# A smokey proposition **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 19, 2011, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-smokey-proposition/606767 "2011-12-19T20:03:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mr.Kobayashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4af34b/32.png) [@Mr.Kobayashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Kobayashi)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2011, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-smokey-proposition/606767/1 "2011-12-19T20:03:41Z")
One for non-smokers/ex-smokers - although if you’re a smoker your feedback is still appreciated. You are approached by a wealthy tobacco tycoon. He wants to market his new brand of cigarette in a novel way - if you smoke through a pack of ten, he will give you $1000. In cash, in cheque - however you want it. At the end of the week, you get the money. If one cigarette is left, you don’t get it. You can smoke all ten in one day or string it out, doesn’t matter. He’ll supply the lighter. He won’t negotiate on price, and after he’s paid you you’ll never see him again. The cigarettes he’ll give you are functionally the same as Marlboro Reds - tar 10mg, nicotine 0.8mg, CO 10mg. Do you accept the deal or tell him to get lost? ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2011, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-smokey-proposition/606767/2 "2011-12-19T20:08:20Z")
$1000 is chump change for what he’s asking, speaking as an ex-smoker. I save that kind of scratch in a couple of months by not smoking anyway, and I don’t need $1000 badly enough to start again. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2011, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-smokey-proposition/606767/3 "2011-12-19T20:10:12Z")
Non-smoker. I’m sure I’d puke after each one, but hey, $1000 is $1000. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2011, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-smokey-proposition/606767/4 "2011-12-19T20:11:15Z")
Ex-smoker - would take it. I was never a heavy smoker and am confident that I could smoke ten cigarettes without being tempted to take up the habit again. Free money. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2011, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-smokey-proposition/606767/5 "2011-12-19T20:25:22Z")
I wouldn’t recommend an ex-smoker to ever smoke again, unless their death was imminent. For smokers and non-smokers over the age of 25 (or whatever age they say addictions are less likely to set in), and $1000 was very important to you, consider the offer. Since you say the cigarettes are functionally equivalent to an existing brand, there are no unknown\* factors for you. \*by unknown, I mean that you know smoking is bad for you, even if we discover more details about how and why. And I just re-read the OP, and see it’s not even 10 packs of cigarettes, but just 10 cigarettes. Spending a week in any major metropolitan area is probably a lot more damaging to your health than that. But if you are an ex-smoker, never, ever, smoke another cigarette. If you managed to get the snakes out of your brain once, why would you want to let them back in? ---
**Author:** ![VOW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vow/32/3043_2.png) [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2011, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-smokey-proposition/606767/6 "2011-12-19T20:34:53Z")
You gotta smoke them in front of a video camera or something? ~VOW ---
**Author:** ![corkboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@corkboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/corkboard)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2011, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-smokey-proposition/606767/7 "2011-12-19T20:39:21Z")
If, as per the OP, it was his effort to market a new cigarette, I wouldn’t do it. I don’t want to promote the tobacco industry, so if there’s any way my smoking the 10 butts would cause them to profit, I wouldn’t take it. But if the last 10 cigarettes rolled out of the last operating tobacco plant before they shut their doors for good and joined the rest of the industry in going belly up and he offered me the deal, sure, I can use $1,000. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2011, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-smokey-proposition/606767/8 "2011-12-19T20:44:58Z")
> [@Ogre](#): > > $1000 is chump change for what he’s asking, speaking as an ex-smoker. I save that kind of scratch in a couple of months by not smoking anyway, and I don’t need $1000 badly enough to start again. QFT. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2011, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-smokey-proposition/606767/9 "2011-12-19T20:47:38Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Spending a week in any major metropolitan area is probably a lot more damaging to your health than that. QFT. Also, though I’ve only ever had one cigarette in my life (hence my supposition that I’d puke), I come from a family of smokers. I imagine that I’ll get close to 10 cigarettes’ worth of smoke just on a second-hand basis by going to visit my parents for four days over Christmas next week. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2011, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-smokey-proposition/606767/10 "2011-12-19T20:54:50Z")
I used to get through 10 smokes before 8:00 in the morning. I could pull it off again for a thousand clams easy. This seems to me to be just a variation of “would you do something disgusting for money.” And while I’m sure I wouldn’t really appreciate the head rush, the nausea and the stench from pushing through ten cigarettes after not having smoked for 10 years … I’m sure the money would assuage my disgust. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2011, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-smokey-proposition/606767/11 "2011-12-19T20:55:18Z")
> [@Larry\_Mudd](#): > > Ex-smoker - would take it. > > I was never a heavy smoker and am confident that I could smoke ten cigarettes without being tempted to take up the habit again. Free money. Yep. Exactly what I was going to say. Even after I had quit for many years I would occasionally have a smoke or two after many, many drinks. I’m sure my hangovers were worse due to this, but I never woke up the next morning craving nicotine, that’s for sure. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2011, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-smokey-proposition/606767/12 "2011-12-19T20:57:21Z")
$1,000? No way. $10,000, _maybe_. ---
**Author:** ![RedBloom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/dbc845/32.png) [@RedBloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RedBloom)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2011, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-smokey-proposition/606767/13 "2011-12-19T21:00:52Z")
I am a smoker (albeit a light smoker), but what a DEAL for me, huh?? Getting paid $1,000 to engage in my vice? Win Win. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2011, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-smokey-proposition/606767/14 "2011-12-19T21:04:55Z")
A lousy $1,00?! No way. This guy ain’t very wealthy or he’s a cheap ass bastard. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2011, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-smokey-proposition/606767/15 "2011-12-19T21:12:51Z")
I don’t think I could, simply because I don’t handle stimulants well. Even if I smoke in a way to minimize nicotine exposure (not inhaling, keeping the cigarette out of my mouth as long as possible), it’s going to be too much. And that’s without factoring in how easily I get addicted to things. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2011, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-smokey-proposition/606767/16 "2011-12-19T21:21:49Z")
I’m 10 months into being an ex-smoker. Not sure why but I feel confident that I could smoke them (probably would do it in one day) and not become a smoker again. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Il\_Palazzo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Lord\_Il\_Palazzo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Il_Palazzo)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2011, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-smokey-proposition/606767/17 "2011-12-19T21:23:41Z")
I’m with **Eve**. I’ve never smoked and wouldn’t do it for just $1,000. ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2011, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-smokey-proposition/606767/18 "2011-12-19T21:24:29Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Non-smoker. I’m sure I’d puke after each one, but hey, $1000 is $1000. 🙂 Likewise, and I’m not sure why the poll is slanting the other way. I really don’t think that smoking ten cigarettes would make me into an addict, and I think I could stomach them for a grand. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2011, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-smokey-proposition/606767/19 "2011-12-19T21:28:08Z")
After seeing what people go through being addicted to cigarettes, $1000 isn’t worth it to me to take that risk. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2011, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-smokey-proposition/606767/20 "2011-12-19T21:29:58Z")
No. 1K wouldn’t change the quality of my life enough to even try it. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-smokey-proposition/606767.md?page=2)