Analogs almost $80 per carton

[chellie]

It's been a little over 6 years since I ended my lifelong analog habit and took up vaping. I just do not pay any attention to analogs anymore. So today there was a serious accident and I was stuck in traffic on a busy avenue that has a lot of stores and I saw a sign for Marlboros that said $78.81 --- are you kidding me! I do not even know if that included tax. The signs I used to see way back when did not include tax. I'd be paying in the ballpark of at least $120 a week for that filthy habit ---

When I stopped cartons were under $50.

Even more incentive to vape!

 

[Coyote628]

First pack of cigs i bought was .35 cents.

 

[Opinionated]

Wow thats high!

Cigarette prices haven't gone up nearly that much here, L&M's according to the online local grocery ad (curiosity made le look!) Are 45.30 a carton (before tax) and Marlboro reds are 54.60 a carton...

L&M's have actually gone up far more than reds around here (I wonder why), that's about a 10.00 increase per carton over the last 4-1/2 years, which is a steep increase really, 1.00 a pack more.

I never figure in price hikes when I calculate how much my savings from not smoking is.. I guess I'll start! Hahaha ... 14.00 per week price increase is 728 dollars a year!

Ha.. that's about what I spend on Christmas every year - total - just in cigarette inflation!

 

[Dougiestyle]

I remember way back, as a teen smoker, telling myself that if cigarettes ever went over $1.50/pk I'd quit. Well, that came and went. Fast-forward to Feb 2011, just before finding vapor, and I was shelling-out over $3/pk, because they had me hooked. I've quit calculating cost savings, because quality of life has improved. $70/carton?? Hail vaping!

 

[Doffy]

price for a single pack above

cartons are over $200

$1 aud = 0.72 usd

 

[Coyote628]

I remember one time as a truck driver being laid over for a weekend near Boston MA and i bought a carton of reds for 32 dollars and was shocked at how much that was compared to what i paid at home in KY. This was around 1997-98 i think. Now, even in KY, reds are around 6 dollars a pack.

 

[r77r7r]

are there many places to buy them illegally? i guess people roll their own now. wonder how much they save?

 

[Doffy]

are there many places to buy them illegally? i guess people roll their own now. wonder how much they save?

i used to pay $90 aud p/KG of illegally imported tobacco

a 50 gram pouch is around $70 for legal stuff

 

[Shadav]

I never cared for cigarettes...no no I had to smoke the expensive imported sampoerna cloves which then after the first flavor ban on cigarettes became harder to find, I was mostly stuck with djarums from cigar shops or one cigar shop the owner found me a cigar that was pretty darn close to sampoerna's
I don't remember what I paid for the sampoerna's, I know the djarms for a pack of 12 cost almost $8 and then well the cigar was $5/each, granted that cigar lasted me a few days
at the time cigarettes were about $5 a pack
and I was smoking almost a pack of cloves a day

 

[Eskie]

Well, in NYC they're now $13.00 a pack at the minimum allowed price. At a pack and a half per day I could be buying a fancy stabilized wood mod or even a VA every month and still come out ahead.

 

[somdcomputerguy]

When I quit smoking 4 years ago I was paying $6.00 a pack. Now when my ex-GF/close friend/roomate goes to the smoke shop, she pays close to $10.00 for two packs of bottom of the barrel light cigs. A 120 or so ml batch of DIY will last me at least close to 4 months and costs me somewhere in the $3-$5 range..

 

[Rossum]

Well, in NYC they're now $13.00 a pack at the minimum allowed price. At a pack and a half per day I could be buying a fancy stabilized wood mod or even a VA every month and still come out ahead.

Yep. Over the past 4+years, I've bought a boatload of very nice mods (mostly from a couple of the artisans here on ECF), plus I've put a lifetime supply of nic into two mini dedicated freezers (cause my wife doesn't want my nic in her freezers), and I still haven't spent what it would have cost to keep smoking. $90-100 a week on cigs adds up to a lot of money over the space of a few years.

 

[tgs3]

are there many places to buy them illegally? i guess people roll their own now. wonder how much they save?

I live in Brooklyn, NY. A carton of American Spirits goes for over $130.00. Not surprisingly, there are people driving to other states, getting a bunch of cartons and selling to a private customer base. Generally, people buying this way are paying $60-65 per carton. Generally, only Marlboros are available. There are also smoke shops doing an under the counter business selling all brands at NJ prices - $85.00 per carton.

This kind of thing is inevitable in the current circumstances, especially since the cigarette taxes in NY and probably elsewhere are very regressive.

 

[Rossum]

I live in Brooklyn, NY. A carton of American Spirits goes for over $130.00. Not surprisingly, there are people driving to other states, getting a bunch of cartons and selling to a private customer base. Generally, people buying this way are paying $60-65 per carton. Generally, only Marlboros are available. There are also smoke shops doing an under the counter business selling all brands at NJ prices - $85.00 per carton.

This kind of thing is inevitable in the current circumstances, especially since the cigarette taxes in NY and probably elsewhere are very regressive.

Yep. Look at a small panel van and do the math: How many cases (not cartons!) of cigarettes will fit it it. A carton still sells for around $50 in Virginia. Assume a $10 profit per carton for the ~500 mile round trip. Inevitable indeed.

 

[searcher]

I started vaping just before the 2009 tax hikes took effect, Hence my signature never tracked money saved, When I started smoking regularly, a pack ran me about 10 cents in the commissary (a dollar a carton). When I quit, I could stuff my own (nice little machine) for 45 cents a pack.

 

[Zazie]

First pack of cigs i bought was .35 cents.

Forty-five cents for me. I remember saying I'd quit when the price got to $1. Ha.

 

[Beamslider]

Around $11 a pack here and over $100 for a carton

 

[Doffy]

10 days cigs @$82.25 per day retail

 

[JCinFLA]

i guess people roll their own now. wonder how much they save?

I started doing the RYO smokes in late 2012 and smoked them until I transitioned to vaping. First thing I noticed was that within 3 weeks of switching to RYO from my regular smokes...my little morning smoker's cough was totally gone. So I stuck with them. Price then for my regular smokes was $56/carton. The RYO cost me $26 to make a carton + about another pack and a half. Don't know what the price for the RYO ones is now though.

 

[Jebbn]

Yes I remember the cost of a carton in the 80's- 90's, around 80 bucks.