Smoking

[leon]

I used to smoke but that is a long time ago and smokes were about $3.00 a packet, I sure am glad i gave it up so long ago.

Anyway I went to Wollies today the place I usually buy my fruit and whatever I need and was behind a customer a fellow of about 60 I guess and he bought 20.00 worth of items and then asked for a carton of smokes, not sure what brand.

Well I didn't take much notice until the woman rang them up and I kid you not that carton of 4 packs of 40 cigarettes each cost him $371.94
Well I nearly fell over and when he had left I asked the woman, "is that the right price" "yep she said it is outrages what they cost these days"

So that makes it about $94.00 a packet of 40 fags.

I am not against anyone that smokes, I used too as well, but I sure in hell couldn't keep up that habit at that cost

Leon

[RB (Andrew)]

From the thread title, Leon, I thought this was going to be another computer question…

[Zuts]

Cheap chinese/vietnamese/indonesian/mexican smokes are available everywhere at around $130 per 10 pack carton (25%).

The government claims smoking rates have dropped, a lot of the drop would be people switching to these under the counter cigarettes, which at the price the legal smokes are selling for is very understandable.

[leon]

Hey Andrew that might just happen one day.

Leon

[RB (Andrew)]

Originally Posted by leon

Hey Andrew that might just happen one day.

Leon

Always keep a spare cpu fan handy Leon

[kvmx (Nick)]

Originally Posted by Zuts

Cheap chinese/vietnamese/indonesian/mexican smokes are available everywhere...

Yup, many of my friends smoke illegal tobacco. Manchester seems to be a popular brand due to the comparatively low price. I bought my last deck of smokes somewhere around 2020 and I remember balking at the fact that my usual deck of winnie 30's were approaching $40! Now you'd be lucky to buy winnies at sub $50 for a deck of 30 at the supermarket. I don't even want to think about how much servos flog their smokes for!

I still begrudgingly vape nowadays. I've had many brushes with on and off addiction to a few different substances but none have lasted as long or had withdrawals more savage for me like nicotine.

Moral of the story: NEVER START! You'll regret it.

[Leo.G (Leo)]

Originally Posted by Zuts

Cheap chinese/vietnamese/indonesian/mexican smokes are available everywhere at around $130 per 10 pack carton (25%).

The government claims smoking rates have dropped, a lot of the drop would be people switching to these under the counter cigarettes, which at the price the legal smokes are selling for is very understandable.

The gubberment ARE IDIOTS, people haven't quit, everyone I know who smokes buys the 100 packs at the cheap places or the illegal tobacco. So many kids walking around with illegal under the counter vapes and so many people buying under the counter chop chop which in my opinion is a reasonable smoke. I've met numerous people who have never smoked yet they vape and yes, I have nicotine in my freezer but I don't use it.


I smoke, I've been smoking for WAY too long and am currently on a pill to help me quit, it's slowly working and I've not had a cigarette today (a record).
Personally, I buy the cheap tobacco, $25 for 50 grams, if I buy 4 I get one free so that's $100 for 250 grams. At a retail tobacconist the same quantity would be $750 so the government get their chop, in the usual tobacconist.
My doctors have told me every time I've tried to get patches or anti smoking aids that the government really doesn't want me to stop.
It used to be $13 BILLION plus in taxes, now we all support organised crime instead.

Even government ministers have stated this tax creep on cigarettes is fuelling the illegal industry.
"Buying illegal tobacco is supporting organised crime"
So what do people think our government is?

I do buy an occasional pack of 20 normal taxed cigarettes which I keep in my car for when I'm out. Normally they are $32 but this morning when my regular place was still closed I decided I'd just buy a pack of 20 from Coles, $50.60. I told the young fellow at the counter to shove them back in the drawer from whence they came (politely, he's a friend) and went to another place and paid $30 for 20.
I've been smoking since high school.

I'm doing my best to quit!

What people don't understand and I explain this to some doctors while many do actually understand. I cope with chronic pain EVERY day, uncontrollable pain in the form of chronic migraines there is no treatment for and I've spent over $250,000 when working on specialists and treatments, I could have bought the 3 bedroom house I was renting in Bexley for less.
Smoking helps me live a normal life, it stops me going off the deep end and I live an almost regular life dealing with pain most people would never understand and hopefully, NEVER experience.
Oh, before anyone asks, I've given up numerous times, the longest period was for 3 years, it's NEVER made a difference to my migraines and I was diagnosed long before I ever started smoking or ever knew what an opioid was.

Originally Posted by kvmx

Moral of the story: NEVER START! You'll regret it.

I tell so many people this but, I was told exactly the same thing when I was a teen.
I take MS Contin every day, multiple yet I can go 3 days without it if I can cope with the pain (no, they are not overuse migraines though I've been taking it for too many years) but I can't go without a cigarette without my brain going to crap (I don't get angry I just have no idea what I'm doing), I even struggle to shower, something I do every day, often more than once.
The Zyban are slowly helping though I'm struggling to sleep even with 3 Temazepam.

[leon]

I am not trying to be a smart arse here and I suppose I am lucky and grateful that I stopped smoking many years ago.

I decided that when smokes reached the ridiculous price of $5.50 or there a bouts at that time i would quit, and I stuck my guns and quit cold turkey, and stayed off them till now.

I have nothing against anyone that smokes and know that it can be a difficult road when one want to give it away.

There was one time I did pick it up for 6 weeks and that was when i drove to Darwin with the Caravan alone and was bored with the traveling so puffed away while i drove, but when i came home again i stopped on the day of my arrival.

I am very grateful that I was lucky enough to stop that easily, and wish anyone who wants to give it up the best of luck, stick to it as it dose wonders for your health.

Leon

[JohnA (John)]

you got to be rich these days to smoke

I gave them up many many years ago, but for me it wasnt because of the price or health at the time, it was more to do with, i got to a point where i was just doing it out of habit.
Id make a coffee, light up a smoke, then id have 2 puffs and butt it out. So i figured, time to stop. I went cold turkey and the first month was hard, but it was more a case of just breaking the hbbits rather than the addiction.

But yes, cigarette prices are insane at the moment, hence the whole tobacco store brake ins and so forth.

I heard today, kids are been paid to steal them at $5 a packet. Its just getting out of control

[Leo.G (Leo)]

I am very grateful that I was lucky enough to stop that easily, and wish anyone who wants to give it up the best of luck, stick to it as it dose wonders for your health

I spent around 2 hours yesterday on a heavy crowbar compacting gravel and cement dust into my pier pit to prevent the clay ruining the actual pour. At one point I ran in and opened a new pack of ventolin and had a few puffs. I've never really used Ventolin in my life (I had bad asthma as a kid which nearly killed me (as did my son, hence the Ventolin kept)) and haven't had asthma in well over 40 years but, there was no such thing as a puffer that made breathing easier when I was a kid.
And I do at least 100 push ups per day in sets of 25-35 and chin ups.
I need to start doing Cardio but I really need to stop smoking first and I'm really trying.

[FlashDrive (Poppy)]

I had my last smoke in December 2010 .... I went cold turkey and refused to give into this little 4inch stick of addiction. The first week was the hardest...Every time I had finished a nice meal I used to grab for a smoke and enjoyed it.

As I got older I realized I need to stop this before I end up with emphysema or connected up to an oxygen bottle....I didn't want that in later life.

It's been 15 years now and my health has improved no end.

I did have a quadruple heart bypass operation in 2015 ( 5 years after I quit smoking ), and the doctors first question to me was ' are you a smoker ' ...I had smoked on and off for approx' 35 years , which contributed to my heart problem along the way.

I actually now feel sick from passive smoking when someone nearby smokes and the wind blows it in my direction.

I have added a text from a Medical Resource which I hope will help anyone.

Col...

[kvmx (Nick)]

Originally Posted by Leo.G

... I've not had a cigarette today (a record).

If nobody else says it, I will. Bloody good effort there mate.

Originally Posted by Leo.G

I'm doing my best to quit!

This was oddly inspiring. I'm going to put the vape down and as you say, do my best. My mental health will probably go straight down the toilet by the end of tonight and I'll face many grim and morbid thoughts, but I'll take it one day at a time.

[Leo.G (Leo)]

Thanks Nick!

I am taking the Zyban tablets to help.

[Sato (Dom)]

Smoking? It's EASY to give up...I did it hundreds of times . Not sure who said that but it's good. It's now 30+ years since I indulged. Good luck!

[Leo.G (Leo)]

Originally Posted by Sato

Smoking? It's EASY to give up...I did it hundreds of times . Not sure who said that but it's good. It's now 30+ years since I indulged. Good luck!

I don't even give up when I go to bed, I get up half a dozen times per night to go to the head and have a smoke while I'm in there (or used to), these tablets make cigarettes taste like they really are, HORRID.
I don't smoke in my car, NEVER and only in the head with window open and exhaust fan on, nowhere else in the house, mostly in the yard, so much less now.

[TrevorW]

I went cold turkey around 20 years ago when they got to expensive and you couldn't smoke anywhere - I still get the craving for a cigar once or twice a year but even those are so expensive these days

[blink138 (Pat)]

I started smoking at the tender age of 50 .............. then i gave it up at 55 lol
Pat

[TrevorW]

Someone asked me if I smoked after vigorous sex, I replied "i've never looked"

[leon]

Someone asked me if I smoked after vigorous sex, I replied "i've never looked"

Leon