Chicago cigarette prices are ridiculous. I'm so in the middle about topics such as this because I smoke, but only smoke in moderation.
I like to have a couple when I'm drinking or if I'm hanging out with friends/bandmates or whatever but I don't let my self smoke at work, at home or when I'm with family, etc. I'd say, on average, I smoke about a pack a week. And I don't see anything wrong with that...
The high price of cigarettes makes sense in some respects and, like Zen said, in the back of my mind I think its a good thing, but to ask someone to pay 10 dollars for something that cost a mere fraction of that to produce is outrageous.
Its kind of like the smoking bans that are happening everywhere, in some respects, it makes sense and I like it, it stops me from smoking a lot and I smell a lot better when I come home from the bars, but it has its drawbacks as well.
When it comes down to it, I'm just annoyed at this nation's fickleness with tobacco. At one point it was ok to smoke in friggin' hospitals and doctors even "endorsed" cigarettes for various reasons. Now its looked down upon and demonized as some evil habit.
If all else fails, you can always move to Europe, they let you smoke in certain places there, still, and, AFAIK, cigs are still around 4-5 euros for good ones at most shops...