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Comment by PaulHoule | Hacker News Reader

I lived in Dresden in 1998-1999 and was kinda shocked that they had cigarette vending machines outside like

https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo/cigarette-vending-machine-...

I don't see it in any of those photos but they often used to have candy vending machines for kids mounted underneath them.

I went to Poland (where my grandfather came from) and boy did the people there really seem to smoke a lot.

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cigarette vending machines are still super common here in Vienna as well. There's always teens hanging around them asking people to swipe their cards to buy the cigarettes in exchange of cash

A bit of history to this - previously there were just machines, you put in cash and get cigarettes - but then it was decided this made it too easy for underage people to buy cigarettes so now you have to use a bank card (I think?) for identification, so young people just hang around the machines and ask a passerby to lend them their card.

Here in Italy you need to use your Codice Fiscale or Carta d'Identità cards (both official documents) as (debit) cards (pre-paid or connected to some bank account) can be obtained as early as 13 or so (of course authorized by parents).

This is how I bought my first pack on holiday with family. It took some careful planning to gather the right coins, identify the location of a machine and then create the opportunity to dash to it, get the pack and not be rumbled. I was like 10 years old. I don't think I even learned how to inhale until a few years later, just puffed on them like a cigar... didn't matter, the transgressive act was thrilling enough to give me butterflies in my stomach.

Cigarette vending machines are very common in Germany. Every village has one! One uses their bank card for identification and purchase.

Kinda tangential, but learning about Wiesn Koks[0] gave me similar culture shock.

[0]: https://www.businessinsider.com/wiesn-koks-oktoberfest-drug-...

Still common in Munich area -- can see them on many corners of quiet residential neighborhoods

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