I have a carton of cigarettes that I got for free about two weeks ago and I am wondering how long before they will go bad. If i keep it in a cool place it should last longer, right? Some of the cartons at the store have probably been there for a while, but i am pretty sure they can gostale after a while.
They are bad right now!
They contain ingredients that will poison you, cause you to get cancer, damage your lungs, etc. And even leaving them unused for several years will not change that; they will still be as dangerous and deadly as any other addictive drug.
I suggest you throw them away immediately.
I wouldn’t worry too much, keep them in the fridge. When I was in Indiana, cigs were really cheap down there so I stocked up, bought 4 cartons. They lasted me quite awhile and I didn’t notice any staleness.
A cigarette left out will get stale in a couple of weeks. In airtight packs, they’ll likely last much longer. I have six cartons on the way from Europe right now, so I guess I’ll find out for myself.
Oh, and t-bonham? If you can find someone on the SDMB who doesn’t know that cigarettes are unhealthy, I’ll give you my life savings (although that’s really not as good of a deal as it sounds). The OP didn’t ask whether he would develop lung cancer. He asked a question about the freshness of tobacco. If you don’t have anything of relevance to contribute, kindly be quiet and move along, please.
Put’em in the freezer compartment and they’ll stay fresh for months if not years.
I was told by a RJ Reynolds rep (they make Camel, Winston, Doral, Salem, and some others) that the shelf life of cigarettes is 13 months. Each company has its own way of dating the date (or at least the month) of production, and if I remember correctly RJ Reynolds is a combination of a number 0-9, which represents the year, and a letter A-L, which represents the month, A=1=January, B=2=Feburary, etc.
OK, excellent. The cartons are unopened so they must be very fresh. Thanks for the info!
1968, Hoyt Axton.
I thought we weren’t allowed to give positive advice about drugs here, on the SDMB.
Sorta
Peace,
mangeorge
Wow, I bet you’re lots of fun at parties.
Somehow, I suspect you knew in your heart of hearts that this was not a helpful answer to the OP.
maybe he forgot the winking smiley.
There are some things in life, Mr. Moderator and the rest of you, to which the normal rules of civility (and the SDMB, I hope) just don’t apply. Especially when youngsters are involved. Smoking is one of them.
No winky here.
Peace,
mangeorge
Actually, manhattan, I truly believe that encouraging him to resist his cigarette addiction is indeed the most helpful thing I can do for him.
If an alcoholic was asking about some booze he got for free, or a crack addict asked about the quality of some rock cocaine he found, my answer would be much the same.
The tobacco is already dried, isn’t it? How can it go stale?
Yeah, kids don’t get told every five minutes in school not to smoke. They don’t hear it from their parents, either. They certainly never see ads that tell The Truth on TV. I mean, it’s not like cigarettes say they’re bad for you right on the pack or anything, is it? If we let one post about cigarettes get by without spelling out the EVIL dangers of tobacco, who knows how many countless millions will run out and buy a pack, thinking them quite harmless? :rolleyes:
No, it’s not helpful at all. What, do you think your message board post is the single ray of sunshine floating through the tobacco haze of his brain? You think he’s never heard your message in the past from far more persuasive people? Perhaps even people who he didn’t have to refer to by their email addresses?
Next time somebody starts an IMHO thread about their favorite foods, will you be there to remind everyone how much fat everything contains and how they’ll all end up with clogged arteries and die early deaths of heart disease?
If my electrons have made just one child in the whole wide world think twice about starting to smoke, they will have been worth it.
Peace,
mangeorge. Ignoring, as always, the fat analogy.
Thing is, they probably won’t. And the fat analogy is valid.
“Wa wa, wa waa waa waa. wa waa, wa, wa waa” etcetera.
Well, I may not have fancy sunglasses like you, but I still say that if you try to drive a message into someone’s head 10,000 times and it doesn’t work, the 10,001st time isn’t going to make it click.