marlboros for the measly sum of $124.xx

From the 1930s to the 1950s, Marlboro was marketed to women.

When my Mother quit smoking over 14 years ago she had just broken her ankle real bad and was told to stop smoking to help with recovery was the final push that helped her kick the habit.

At the time Marlboro's were about 5 dollars a pack and 60 for a carton of 12, her habit was 12 packs a month. So for years saved 720 dollars a year guess she can now double that.

My biggest thanks to God is that she quit before it led to cancer. Her older Sister died of it a little over a year ago after fighting it for 6 years.

quote:

Originally posted by sigmonkey:
Was paying $1.80 a carton for smokes at the commissary back then.

Glad I quit, though.

You beat me. I think it was $2.50 for a carton for me and when we were out at sea past so many miles, it was tax-free.

I quite the day after my discharge.

I think some of the old MREs had a cigarette included in them.

Almost $12 a pack when I quit 6 months ago.
I said I'd quit when they went over a $1 a pack...

I remember when a small pack of 4 was given at each meal on the airlines.

quote:

Originally posted by skywag:
I remember when a small pack of 4 was given at each meal on the airlines.

I remember going to the Houston Livestock Show/Rodeo a few times in the '80s, and little sample packs like that were given out as you went in. If you looked young, they'd ask your age. But eventually you'd find one that'd give you some, and you could always say your dad asked you to get them.

quote:

Originally posted by skywag:
I remember when a small pack of 4 was given at each meal on the airlines.

Or just smoking in the back of the cabin or at the bars or even at restaurants. I can see now how people were offended then by the smell.

We have been watching a lot of 90's movies with the kiddos especially baseball movies and other fun ones from that era and it's a bit strange to still see everyone smoking everywhere in them when it's absolutely taboo now 30 years later.

They used to give cigarettes away in the casinos.

There was a time not that long ago where you could go to a cigarette company plant and go on a factory tour and see the cigarette manufacturing process.
At the end of the tour, they would give you a complimentary pack of smokes.

I did this in the late 80's. I don't recall which manufacturer it was.

I do recall that overseas sales were a big thing.

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:
We have been watching a lot of 90's movies with the kiddos especially baseball movies and other fun ones from that era and it's a bit strange to still see everyone smoking everywhere in them when it's absolutely taboo now 30 years later.

I'll raise you the 1950s Dragnet TV show.

A number of episodes had the detectives sitting around on visual or audio surveillance, literally in a cloud of smoke, unfiltered Chesterfields, no less. (The 1950s show tried to show the oftentimes outright drudgery of police work, actually a little too well. Also, Chesterfield was a sponsor.) The 1967-70 version, which is the one mostly shown on TV, was much less smoky, but one episode had Friday getting into a robbery gone bad and a shooting when he ran out of cigs and had to go get some.