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This kind of calculation is what convinced me to quit smoking before going to university in 1990. Cigarettes were $5 / pack. I smoked a pack a day.

$5 x 365 days x 4 years = $7300.

Given that I was saving up the money beforehand, quitting was the difference between starting school in 1990 or 1991.

I felt like a 'cold turkey' for about three months. But it was so worth it.

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The old quip here:

Doctor: "if you multiply the cost of your cigarettes by your consumption, you'd have enough money to buy a Ferrari."

Smoker: "do you smoke?"

Doctor: "No."

Smoker: "Then where's your Ferrari?"

Doctor: "I used the money to buy things with greater utility than a Ferrari."

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

> Cigarettes were $5 / pack.

I quit in 1980 ($0.65/pack).

They are now close to $15/pack, in NY. I know, because I have a family member that still smokes.

This does not even touch the cost to health.

That $5 number is suspicious to me, or perhaps just geographically skewed. In early 90s, I went to the store and bought cigarettes for my mom almost daily and I remember it being about $2.

The $5 figure was from northern British Columbia. Cigarettes were much cheaper in the U.S. at the time (Canadians used to bring back a couple of duty-free cartons on a regular basis) and in Ontario, where the government reduced the taxes to counter smuggling.

Edit: in the link below you can see that over the course of 1990, cigarette prices rose from $35 to $48/carton (so $4.80/pack if you bought them by the carton) in 1990. They were, of course, more expensive if you bought individual packs, or if you lived in the north.

https://otru.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/update_may2002.p...

I remember visiting Canada, in the 1970s, and cigarettes were about $4 a pack. Everyone used to buy big cans of Export tobacco, and roll their own. Apparently. pre-rolled cigarettes were taxed heavily, but loose tobacco was not. I think this is still the case, in many nations. I have a friend from UK, who is always smoking hand-rolled "fags."

Oh wow. Yeah definitely a US thing then. Completely makes sense, sadly.

I paid $5/pack for Nat Shermans in SF in 1994/95. IIRC there were super cheap brands for around $2 but they were skanky, Shermans and Dunhills and American Spirits were all around $4-5.

May be a NY thing. I bought Marlboros in Sunnyvale in 2016 and paid $5-6 USD per pack.

NY is insane. It's about taxes. The City is much worse than the 'burbs (about $12/pack, out here).

If I go down to MD or VA, they are about $5 less.

My wife asked me if I would try and quit when she was pregnant. 12 years later, I’m so glad I did. For myself, for being an example for my kids…

My friends who still smoke cigarettes are now seeing the start of some of the typical health complications.

Yep, quit when my first daughter was born. Rough as hell for the first year, but that was now 23 years ago.

Covid made me quit, I just couldn't get any cigs at all due to lockdown. I was pissed for two weeks, then I just got used to it.

Is a pack a day normal? During college I would feel bad that I had smoked three cigarettes a day. I've since switched to cigars, and have about one a month at most.

I don't know if it's still normal. In the 1970s and 1980s smoking a pack a day was fairly typical. Two packs a day was considered excessive, but most people knew someone who smoked that much.

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