# Banning selling single cigarettes is stupid. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 18, 2014, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banning-selling-single-cigarettes-is-stupid/695807 "2014-08-18T05:37:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Declan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecae2f/32.png) [@Declan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Declan)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2014, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banning-selling-single-cigarettes-is-stupid/695807/41 "2014-08-19T01:03:20Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > First of all, driving to another state to buy a pack of smokes is kind of inconvenient (figure in gas/subway cost, to start with). Buying multiple packs is expensive, and if you aren’t going to smoke 'em down, they do go stale. > > So let’s see, we’ve got: > New York: $14.50 ($4.35 state excise, $1.60 NYC excise) > New Jersey: $8.55 > Connecticut: $9.30 > Massachusetts: $8.90 > Pennsylvania: $7.00 > Virginia: $6.00 > > So how far should a New Yawk smoker drive to save a couple bucks a pack, and where are you seeing coffin nails for $4 if even in tobacco country they’re $5-6? Probably Penn State, if its only a buck difference between Penn and Virginia. As for me, it works out to be about 2.50, but thats bagged singles (ie carton without the wrapping), I dont think you could get marly reds for 4 bucks. Partly also is it New Yorks Bling thing ? I was reading about drinks that cost 14 bucks, and was wondering if they are picking up the retail price cause it says affability. Declan ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2014, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banning-selling-single-cigarettes-is-stupid/695807/42 "2014-08-19T02:00:12Z")
> [@elbows](#): > > The entry cost to smoking IS prohibitive to young people just trying it out. Letting them have access to loosies, so they can toy around till they are hooked is crazy, if your goal is for fewer people to smoke. > > If your goal is to sell lots of cigarettes then by all means mitigating the cost to the initiate until they get addicted is definitely the way to go. > > And it’s funny that it’s being endorsed by an adult unable to exert the self discipline to buy a full pack and not smoke them all in three days! You’re an adult and it has this amount of pull over you! But somehow it’s okay to expose young people to such a strong, attractive, addictive substance just to accommodate your convenience? > > That line of thinking seems off to me. So you have never seen people that don’t keep ice cream and cookies around the house because they don’t want to inadvertently eat the whole box? Cuz I know a shit load of people that have talked about doing that, eliminating easy access to junk foods that they will still eat once in a while. I never claimed nicotine wasn’t addictive, I just said I’d prefer not to have cigs laying around tempting me to have one more before bed. (I don’t smoke cigs anymore anyway, switched to vaporizers.) And while I don’t encourage anyone to pick up nicotine, I don’t believe adults should be stopped from buying them. I’m for total drug legality, buy heroin in your local pharmacy if you are over 18. I still don’t understand why it is so hard to enforce laws against selling to minors, should bars be banned from selling single drinks because the cost of purchasing a bottle of liquor at a store will stop people from becoming alcoholics? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2014, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banning-selling-single-cigarettes-is-stupid/695807/43 "2014-08-19T03:22:54Z")
del ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2014, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banning-selling-single-cigarettes-is-stupid/695807/44 "2014-08-19T04:31:26Z")
> [@grude](#): > > So you have never seen people that don’t keep ice cream and cookies around the house because they don’t want to inadvertently eat the whole box? Cuz I know a shit load of people that have talked about doing that, eliminating easy access to junk foods that they will still eat once in a while. I don’t know anyone personally who does that, no, but I do know people who ration stuff-- they might have Hershey’s kisses, and count out ten a day, and that’s all they can eat that day, and they put those ten in a coffee cup on the counter, while the bag is in the freezer. FWIW, though, I went to college in the town where Jared’s Subway was. I know where his apartment was, and what his daily walk was. Apparently, he had some kind of vitamin drink he bought at a convenience store for breakfast, like a Carnation Instant Breakfast, or something, on his way to class (it was the town where Indiana University is), then he walked to the subway, ate a 6" veggie sandwich (with cheese, probably, but no mayo) and a diet drink for lunch, and a 6" with meat for dinner, and another diet drink. He kept NO FOOD IN HIS APARTMENT. That was the real secret to his weight loss. Subway was cheap, compared to the restaurants that served nice salads near campus, and really low fat compared to McDonald’s, or the fast food Chinese places, and the delis that were nearby. A single taco from Taco Bell probably wouldn’t have been too bad, but Taco Bell was a really long walk from his apartment, for someone at his starting weight, and probably not as filling as a 6" sandwich. He probably walked five miles a day, broken up in 1/4 - 1/2 mile stints. Taco Bell would have been a mile out, and a mile back. But the real secret was NO FOOD IN HIS APARTMENT. [/OT] I never claimed nicotine wasn’t addictive, I just said I’d prefer not to have cigs laying around tempting me to have one more before bed. (I don’t smoke cigs anymore anyway, switched to vaporizers.) > [@](#): > > And while I don’t encourage anyone to pick up nicotine, I don’t believe adults should be stopped from buying them. I’m for total drug legality, buy heroin in your local pharmacy if you are over 18. I kind of agree, except I’m not sure I want bus drivers and people like that to legally be able to buy heroin. I think employers should be allowed to ban it, and if you don’t like it, you can change jobs, but I’m not sure how that will work out. Possibly there should be a limit to how much you can buy at once. Also, I worry about someone who has sole responsibility for a small child being able to use heroin whenever they feel like it, without having to worry about being charged with anything. Maybe it should be child neglect to be high when you are in charge of a child. It’s my opinion, and I’ve given it quite a bit of thought, that we can’t just make it legal overnight. We need to give lots of though to a broad set of regulations that will go into effect when we legalize it. > [@](#): > > I still don’t understand why it is so hard to enforce laws against selling to minors, should bars be banned from selling single drinks because the cost of purchasing a bottle of liquor at a store will stop people from becoming alcoholics? I see fewer kids with cigs than I did before Indiana cracked down in the late 1990s, but they get them. I think mainly kids steal them from parents, and kids who are 18 buy them for their friends who are 16 & 17. The police are all over “adults,” which is to say, strangers, who buy for kids who ask them outside stores, because it’s easy to see the hand-off, but it’s harder to catch resells that happen in private homes among friends. I don’t know what the solution is. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2014, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banning-selling-single-cigarettes-is-stupid/695807/45 "2014-08-19T04:59:39Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > I see fewer kids with cigs than I did before Indiana cracked down in the late 1990s, but they get them. I think mainly kids steal them from parents, and kids who are 18 buy them for their friends who are 16 & 17. The police are all over “adults,” which is to say, strangers, who buy for kids who ask them outside stores, because it’s easy to see the hand-off, but it’s harder to catch resells that happen in private homes among friends. I don’t know what the solution is. That was kind of the point I was making that most people don’t buy their first cigarette, they get it off someone they know. I know I didn’t buy my first one, someone else told me it went great with booze and offered me one and I accepted. The funny thing is my dad smoked(outside the house, or in the car with the windows down) my entire life. But it never occurred to me to steal one of his, it was just this stinky habit my dad had. I think I was probably 19? before I tried it. ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2014, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banning-selling-single-cigarettes-is-stupid/695807/46 "2014-08-19T10:48:41Z")
It is seriously beyond disingenuous to in anyway compare a highly addictive, tightly controlled substance to ice cream and cookies, for goodness sake! You don’t smoke! But you vape? No, you don’t smoke but still want to buy loosies? You don’t want anyone to start smoking, but you’d like this barrier removed for young people, so addicts have it easier? Wha? And you’re in favour of all of this just so it’s more convenient for the part time smoker. Because they are oh so downtrodden, forced, as it were, to start smoking again all because they couldn’t buy a loosie, when the mood struck them. I think your argument is beyond silly and addresses a problem not in existence. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2014, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banning-selling-single-cigarettes-is-stupid/695807/47 "2014-08-19T10:54:51Z")
> [@elbows](#): > > It is seriously beyond disingenuous to in anyway compare a highly addictive, tightly controlled substance to ice cream and cookies, for goodness sake! > > You don’t smoke! But you vape? No, you don’t smoke but still want to buy loosies? You don’t want anyone to start smoking, but you’d like this barrier removed for young people, so addicts have it easier? Wha? > > And you’re in favour of all of this just so it’s more convenient for the part time smoker. Because they are oh so downtrodden, forced, as it were, to start smoking again all because they couldn’t buy a loosie, when the mood struck them. > > I think your argument is beyond silly and addresses a problem not in existence. GROAN Yea I want adults to be able to buy single cigarettes if they want, holy shit! \*Adults who aren’t me because you couldn’t get me back on cigs if you paid me. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2014, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banning-selling-single-cigarettes-is-stupid/695807/48 "2014-08-19T13:03:28Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > Taxing by stamp just sound so outdated, anyways. What other taxed items are handled by stamp? Alcohol, drugs, playing cards, hunting licenses, firearm registration… My theory is that single-cigarette sales are just gateways for buying joints. > [@Little Nemo](#): > > Back in my day, teenagers bought their cigarettes from vending machines - nothing beat a machine for “don’t ask, don’t tell”. Do they still have those? They had one at my college back in the 80’s. I imagine a reasonably mature-looking teenager could have hiked his way onto campus and bought some. Then again, they also had a vending machine at one of the Berkeley campus co-ops that was selling beer. ---
**Author:** ![shiftless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9c0ed/32.png) [@shiftless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shiftless)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2014, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banning-selling-single-cigarettes-is-stupid/695807/49 "2014-08-19T13:25:47Z")
Because the places that sell singles attract the kind of people who can only afford to buy cigs one at a time, mostly young men. They hang out near the store, smoking. Soon those young men are asking passing stangers for change. Eventually someone says, “we need to do somethign about all the vagrants hanging around the parking lot”, and a new ordinance is born. It’s partly fear of young men in groups, partly a legitimate desire to curb panhandling and partly busybody lawmakers avoiding doing useful work. ---
**Author:** ![GrumpyBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bc8723/32.png) [@GrumpyBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrumpyBunny)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2014, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banning-selling-single-cigarettes-is-stupid/695807/50 "2014-08-19T19:07:23Z")
> [@PorchePine](#): > > Packs of cigarettes have a stamp on the bottom. This shows that the tax was paid. Loose cigarettes have no stamp, so the state tobacco enforcers can’t see that the tax was paid. Do state tobacco enforcers go around checking smokers’ packs? (I’ve never smoked, so I honestly have no idea. It just seems weird.) ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2014, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banning-selling-single-cigarettes-is-stupid/695807/51 "2014-08-19T19:13:17Z")
> [@GrumpyBunny](#): > > Do state tobacco enforcers go around checking smokers’ packs? Probably not, but if an unusual number of cartons is found, someone probably looks. The average person who brings back a couple of cartons whey they visit Mom in a low-tax state doesn’t have much to worry about. (There’s even a for-own-use quota of a carton or two per person, I believe.) But the guy who goes and loads up his minivan in KY to sell in NYC is looking for trouble. ---
**Author:** ![PorchePine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/94ad74/32.png) [@PorchePine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PorchePine)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2014, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banning-selling-single-cigarettes-is-stupid/695807/52 "2014-08-19T19:46:52Z")
> [@GrumpyBunny](#): > > Do state tobacco enforcers go around checking smokers’ packs? > > (I’ve never smoked, so I honestly have no idea. It just seems weird.) No. But they might come in and check a store’s stock. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2014, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banning-selling-single-cigarettes-is-stupid/695807/53 "2014-08-19T23:11:11Z")
> [@bengangmo](#): > > I always thought it was to discourage children from smoking - those that really would find it difficult to scrape together the money for a full pack. > > …the tobacco tax was already included in the wholesale price - I didn’t have to account for tobacco sales separately This was what I thought too. The point was that there were children out there who were interested in trying smoking but balked at having to scrounge up several days of lunch money for a pack and decided that it wasn’t worth spending all of that money up front. If kids could buy one or two cigarettes, they might be more likely to give it a go, as they wouldn’t lose as much if they found that they didn’t like it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banning-selling-single-cigarettes-is-stupid/695807.md?page=2)