Reply #130: When I took up the addiction, in 1970, smokes cost about 30¢ a pack. . .

[Journeyman]

When I quit, in January 1986, they were a little over $1 a pack.

I set type in those days -- set type, went to school, wrote late into the night and drank heavily -- so I had plenty of time to sit and smoke.

Cost was one of the reasons behind my decision to quit. Even at only $3 to $5 a day, it adds up. In California today, smokes are somewhere between $5 and $7 a pack. Even in '86, I could see this coming. Taxes going up, "sin" tariffs coming in, and always and in so many different ways, the hidden costs rising -- burnt clothes, higher insurance (home, life, health), eventual medical care. It just wasn't worth it, even though I certainly enjoyed the addiction in so many many ways.

And of course, the subject of this thread -- tightening regulations on when and where people can smoke, and the increasing use of economics to push for ever more restrictive rules. I read the hour -- even then -- saw the direction and determined I would not be caught unaware. There are changes afoot everyday. . .