Cost of analogs when you started smoking !

[NightNurse]

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Any ex-service members remember the C-rations or even the older K-rations. The meals you got when you were out on manuevers. They used to come with a free mini pack of smokes. Like 4 or 5 to a pack with every meal. I think Lucky Strike and Newport were the most popular. A carton of regulars was about $1.60 in the PX. When you stopped to take a break, it was commonly hollered "smoke if you got em, if not, get them from your squad leader." Another common holler was "If you smoke take a break. If not, report for detail." Then they had the nerve to say, "smoking was never encouraged nor endorsed by the military." By the time I retired, smokes were $2.25 a pack and you couldn't even smoke within 50 feet of a government building. Do you think your military medical insurance would cover any stop smoking clinics or products? Not even! They will cover a lung replacement if the rest of you is in good shape. Uncle (Omaha Beach survivor) died on oxygen with emphysema after several by bass operations. Father (3 tours Vietnam) died from heart attack after several years on oxygen for emphsema. Smoked till the day he died. Myself (69-89) severe COPD and holding. Stopped smoking and started vaping 4July09. Not sure why but we all would have done it again. Didn't mean to get on a soapbox, just carried away.
Oh yeah, price when I started, 0 to $0.18 for a pack.

When I was in the Army's basic training in 1982 our c-rations had the smokes in them... I had forgotten about that! "Smoke 'em if you got 'em!"

 

[Amajn]

When i started 2.75 a pack smoked 3 packs a week i was 11

When i quit at 8.75 a pack smoked 2 packs a day8-o i was almost 26

When i stayed in jersey on the boardwalk they cost 12-13 bux a pack lol

Vaping i get my nicotine and spend about $50-$60

Thank god for vaping!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[CoffeeFairy]

I'm not certain but I'm guessing they were around .35-.40 a pack...but back then I wasn't buying them - a friend's father used to hand us kids packs of Kools to "keep us off the other stuff". (In other words, he figured if he gave us cigarettes we'd stay out of his "stash")

I do remember being sooo mad when cigs went up to $1 a pack - it was the year I moved out and into my first apartment and I can remember trying to decide if I was going to go another "meatless" week and buy cigs or break down and get some bologna, LOL.

 

[proimage1]

proimage1 that's so funny, my first car was a 1971 Pinto right out of the showroom, but was Blue with the larger engine, radio and automatic - cost $2300. I welll remember $2.50 a carton cigs and gas wars in the late 60's when regular was as low as 13.9 cents a gallon.

My first job was for .25 an hour when I was 12 working in the fields for the local canning company during the summer.

That's to funny - My buddy got the Pinto with the 2300cc engine if I remember right - mine had the 1600cc - BUT it WAS red - ROFL.

I went to work at a stop and go store after school for .50 an hour when I was 11 - darn hard work to - when I was 15 - I went to work for the city cutting grass all day on the side of the highways with convicts making a whopping $1.05 an hour - that was the hardest $42 a week I have ever earned. Then when I turned 16 - they had to pay us min wage at 16 - I went to work sacking groceries at Kroger making $1.60 an hour -- that was big time.

That Pinto was my first NEW car ! My first car was a 1963 VW - I worked my .... off for almost a year to pay for - COST - $300 and that's when VW's weren't cool - BUT it was mine - My kids don't have a clue as to what those days were like - If I won battles with my wife - they would - arggghh - another subject.

I also remember smoking for FREE - anyone remember or ever smoke grape vine - you talking about throat hit - geeesshhh - that stuff would knock you on your ..... There was a huge patch growing in the woods right across from our neighborhood - where myself and all the other hoods in the neighborhood hung out after school - ROFL.

Yes, I also remember smoking in the service - Smoke em if you gottem - I also remember having to field strip them when we were through - that's a habit I've kept for over 40 yrs now - totally pisses the wife off - because it always stunk up the laundry - BUT - now I don't have that problem since I started vaping ! Darn - I remember in boot camp not getting to smoke at all for the first 3 weeks - a bunch of us would sneek in the latrine at night - and hot box one under the stalls - if we had gotten caught - it'd have been all over. I can't remember how much I paid overseas - I was in during Vietnam, but didn't go there - thank God - the closest I got was being stationed at Kadina AFB, Okinawa ( or the armpit of the universe as we called it ) 72-75 - went to Thailand TDY many times - also CCK AFB in Taiwan, Korea, etc.... those days were crazy. I have a son that's active duty Navy - stationed on a destroyer at Norfolk, VA - re-deploying back the Middle East for his 3rd one year tour - leaves in March - we dread the heck out of it.

Enough of my rambling !!!

 

[Valhalla1]

started they were just under $3/pack for marlb reds
lived in las vegas for a time and always hated when I ran out of cigs while out at the casinos and had to pay $7/pack when they were $4ish at a corner store, but now back in Texas they are probably damn near $7. I'm much happer now spending that on an atomizer and getting a lot more utility out of it than one pack of cancer

 

[MitchellBeans]

1990 - $1.20 a pack if I recall. Good times.

When I quit in November, it was around $7.20 after tax (aside of the $5+ per pack taxes there are on them already)... something about that seems wrong!

 

[brandon555]

I started smoking off and on back in high school when it was about $2.90 a pack for Marb menthols.

Now at over 7 bucks a pack I'd be crazy not to start vaping... RYO = blech!!!

 

[pianoguy]

Worked in a full service gas station (remember them?) every day after school and pumped regular gas for .25 a gallon plus check the oil, water, tire air pressure and wash the windshield.

And they'd empty the ashtray, too

They sure pulled a fast one there, didn't they? I remember when the self-service pumps first started, there'd be a few off to the side. Then *poof*, it seemed like overnight it was all self-serve, and a source of jobs for young folks disappeared just like that.

 

[doots]

Marlboros were .25-.30 cents per pack or $2.25 per carton when i started. that was a long timne ago. lol

 

[Haytoni]

When I started smoking analogs 43 years ago - a pack cost .35 and you could buy them anywhere including vending machines just like buying a candy bar or canned coke !

Thought it'd be interesting to see how much they were when some of you started !

A carton was less than $3.00 and averaged around $2.50 a carton !

Of course - gasoline was around .29 a gallon to and minimum wage was $1.60 an hour - my first job paid all of .50 an hour - ( that's $20 on a 40 hour work week ) and less than $80 a week at $1.60 min wage.

My first new car and I mean brand new - right off the lot was $1888.00 - a 1972 Ford Pinto - the only thing good about it - was it was red - no floor mats, no radio, no air, no power steering, no power brakes - BUT it was RED !

I can't remember, when I started some 60 odd years, there was no such thing as a filtered analog, and what the cost was for Phillip Morris ........hmmmmmmmmmmmmm! Got me, now it's over 6 bucks a pack here in the Pan Handle of Florida, any wonder why I switched. Getting off that weed was a smart idea, hopefully I can continue, as long as I can get RY4 juice, it's my favorite. Think I have saved about -or --over 120.00 in the past two weeks, since starting this phase, however, I have spent a little more to get set up.
In the long run, I should find a good savings wish me Luck.

 

[nubee]

1983, Michigan, $0.95 a pack and I swore I'd stop smoking when they went over a buck!!!

 

[DarKm4773r]

When I started smoking analogs 43 years ago - a pack cost .35 and you could buy them anywhere including vending machines just like buying a candy bar or canned coke !

Thought it'd be interesting to see how much they were when some of you started !

A carton was less than $3.00 and averaged around $2.50 a carton !

Of course - gasoline was around .29 a gallon to and minimum wage was $1.60 an hour - my first job paid all of .50 an hour - ( that's $20 on a 40 hour work week ) and less than $80 a week at $1.60 min wage.

My first new car and I mean brand new - right off the lot was $1888.00 - a 1972 Ford Pinto - the only thing good about it - was it was red - no floor mats, no radio, no air, no power steering, no power brakes - BUT it was RED !

OMG, you're old! Lol, just joking; you're not old until you're dead. Let me get this right..... $1.60 an hour and a CARTON was $2.50?! You could afford a carton by only working for two hours, while NOW at $8.55 an hour(Wash State), you'd have to work 8 hours! That just shows you how much money BT makes off of smokers.....

 

[Antebellum]

1979 - the cigarette machine in the student lounge of the dorm at Georgia Tech - 50 cents. I remember being annoyed when they went up to 60 cents. Quarters were easier to find (and to spend) than one thin dime.

 

[rickyman]

1981... I was in the military and I think they were $0.65 off base and $0.45 on base. I remember buying cartons for $4.15

 

[Poeia]

That just shows you how much money BT makes off of smokers.....

I never thought I'd see the day when I'd defend big tobacco, but most of the increases in the past few years have been additional taxes.
The feds get $1.01 per pack
NY State charges $2.75
NY City charges $1.50
Then they have the nerve to charge sales tax on it all, including taxing the other taxes. In NYC that's 8.375% so I paid $0.44 per pack in sales tax on the above excise taxes (plus sales tax on what BT charged.) By the time you add everything up, close to 2/3 of the money I paid for each pack went directly to some government agency.

Quite a ways from the "less than $10 a carton" I paid in the early 70s.

 

[yknotagain]

I meant to state that the Pinto was my first NEW car. My first was a 1960 Renault Dauphine that was all rusted out with holes in the floor and doors that would fly open on a hard stop. 2nd car a 1959 Fairlane 500 in gr8 shape, then a red 1960 Mercury Monterey convertable - dang that was a chick magnet back then lol.

 

[Wildsky]

I started up smoking living in another country - I don't know what the exchange rate was at that time, but at the exchange rate now I was paying 10c a pack of 20's. That was 1985

 

[jdg]

I bought my first pack of cigarettes in eighth grade--had to send one of the seniors that I knew to buy it. I gave him $4.50, and he came back with what I believe was a pack of Camel Turkish Jades. One year later, when I finally convinced one of my parents to buy them so I didn't have to inflict the risk of buying for minors on the poor, innocent seniors who had been so kind (sheesh), I was paying $3.50-$4.25 for two pack specials of Camel Turkish blends. The cheapest tobacco products that I have ever purchased legally were three-quarter ounce packages of Top rolling tobacco for $.75. The same size is now about $3. When I quit in December, I was paying $4.77 for single packs of USA Gold Lights, or more money for less quality. Also, I was smoking two of those suckers a day--damn near ten bucks! Vaping is about a 90% savings for me, figuring in the cost of experimentation. Without the "mistakes," I'd be saving closer to 99%.
I'm 22 years old, and I've purchased a car for $220. It still runs. It's a Dodge Aries, 1985. I bought a cheaper car once, $200 for a 2000 Chevy Lumina with 105,000 miles on it. The head gasket went out in two months. The best car I've ever had is the rust-and-green '93 Geo Metro that I currently drive. I paid $1000 for it just before gas climbed through the $3s and into the $4s. It paid for itself in about six months.

 

[proimage1]

I meant to state that the Pinto was my first NEW car. My first was a 1960 Renault Dauphine that was all rusted out with holes in the floor and doors that would fly open on a hard stop. 2nd car a 1959 Fairlane 500 in gr8 shape, then a red 1960 Mercury Monterey convertable - dang that was a chick magnet back then lol.

Same here - my first was a 63 VW - paid all of $300 for it - VW's weren't cool then either - I went through a boatload of used old cars back then. One of my very favorites in high school was when I bought my Dad's car from him - it was a 65 Comet Cyclone ( not the cheapy little Comets that came out later - this one looked like a Falcon ) it was canary yellow with black leather interior - had a 3 on the tree with a high performance 289 - it would scream - could beat most anything in that class. I can't tell you how many times my brother and I broke the shifter off the column shifting - my Dad used to get so mad when we'd tell him it broke off again - I can remember him say " Boys, I just don't understand how that happens " The best muscle car I ever had was an SS 396 - I finally wound up getting rid of that when gas got up to around .85 a gallon - I was only getting around 6 MPG in the Chevelle - wish I had that car now sitting in the driveway.

 

[proimage1]

OMG, you're old! Lol, just joking; you're not old until you're dead. Let me get this right..... $1.60 an hour and a CARTON was $2.50?! You could afford a carton by only working for two hours, while NOW at $8.55 an hour(Wash State), you'd have to work 8 hours! That just shows you how much money BT makes off of smokers.....

Yep, I know - but I have no desire to go back though all of that again - ( well, maybe a few fleeting moments )

The thing with cigarettes back then - they weren't unacceptable back then. I had more friends that smoked than didn't. We smoked everywhere including the bathrooms at school - getting caught at school usually meant getting sent home for the day but that's about it. Things have really changed. I only wish the young kids I see out there smoking could realize what we are all going through right now -- guess it wouldn't do any good - when you're that age - you know it all and can't be convinced of anything.
We all smoked back then just trying to be cool ( the same now I'm sure ). By the time I realized it wasn't cool - I was hooked in a big kind of way ! That's why I'm here now I guess !