Ill Cigarette tax $3.98/pack

[cooch96]

I wonder how long until these taxes reach pipe tobacco, which is only about $10/oz. I figure an oz of dried pipe tobacco is at least half a pack and will last me months.

This has been one of my lbym techniques: no expensive vices or hobbies. Disc golf instead of regular golf, off label wine instead of whisky, and pipe tobacco over cigars or cigarettes. Besides, I prefer pipe tobacco quality and flavor over cigarettes.

 

[Andre1969]

I wonder how long until these taxes reach pipe tobacco, which is only about $10/oz. I figure an oz of dried pipe tobacco is at least half a pack and will last me months.

This has been one of my lbym techniques: no expensive vices or hobbies. Disc golf instead of regular golf, off label wine instead of whisky, and pipe tobacco over cigars or cigarettes. Besides, I prefer pipe tobacco quality and flavor over cigarettes.

it also seems like cigars haven't been hit...yet.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

Why would anyone smoke anyway in 2019? They could be $40 a pack (Like Australia) and that would not affect most of us here. Seems when we look around at who is smoking they seem/appear (Yes this is a stereotype) to be on the lower end of the income scale for the most part as someone already mentioned, or at least look like they can ill afford to smoke. Completely illogical.

 

[Bestwifeever]

Illinois also doubled its state tax on gasoline, from 19 to 38 cents a gallon. Driving is harder to quit.

It's not hard to grow your own marijuana but I've never heard of people keeping a few tobacco plants for personal use. Hmmm, business opportunity....

I had my last Marlboro on New Year's Day 1975 and still miss smoking once in a while. My friends who also quit smoking and I used to joke that we'd start again when we hit 60 but nobody has.

 

[NW-Bound]

... I was driving home and the news radio was carrying an announcement by the governor (who I really didn't like). He was crowing about signing a bill imposing an additional $1/pack tax on cigarettes "for the childrens's sake"... The dedicated tax that was supposed to benefit "the children" was rolled into the general fund. Go figure.

It depends on what the definition of "children" is.

... It's not hard to grow your own marijuana but I've never heard of people keeping a few tobacco plants for personal use. Hmmm, business opportunity...

I like how you think. Whenever there's some news, the first thing a business-minded person asks is "how do I profit". And there's nothing against the law about cultivating tobacco in one's backyard, is there?

So, one can open a shop to sell seeds, host seminars on how to grow tobacco, dry the leaves, cut and roll it, etc...

We are mostly retirees here, but some youngins surfin' the forum can run with this idea.

 

[wrigley]

Illinois also doubled its state tax on gasoline, from 19 to 38 cents a gallon. Driving is harder to quit.

It's not hard to grow your own marijuana but I've never heard of people keeping a few tobacco plants for personal use. Hmmm, business opportunity....

I had my last Marlboro on New Year's Day 1975 and still miss smoking once in a while. My friends who also quit smoking and I used to joke that we'd start again when we hit 60 but nobody has.

This is a no BS story...….I had an uncle that smoked camel non-filters and started when he was a teenager. His fingers were brownish/yellow from the smoke. My aunt hated the fact that he smoked and she let him know it on a daily basis. He told her if he lived to be 70 he would quit, and he did. He let family know that he quit smoking but said if his wife doesn't quit complaining he was going to start smoking again if he lived to be 80, and he did. He was 91 when he passed away from complications with emphysema.

Mike

 

[Big_Hitter]

4 bucks a pack is material - if I were smoking I'd just smoke loose tobacco

 

[GrayHare]

Interesting that smoking tobacco is Out due to lung cancer, but smoking mj is In though the risks are apparently similar.

 

[Big_Hitter]

Interesting that smoking tobacco is Out due to lung cancer, but smoking mj is In though the risks are apparently similar.

citation?

 

[GrayHare]

citation?

https://www.webmd.com/lung-cancer/marijuana-lung-cancer-risk

 

[Big_Hitter]

https://www.webmd.com/lung-cancer/marijuana-lung-cancer-risk

"Studies that have looked for a direct link between the two have conflicting results -- some found evidence that ties marijuana to lung cancer, while other data show little to no connection."

next?

 

[NW-Bound]

Maybe MJ users do not smoke as much?

Never an MJ smoker so I have to ask if it is possible that one can smoke as much MJ as in a pack or two of cigarettes. Would he become so stoned to just lay down all day? Could one get overdosed and die on MJ?

 

[MRG]

Maybe MJ users do not smoke as much?

Never an MJ smoker so I have to ask if it is possible that one can smoke as much MJ as in a pack or two of cigarettes. Would he become so stoned to just lay down all day? Could one get overdosed and die on MJ?

No deaths have ever been associated with cannabis overdoses*. There have been a few unfortunates who, like anyone on other substances, have had accidental deaths while high. "Overdoses" are more common with edibles. They aren't harmful other than the PIA stoned person who didn't follow the directions.

Personally if I tried to smoke 20 - 40 joints I'd just go to sleep. That's too much for a week.

I've seen a bunch of "medical" opinions lately that smell of 1950s reefer madness. They are popular with folks who were indoctrinated then. I received one from a prior healthcare provider that I wish I'd saved. It was very interesting to say the least.

*I did see a doctor in Alabama(?) who claims a lady passed from cannabis overdose. He hasn't offered up any data that backs his claim. Personally I know a few people who have tried to OD on cannabis and they just went to sleep.

 

[kgtest]

Yup, we never thought it would be legalized in our lifetimes. Hehe, yes you can even buy a "pack of joints" that comes with a free lighter because nobody carries a lighter anymore.

Any plans this fourth? Someone was asking...

 

[kgtest]

"Studies that have looked for a direct link between the two have conflicting results -- some found evidence that ties marijuana to lung cancer, while other data show little to no connection."

next?

+1 Still haven't seen a case yet.

 

[mystang52]

Easier said than done for regular smokers, but if quitting for health reasons is not enough the dollar cost of smoking, if shown in black and white, might be an additional incentive. Even half a pack a day is on the order of $1500/year.

 

[SJ1_]

The average cost for a package of Marlboro cigarettes is now $12.98.

https://www.expatistan.com/price/cigarettes/chicago
The tax increased by $1 on July 1st... the article that stated the average price, was in June.

That means a cigarette now costs $.65 ea.

When I was a kid, a quarter in the cigarette machine gave you a pack... that had two or three pennies inside the cellophane wrapper. That meant each cigarette cost about $.01 ea. back in the 1940's.

as Bob M. said in high school ''I don't understand smoking anything that doesn't get you high"

 

[mystang52]

This is a no BS story...….I had an uncle that smoked camel non-filters and started when he was a teenager. His fingers were brownish/yellow from the smoke. My aunt hated the fact that he smoked and she let him know it on a daily basis. He told her if he lived to be 70 he would quit, and he did. He let family know that he quit smoking but said if his wife doesn't quit complaining he was going to start smoking again if he lived to be 80, and he did. He was 91 when he passed away from complications with emphysema.

Mike

Another no-BS story: My brother and SIL were smokers. At work,my brother's employer showed all workers a video about smoking including the complications of emphysema. It literally scared both of them to stop cold turkey; that was something like 35 years ago. I'm a non-smoker, just got back from a week of hell in Aruba. After one day, we were in hotel lobby listening to a singer. Hotel is non-smoking, but the nearby casino is not. The residual smoke wafted into the lobby, and the gradual 2 hours of exposure gave me a severe asthmatic attack, and one week later I'm still in very bad shape. Not emphysema, but I remain in a very bad state right now.
At least I know that if I ever had to go back to w*rk it won't be as a casino employee.

 

[Bestwifeever]

Interesting that smoking tobacco is Out due to lung cancer, but smoking mj is In though the risks are apparently similar.

Just because it’s becoming legal in many places doesn’t mean smoking marijuana is “in,” does it? It’s not really a substitute for tobacco and probably won’t be chain-smoked like tobacco was for me a bazillion years ago.

 

[NW-Bound]

Just because it’s becoming legal in many places doesn’t mean smoking marijuana is “in,” does it? It’s not really a substitute for tobacco and probably won’t be chain-smoked like tobacco was for me a bazillion years ago.

Well, if smoking MJ is better than smoking tobacco, then we should encourage cigarette smokers to switch.

 

[GrayHare]

"I'd rather fight than switch." Tareyton

Inhaled particulates, especially small ones, make for worse health over time. Smoke, be it smog, tobacco, mj, wood, all have a negative effect. I find nothing that says mj's particles pose less risk than that of other dried plant materials.

https://www.lung.org/our-initiatives/healthy-air/outdoor/air-pollution/particle-pollution.html

 

[Buckeye]

It can be. I personally know at least 3 functioning alcoholics who drink nothing but (alot of) beer. I know more than a few people who have DUI's on their permanent record from a few beers. So yeah, it is a vice for a lot of people.

The best thing to do with beer IMO is distill it into whiskey.

I quit smoking cigarettes in 1995. I remember the minute I quit vividly. I was driving home and the news radio was carrying an announcement by the governor (who I really didn't like). He was crowing about signing a bill imposing an additional $1/pack tax on cigarettes "for the childrens's sake". I crumpled up the last few cigarettes in my current pack and threw them out the window while giving an obscenity or two towards the governor on the radio. Never smoked since. That tax raised the price of a pack from $2 to $3. In retrospect, that was one of the few (only) things done by that governor that were positive for me. "The children" got hosed though. The dedicated tax that was supposed to benefit "the children" was rolled into the general fund. Go figure.

Maybe the tax helped the kids when their parents quit smoking! No more second hand smoke and more money for food at home. Also, possibly a parent that lived longer or at least had a better quality of life.

 

[Big_Hitter]

I find nothing that says mj's particles pose less risk than that of other dried plant materials.

that's why they have edibles, tinctures, vapes and dabs

it's not 1985 pops!

 

[samclem]

Monetary costs of smoking? It looks like per-pack taxes need to be high to recoup just the government cost, to say nothing of the total societal costs.
From this site:

- Taxpayers yearly fed/state tax burden from smoking-caused gov’t spending: $936 per household

- Total annual public and private health care expenditures caused by smoking:approx.$170billion
- Annual Federal and state government smoking-caused Medicaid payments:$39.6billion
[Federal share: $22.6billion per year.States’ share: $17.0 billion]

---Federal government smoking-caused Medicare expenditures each year:$45.0 billion


--Other federal government tobacco-caused healthcare costs (e.g. through VA health care):$23.8billion

-Smoking-caused health costs and productivity losses per pack sold in USA (low estimate):$19.16per pack

In the US, about 13.5 billion packs of cigarettes are consumed every year. So, just to recoup the federal health care expenditures due to smoking (not lost tax revenues, private health care costs, etc), the feds would need to tax them at $6.75 per pack. The states would need to add more.

 

[NW-Bound]

I dunno.

If smokers all quit, fewer people would die from cancer or other smoke-related illnesses. They then die of old-age Alzheimer or something like that, which costs even more to treat.