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Glad I don't smoke anymore, its been over 30+ years.

Australia is considering making cigarette smokers need a prescription to buy tobacco products and they would have to get them from chemists. Its to try to make Australia a tobacco free country by 2025.
That's pretty big brotherish!

We already have the highest priced tobacco products in the world. A pack of 25 is $39.05 and a pack of 50 is $63.50
Australian tobacco taxes generate around AUS17 billion per year in tax revenue.

I have a mate that smokes a pack of 50 a day and his wife smokes a pack of 25 a day, that adds up to $37,430.75 per year! Over 10 years that's $374,307.75

Holy mackerel.... That literally is sending your money up in smoke. I have never smoked more than a curios few ...never got over hating them to catch the habit (thank God) just think what your mate could buy & the health he would gain if he gave them up. I abhor being "told" what to do as much as anyone...but in this case the Gov't is actually right.

Holy mackerel.... That literally is sending your money up in smoke. I have never smoked more thank a curios few ...never got over hating them to catch the habit (thank God) just think what your mate could buy & the health he would gain if he gave them up. I abhor being "told" what to do as much as anyone...but in this case the Gov't is actually right.

And not to judge them Bruce, but they are always complaining of having not much money.

This table is in US$ -

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My biggest pet peeve with smokers is how many breaks they take at work... There were only 2 of us out of a dozen or so that smoked at a restaurant I worked at in high school. While working there, laws changed and they could no longer smoke inside the building. After getting sick of seeing them enjoying their breaks outdoors, the 2 of us non-smokers decided to start taking just as many breaks outside to show the managers what a waste of time it was. Once winter came I talked my manager into handing them a snow shovel if they wanted to go outside and smoke 

Quote from: Nick on October 14, 2020, 08:24:08 pm

Once winter came I talked my manager into handing them a snow shovel if they wanted to go outside and smoke 

LOL

The bigger county next door has a set distance that you must be away from any door to smoke. Some businesses have smoking areas out in the parking lot. You should see them all huddled together when it’s -20 out 

I quit 35 years ago but still have the urge once or twice a year -

Amazing isn't it Larry that an ex smoker can feel like that after decades, most times I see someone light up it turns my stomach....a few times a year I feel like bumming one.

At the prices they are now here, I bet bumming smokes is a lot less than it used to be!

Quote from: jkbixby on October 14, 2020, 09:01:32 pm

I quit 35 years ago but still have the urge once or twice a year -

Amazing isn't it Larry that an ex smoker can feel like that after decades, most times I see someone light up it turns my stomach....a few times a year I feel like bumming one.

At the prices they are now here, I bet bumming smokes is a lot less than it used to be!

Here in Canada most never bummed a smoke they politely asked if they could borrow one. 😀

Governments love the huge money benefits of imposing “sin taxes”.
They lecture us on how bad something is, then they reap the windfall piles of money that pours into the taxman’s coffers.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/marijuana/illinois/ct-biz-marijuana-illinois-tax-revenue-20201014-kwokxzqecncancf3gryvhzwfve-story.html

My mom once worked at the old Switzers Licorice factory (http://switzercandy.com/about/our-story/). So as a kid she would take me down to the old factory to visit some of her former co-workers. The smell of the factory was heavy and rich with fresh candy. Large warm black licorice logs as big as railroad ties were extruded out the machines. It was quite a site and wondrous odor for a kid and I was soon to become a black licorice addict. One of the hidden trade secrets of licorice production was that obscenely large amounts of black licorice was shipped to the American tobacco companies to give flavor to cigarettes, cigars, chewing tobacco ect etc.
I never got addicted to cigarettes or cigars, but I do sincerely enjoy the taste of them. I was an amateur boxer as a young man and cigarette smoking could help in “making weight” which was the practice of trying to keep my fighting weight in a narrow bracket. My mom taught me the unscientific method of resorting to black licorice to quit smoking.

As time went by the American black licorice candy production went to sh*t. Chemical flavorings and cheap sugary substances overrode the “real thing”. It was hard to get a “fix” of  the real stuff. Then a fellow addict found out the Australians were exporting marvelous real black licorice. It was really good. I honestly didn't care if Aussie licorice cartels were employing long caravans of thirsty wallabies laden with backpacks of raw black licorice thru the wasteland bush —- I had to have the real thing !
Then my doc said no more of the “good stuff”. Black licorice was ruining my blood pressure.
I do sincerely empathize with the forlorn individual cigarettes and cigar smokers. Bad habits get imprinted in your brain and desire is the root of all suffering.