Wow! $75 a carton? I pay about $43 a carton here. I've never been a real heavy smoker and a carton will last me about a month, so it's no biggie.

wow thats quite expensive for cigarettes.Down here we pay right around $40 for  a carton of Marlboro. I hate to admit it but I am a smoker. I know I know its bad and stinks and it even bothers ME. My husband quit cold turkey the beginning of the year. I have to agree with what your mom saying that the patches were more expensive than the cigarettes. I remember about 4 years ago I tried the patches and they were actually more expensive than the cigarettes. It was sort of a shock. But now they are actually cheaper. The name brand goes for about $40 for 2 weeks. I really do hope to quit one day. I've been looking into the electronic cigarettes to try and alternative for now until I'm ready. Because as everyone knows you can't be forced to quit something YOU have to actually want it. I'm glad your mom kicked the habit. Hopefully my mom will quit soon I think that's her main reason for being in the hospital now.

If anyone is trying to quit there is a new product out that looks like a cigarette and feels like one but you blow out steam.  I have a neighbor that has been using it for a few months now and she said it is the only thing that has ever worked for her. She said you gradually decrease the nicotine.  She is almost finished with it.  I think it was called an ecigarette... but I have since seen other similar products advertised. Maybe someone here has tried it?

I remember when I was a kid they sold packs out of vending machines for a quarter.

The worst part is these FireSafe papers, they taste terrible and the things go out like you were on top of Everest. New Hampshire is "only" $53/carton. Cheaper to just smoke pot all day lol.

When I used to buy my dad cigarettes at the Indian Reservation about 10 years ago, they were $10.00 a carton. Then they rose sharply and my father, a heavy, non filter cigarette smoker of 60 years, quit cold turkey. He did use the patch but not like he should have. It was so amazing that he just stopped and never looked back. Sadly, it was too late. He ended up dying five or six years after he quit when his lungs were irritated due to aspiration pneumonia and they simply....bled out. It was horrifying and so tragic. But all those years of smoking obviously weakened his lungs. I wish he had quit many many years before he did.

ANYWAY, he quit because he couldn't afford to buy cigarettes. He could but in his mind, they were just too darn expensive. As good a reason to quit as any.

Yep, smoker here too, a pack a day for 30 years.  When I quit once for 6 months, I lost 9 lbs. in 2 weeks, so I "had" to start back up to keep some weight on. 

That's just my crappy excuse.  I pay $3.09 + tax a pack for generic, and never buy more than 5 packs at a time.

I've been sober for 20 years and 16 days.  Does that count?

Nancy44 said…

Yep, smoker here too, a pack a day for 30 years.  When I quit once for 6 months, I lost 9 lbs. in 2 weeks, so I "had" to start back up to keep some weight on.

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You LOST weight!??  I've tried quitting a few times and gain weight.  I'm already fat.  Russell Crowe & I have something in common; we both ride bikes for exercise & still smoke.  Copy & paste this link...

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,547047,00.html??test=faces

Yep OldHippie, very odd I know...all backwards.  I got SO much more active that one doctor told me to just sit down, eat cake & ice cream and sleep 20 hours a day.

I did 2 out of the 3.  I'll check out that link 4 sure.

I have NO problem sleeping but I'm not a big eater but could manage some pizza! Most people gain weight after quitting smoking because they are antsy and craving and need something to do with their hands and mouth! My father didn't gain or lose. He seemed unaffected but he did cough op years worth of junk. It was sick!

Being sober for over 20 years is a huge accomplishment and should be applauded. Believe it or not, I have never had an alcoholic beverage. Ever!

That's wonderful Patty - I can still taste my last one - not literally but those of you who may have drank then stopped might know what I mean.  And thanks for the encouraging words :) It's definately a journey of self-discovery every single day. 

Getting back to the topic - smoking, I do know some people who only smoke when they drink.  I was never one of those people. 

I think I read on someone else facts that they had never had a drink. It so much a part of some culture's that I wonder if that has anything to do with who drink and who doesn't (other than heredity - or maybe they're the same?). I'm not a big drinker. Funny story - at our daughter's wedding I asked the cute bartender for a Kahlua Sombrero light on the Kahlua. He gave it to me and I could taste the Kahlua too much. So I asked him if he could make it weaker and he did. I tasted it and it was good but he could tell it wasn't great. So he asked me if I wanted chocolate milk:) true story. Jo

I didn't realize they were that expensive. WOW!! I don't smoke and no one in my family does either. My brother ( in his forties) smoked a couple  packs a day and then his friends started dropping like flies with lung cancer. He quit cold turkey and has not smoked now for at least 15 years. I am proud of him!

Well as for me i am trying to quit smoking because I dont want to paid the price for them right now and the price is off the wall.

I quit smoking 2 1/2 yrs ago after 26 yrs of smoking. Looks like I quit just in time for the prices to sky rocket! Sure glad I quit when I did. Those of you that are trying and trying again, keep it up!! I couldn't tell you how many times I tried to quit and failed before it actually worked. If I can finally do it, anyone can. Just keep trying! Good luck!

Smoking is the hardest thing i have ever tried to quit. and i'm still doing it even though i know i want to stop. i don't know what i am afraid of, but i just get so damn scared when i try.

I too am a smoker, have been for many years, don't want to give away my age.  Quit when I was pregnant both times, but after my kids were born, started back up.  Guess I'm afraid to gain weight.  I'm thin now and I prefer to keep it that way.  Someday I may quit, but I have to be in the right mindset to quit, or it won't work anyway.  Price of smokes is sooo expensive, but when you are a smoker and have been for many, many years, you will pay the price until you just can't anymore.  There are worse habits I suppose.

that is alot for a carton cigarettes i would not pay that much for any cigarettes i would use it to buy food for my home.  i smoke but i don't buy a carton i use a pack

I SMOKED FOR 20 YEARS WHEN THEN GOVT.RAISED THE TAXES ON THEM IS WHEN I QUIT.I HAVE BEEN NIC,FREE SINCE JANUARY.KUDDOS TO BARRACK FOR SIGNING THE BILL

For me, quitting smoking is alot harder than the booze I gave up!

i'm an ex smoker, i quit cold turkey over 15 years ago and never went back.  my husband is trying to beat this battle now, he's tried the patch, chantix, etc.  i feel that the only way he will stop is when he's ready regardless of the bad health effects they seem to have on him, i complain all the time, be he is just having the toughest time giving them up.  he lost his mother to smoking last year and you think that would have been incentive enough, he pays $7.24 per pack, so the $75 sounds appropriate.  i just have to keep encouraging him...

I remember 'back in the day' when gas prices per gallon were almost the same as a pack of cigarettes. We'd be driving and think we saw a cheap gas price, then realize it was for cigarettes! Cigarette prices shot up, and now gas is trying to catch up again! Ha!

By the way, I don't smoke. I have enough other vices without that one!

Wow, that's really high for a carton.  I recently quit smoking, both for my health and due to rising costs.

KUDOS to all who have quit a habit that they were not happy with, and Nancy 1 day of sobriety is a reason for celebration 20 years, is fantastic. Great work!!

What I am amazed at is how long it takes to pick up a good habit, and how easily it is undone. I was actively engaged in my life long battle with the scale and I was working out every day, at least 5 or 6 days a week. I was running, in a running club, and had even started lifting weights (again). I took 2 weeks off to recover from surgery, about 4 months ago and I cant get back to it! It is amazing how easy it is to get off track!

Beware of the side effects of Chantix....I got them (depression, etc.). If you start on that program and notice ANY side effects, contact your Doctor right away. Hubby and I quit for 3 months on the program, but we went right back to smoking. It's costly, but the way I felt on the program it was worth the carton price. Not everyone experiences side effects. It is a good program IF it works for you.

The cigs are to expensive. Would like to quit,but dont want to. The price is forcing me to quit.

do what you want to your gonna dye somrtime anyways

I smoked a pack a day for five years. Before then I smoked occassionally, usually cigars. Then I read an article in the paper about what smoking does to your organs after five years and I quit. Now, the thought of smoking appalls me.

Unfortunately, I got hooked on an illicit drug - Dreyer's grape popsicles - and I'm all strung out and my tongue is purple. I can usually be found hanging out on the street corner asking "Got any Dreyer's, man?"

Seriously, got any Dreyer's, man?

My mother-in-law quit smoking and when she did she downloaded this program on her computer as motivation.  What it did was ask her to fill in how many she usually smoked per day, and other facts.  Every day she could open it and there was a continuous tally of things like "you have added x days to your life since you quit smoking", "you have saved x dollars since you quit".  It really seemed to help put it all in perspective.