700% tax? WTF!!

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Joos

Joos

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It's official.I can no longer afford to smoke cigarettes.I'm freakin pissed!I love smoking.I smoke bout a pack and a half a day.In MA that comes out to$13! $364 a month.WTF!!the cheapest nastiest smokes I can find are $6.40.I'm so pissed because I don't want to quit,but my only alternative is to cut down on my beer intake.That will never happen so I guess I'll be a pink lung from now on.Sorry about the rant,but I'm sure there are some other middle class massholes that will agree with me.
 
Why don't you just cut back on both a little bit? Like have one less beer a day and try to keep it under a pack per day? I too love to smoke but only buy a pack every few weeks, this is better for the lungs and the wallet.
 
Might as well just quit. You love it now but you'll hate it later. Trust me. I was a 2.5-3 pack a day smoker when I quit twelve years ago. I'm pretty sure I'd be dead by now had I not quit.
 
The politicians of Taxachussets in their infinite wisdom think that they will raise all sorts of revenue from this tax increase. I give it less than 6 months before they see how it has worked in reverse, actually decreasing revenue as people quit smoking or buy them over the state line.
 
I stopped when it hit $2 a pack...

Of course, I started when it was 50 cents at the bowling alley machine...
 
Grow your own if you have the room. Better than nothing if you don't want to quit. I am not and never was a smoker but I have grown tobacco and I got a slight mellowing effect when I did. Makes me understand why people who smoke get hooked.
 
Ya know the weird (and cliche) thing is that I'm not addicted to nicotine.I've quit before for different reasons.The latest one being my wife got pregnant and I quit so it would be easier on her.No problems.I don't "fiend" for one.I just really enjoy smoking when I can.Screw it I guess I just have to stop and forget about how much I love them.Maybe I'll start smoking cigars on special occasions like the weekend:D
 
It's easy to say to just quit. But Ed's right- the Taxperts think it's ok to tax smokers because, well, smoking is evil and let them pay. Besides, it doesn't hurt ME any because I don't smoke, right?

Wrong. When they realize that it isn't going to work, the alcohol tax will be next to go through the roof. Then we all will be whining.
 
Well, I'm next to a reservation, so everyone around here gets their cigarettes without the taxes out there.....now I think that some might have online presences....

Not sure if they clamped down on that or not, but it was a pretty brisk business a few years back.
 
I only smoke cigars, but it's amazing how much they've jacked up ciggie taxes. It wasn't too many years ago that I was selling cheap-ass smoked for $1.39 a pack.

You know what I don't understand, though?

R83857_ET002844_4


MURANO FILTERED CIGARS 3-FER NATURAL FILTERED MILD

Looks like a cigarette. Filtered like a cigarette. Not taxed like a cigarette! $50 for three cartons - that's like $1.50 a pack!

I haven't tried these, have no idea if they're any good, but they get taxed as cigars which makes them about 20% the price. I've ordered a ton of stuff from Thompson, they're a great company.
 
chumprock said:
I stopped when it hit $2 a pack...

Of course, I started when it was 50 cents at the bowling alley machine...
Click to expand...
I remember buying a CARTON of cigs for $1.36...yes...1 dollar and 36 pesos...at the Commisary in 1975!!

I quit smoking 19 years ago...:D

Want to REALLY screw up the politicians and producers??? EVERYONE QUIT SMOKING FOR 2 WEEKS...they'll wonder where all their precious revenue went when it doesn't come in...
 
Either you have to quit, pay the price, or replace the burning desire to have a long, round object in your mouth with another round, long object in your mouth. :D I'd personally go with option #1
 
The more you tax something, the less you get of it.

Gee - I thought the tobacco settlement was supposed to help educate folks to get off cigarettes, but the states complain about lost tax revenue when folks cross the border to buy smokes etc..

VT is no better when it comes to sin taxes...except weed - they can't tax that, but I hear it is quite a cash crop here !
 
I had to quit because I have terrible allergies. I loved it, but the sinus headaches, allergic attacks and constant stuffiness just drove me nuts. The funny thing is I had smoked for about six years, then quit. I jumped on that wagon... I picked it up about two years latter and that is when the allergies problems started, but not before when I had smoked a lot more.

I just couldn't do it any more, so I tried different spits. They all made me sick or it was just too gross to mess with. Then my MJ dealer got me on to snus (camel at first then I found better stuff). I have been using that ever since. Sometimes I buy a box of the nicotine lozenges just to keep around.
 
Try taking Chantix. After a couples of weeks you'll get sick of smoking and you'll do fine. Worked good for me! You just have to get used to ultra real and vivid dreams for a while at the beginning. Make sure you take it for the full 3 months even though you think you got it licked. That appears to be the biggest mistake when taking it. Good luck.
 
Joos said:
It's official.I can no longer afford to smoke cigarettes.I'm freakin pissed!I love smoking.I smoke bout a pack and a half a day.In MA that comes out to$13! $364 a month.WTF!!the cheapest nastiest smokes I can find are $6.40.I'm so pissed because I don't want to quit,but my only alternative is to cut down on my beer intake.That will never happen so I guess I'll be a pink lung from now on.Sorry about the rant,but I'm sure there are some other middle class massholes that will agree with me.
Click to expand...

Man I know EXACTLY How you feel! I ended up quitting (for a totally different reason) but I still love the smell of tobacco smoke. Cigarettes, cigars, pipe blends, but especially the smell of all the tobacco in the walk-in humidor at the tobacconist shop. I still jones for a smoke (it's been 4 yrs now) but not bad. The only thing I can say is either quit, or grow your own. You may (or may not) find this useful: Tobacco Plant Seeds From Around the World Either way, good luck to you. Regards, GF.
 
You gotta go RYO (roll your own). That used to be real cheap coming in somewhere around a dollar a pack prior to Apr. When the new taxes came in they jacked loose tobacco the highest. The tax on loose tobacco went from about $1 a lb to $25 a lb. Yeah that isn't a typo. Instantly more than doubled the price of a lb of tobacco. I was one of the people who stocked up buying 8 lbs of tobacco before the new tax hit. Even with the new tax it will still only be about $3 a pack to RYO. Takes maybe 5 or 6 minutes with the $40 hand cranker to roll a pack of ciggs in the morning, and with all the tobacco selections out there you can taylor the blend till you get exactly what you want.
 
I don't smoke, maybe a cigar now and then but if I did I would defaintly rather roll my own and use pure leaves then the other crap full of additives. Many which are the real reason they are so bad for you. I don't know how hard it is to grow it, but I would also give that an attempt also. :cross:
 
EdWort said:
The politicians of Taxachussets in their infinite wisdom think that they will raise all sorts of revenue from this tax increase. I give it less than 6 months before they see how it has worked in reverse, actually decreasing revenue as people quit smoking or buy them over the state line.
Click to expand...

You underestimate our fearless leaders. Their knowledge of what’s best for us is so great that small things like facts will not deter them. And small people like you who point out those small facts are beneath their notice.

New Hampshire on the other hand has noticed that the great leaders of Mass are driving us to head up there for our shopping needs and are grateful.

ETA: Roll your own is the way to go. I used to do it just because it was a better smoke but now if you take the trip to NH you can save a lot of money. I’m down to cigars and pipes now myself.
 
Aleforge said:
I don't smoke, maybe a cigar now and then but if I did I would defaintly rather roll my own and use pure leaves then the other crap full of additives. Many which are the real reason they are so bad for you. I don't know how hard it is to grow it, but I would also give that an attempt also. :cross:
Click to expand...

The hardest part I find in growing it is the seeds are VERY small (like black pepper) and to get the small plants thinned so they can mature properly is a pain but once done they grow well at least in this area. Plants I have grown sometimes get as tall as me with leaves as long as my arm. If you let them turn to seed you will in a year have enough seed to plant an acre from just a few plants. Biggest pest problem is some small bug (aphids?) and the leaves are sticky so if you want them to be real clean you may need to wash them before drying. After drying you can easily get 1-2 oz+ from each plant.
Like I said, I have dried and smoked some for fun and it is mellowing to me but I grow it for fun.
I am not trying to promote your (OP) habit just trying to suggest a way to save you money. May want to check local laws on growing it too.
 
jgln said:
Biggest pest problem is some small bug (aphids?)
Click to expand...

If they are aphids, mix up a few ounces of Murphy's Oil Soap and a gallon of warm water in a garden sprayer and go to town. Suffocates the lil' buggers. I do this for my Crape Myrtles. You can use oil spray from the nursery too, but Murphy's is a lot cheaper. ;)
 
Makes me glad I quit almost a year ago. Had been thinking about doing the same - was working with a non smoker (surveying storm drain system) and looking towards a year at a mostly smoke free college (social not mandate).

I definitely do still sometimes find a smoker and sit in the smoke.. gotta love that second hand smoke sometimes. Have to remind myself, though, that I can NOT smoke another cigarette - if I do, I'll start back up. I LOVE smoking but it's bad for ya and expensive (and I finally F%*#in quit).
 
They are taxing it so you do quit.

Instead of regulating healthcare and making it affordable, they are enableing the healthcare system to keep the cost high.

They will do the same to alcohol and firearms eventually if they arent already headed that way.

Tax you out of doing something... it's the American way.
 
The excessive taxes areall specifically designed to make people quit, and deter others from starting.

I heard an interview several months back with a woman in the administration (can't remember her name) who either previously or currently was tied into a high echelon health position (like surgeon generals office or something)

She was talking about a single payer health care system and she said the number one thing that had to change in America for such a system to be successful was the overall health of the average american must improve so as to reduce the stress load on the system. She specifically cited things that could be controlled, such as people quitting smoking, and people exercising to reduce things like diabetes.

It was only a month or two later the big taxes were pushed though on tobacco, and now the new regulations just were passed to make it even more expensive and seriously curb the tobacco companies ability to advertise and lower the use of addictive aditives and nicotine. It is a concerted attack on the cigarrette industry.

I smoke largely because I am addicted, bth to the nicotine, and more problematic, to the social and physical habit. In the back of my mind I approve of this approach as the tobacco companies have gotten fat for far to long on a product they know is deadly, with little or no redeeming value to the product. I know it will mean lost jobs, but really, it is past time to address the problem. Re-educate the workers, or switch the fields to other products.

I did hear a while back that as taxes have grown, some of the farmers have rotated fields to other smokable products that are less legal shall we say. In some of the smaller southern communities where everyone knows everyone the law has actually looked the other way if the amount of product being produced was kept to a level that stayed beneath the radar. Not saying that is the answer to the lost tobacco jobs, just looking at cause and affect.
 
I don't smoke now, have been off of them for several years this time. I know if I smoke 1 I'll be back to 2 packs a day in a week. I LOVE SMOKING. But, I'm scared of the Big C. I get effin' peesed that the govenment can only do this to the taxes because cigarettes are bad for everything and the people that smoke them are subhuman trolls. They have even done a fair job of making the people who smoke feel O.K. with being treated like a second class citizen. Forget that the government subsidized the tobacco farmers for years. They even put cigarettes in the G.I.'s ration packs. I don't buy the "they're trying to help the smokers" bit. They're trying to generate income by praying off of a group that has a physical addiction that is extremely hard to break. If they gave a damn about helping the smokers, they would take all of the tax money generated from the tobacco tax and make the cessation programs free. As a friend of mine said "If the Founding Father's were here today, they would be gathering an army to march on Washington DC".
I've got plenty more rant about Big Brother, but this will do for now! - Dwain
 
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...
 
I quit about 15 years ago, and I did somke everything pretty heavily in college - back when a carton was $4.00 !

but I have been known to bum cigs from equally intoxicated neighbors on occasion..I just think back to when I was a kid - everyone around me smoking cigs, pipes, cigars, and drinking martinis.. ash trays in every room and bathroom

seemed like tobacco and alcohol were the very axis of adult communication..
 

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