# How much does a 2 pack a day smoking habit cost a person? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 8, 2005, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-does-a-2-pack-a-day-smoking-habit-cost-a-person/288943 "2005-02-08T04:04:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2005, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-does-a-2-pack-a-day-smoking-habit-cost-a-person/288943/1 "2005-02-08T04:04:32Z")
Just curious what the cash outlay is. ---
**Author:** ![WCOT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e5b9ba/32.png) [@WCOT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WCOT)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2005, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-does-a-2-pack-a-day-smoking-habit-cost-a-person/288943/2 "2005-02-08T04:16:32Z")
depends on what you smoke, where you buy/live. I smoke Marlboro lights and live in new york i smoke 3/4 pack a day and it costs me like 25 bucks a week so i would venture a guess that a person living in new york smoking two packs of Marlboro’s a day spends about 64 dollars a week, and about $3328 a year. Thats going on gas station price though, and not including extra things that are not universal, ie extra health care costs, lighters or matches…but it does get to be pretty expensive… i really should quit… ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2005, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-does-a-2-pack-a-day-smoking-habit-cost-a-person/288943/3 "2005-02-08T04:18:49Z")
Cigarettes in Canada cost about $10/pack. So a 2 pack a day habit would cost about $600/mo. And yet large numbers of poor people smoke. How do they afford it? ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2005, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-does-a-2-pack-a-day-smoking-habit-cost-a-person/288943/4 "2005-02-08T04:22:00Z")
In Chicago cigarettes are now $7 a pack. After that the math is easy. 14 \* 365 = $5,110 / year. Of course, we are neglecting any costs such as health issues or repairing the whoel you burnt in your car door and such things but that is probabky out of the scope of this question. IIRC people who are trying to quit smoking can download a little program that will track the money you saved since the day you quit. This is supposed to help people quit partly by seeing the money saved and partly by using that saved money as a carrot. I.e. After 6 months take $2500 (or whatever) and do someting really nice for yourself. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2005, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-does-a-2-pack-a-day-smoking-habit-cost-a-person/288943/5 "2005-02-08T04:23:09Z")
In Chicago cigarettes are now $7 a pack. After that the math is easy. 14 \* 365 = $5,110 / year. Of course, we are neglecting any costs such as health issues or repairing the hole you burnt in your car door and such things but that is probably out of the scope of this question. IIRC people who are trying to quit smoking can download a little program that will track the money you saved since the day you quit. This is supposed to help people quit partly by seeing the money saved and partly by using that saved money as a carrot. I.e. After 6 months take $2500 (or whatever) and do someting really nice for yourself. ---
**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2005, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-does-a-2-pack-a-day-smoking-habit-cost-a-person/288943/6 "2005-02-08T04:23:50Z")
Depends where you buy, but a pack of 20 at Fiesta costs about $2.95 and about $3.45 at a convenience store. I smoke a little less than a pack a day and figure that I spend around $21/week. ---
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2005, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-does-a-2-pack-a-day-smoking-habit-cost-a-person/288943/7 "2005-02-08T04:53:19Z")
I buy cans of American Spirit tobacco for $10.50 (enough for about 8 packs) and empty cigarette tubes with filters for $2.25 (200 tubes). The tobacco is injected into the tubes with a cheap ($5), reusable machine. At two packs a day, that works out to $1125 a year. Not too bad. Plus, the tobacco tastes a lot better than Marlboro and the other brands of $3-4/pack cigarettes. ---
**Author:** ![Bambi\_Hassenpfeffer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Bambi\_Hassenpfeffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bambi_Hassenpfeffer)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2005, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-does-a-2-pack-a-day-smoking-habit-cost-a-person/288943/8 "2005-02-08T04:56:52Z")
The cheapest cigarettes around here are Westports, which can be bought at finer gas stations everywhere for $11.95 / carton + 7% sales tax = $12.79 / carton. 2 packs a day, 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year = 729 packs / 20 packs per carton = 36.4 so 37 cartons a year = **$473.23**. So if you can stomach (lung?) the things, not too bad. However, full price cigarettes run closer to $30 - 40 a carton, leading to a high end of **$1480** a year. ---
**Author:** ![Blalron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@Blalron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blalron)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2005, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-does-a-2-pack-a-day-smoking-habit-cost-a-person/288943/9 "2005-02-08T05:17:07Z")
At least where I live, if you want to go the cheapest route you can buy the “roll your own” variety of tobacco and it’ll cost you about $2 for the equivalent of two packs. I have no idea why anyone would buy the more heavily taxed factory rolled cigarrettes. ---
**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2005, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-does-a-2-pack-a-day-smoking-habit-cost-a-person/288943/10 "2005-02-08T05:52:57Z")
$7 a pack in Chicago?? Holy… err, SMOKES! I live in the 'burbs of Chicago, and I pay $3.50 - $4.00 a pack, depending on whether I buy them at the grocery store or the gas station. And yes, I remember saying - out loud, no less - that I would quit if they ever got to a dollar a pack. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2005, 10:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-does-a-2-pack-a-day-smoking-habit-cost-a-person/288943/11 "2005-02-08T10:18:37Z")
> [@LifeOnWry](#): > > $7 a pack in Chicago?? Holy… err, SMOKES! I live in the 'burbs of Chicago, and I pay $3.50 - $4.00 a pack, depending on whether I buy them at the grocery store or the gas station. Yep…$7 in Chicago…most of which is taxes of course. Smokes always were cheaper in the burbs but now the difference is rather amazing and still shocks me. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2005, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-does-a-2-pack-a-day-smoking-habit-cost-a-person/288943/12 "2005-02-08T12:03:25Z")
> [@Sam Stone](#): > > How do they afford it? I have found that, no matter how broke someone claims to be, they always have money for cigarettes. ---
**Author:** ![Queen\_Tonya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/4491bb/32.png) [@Queen\_Tonya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Tonya)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2005, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-does-a-2-pack-a-day-smoking-habit-cost-a-person/288943/13 "2005-02-08T12:23:12Z")
I pay $22 per carton so a 2 pack habit would run just over $30 weekly. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2005, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-does-a-2-pack-a-day-smoking-habit-cost-a-person/288943/14 "2005-02-08T12:30:20Z")
How much does it cost? Your lungs & your life. That is a high price to pay, IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![False\_God](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ee7513/32.png) [@False\_God](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/False_God)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2005, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-does-a-2-pack-a-day-smoking-habit-cost-a-person/288943/15 "2005-02-08T12:40:15Z")
I quit nine months ago, and according to the Silk Quit Meter I have installed (little utility proggie that tracks details like this) I’ve saved over USD 1000, and not smoked 4561 cigarettes. Of course, I can get Benson and Hedges for 11 USD a carton at the commisary here, so stateside that’s probably a lot more. YMMV. ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2005, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-does-a-2-pack-a-day-smoking-habit-cost-a-person/288943/16 "2005-02-08T12:49:40Z")
Here they are €6.25(Benson and Hedges) or ~$8 per pack. 8_2_365=$5840 a year. ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2005, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-does-a-2-pack-a-day-smoking-habit-cost-a-person/288943/17 "2005-02-08T12:51:17Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > I have found that, no matter how broke someone claims to be, they always have money for cigarettes. In the past when really up against the wall financially speaking I’ve gone without meals so I can buy some smokes. ---
**Author:** ![owlstretchingtime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/958977/32.png) [@owlstretchingtime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/owlstretchingtime)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2005, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-does-a-2-pack-a-day-smoking-habit-cost-a-person/288943/18 "2005-02-08T13:13:38Z")
Brand name fags (yes “fags”!) from a shop are about £5.50 a pack, there are budget brands at just under a fiver so say the average is £5.20 5.20 _2_365 = £3796.00 - ie about $7200 a year In britain you would need to earn $10,000 to net that. However an alternative to fags is shagging - ie buying hand rolling tobacco. There is a huge underground smuggling industry here - people go to Europe but tobacco for bobbins and sell it in pubs and workplaces for about £3.00 for a pouch. I remeber reading that britains best selling tobacco is Drum. Which isn’t actually sold here. Something similar happens with booze as well. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2005, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-does-a-2-pack-a-day-smoking-habit-cost-a-person/288943/19 "2005-02-08T13:20:19Z")
> [@LifeOnWry](#): > > $7 a pack in Chicago?? Holy… err, SMOKES! I live in the 'burbs of Chicago, and I pay $3.50 - $4.00 a pack, depending on whether I buy them at the grocery store or the gas station. > > And yes, I remember saying - out loud, no less - that I would quit if they ever got to a dollar a pack. I’m in the Chicago 'burbs, too. My smokes NEVER go on sale, and I pay $5 at a gast station. But I buy by the carton usually. My husband and I spend $75 for a carton of each of ours. That usually lasts less than a week. It’s an expensive habit. ---
**Author:** ![EmeraldGrue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dc4da7/32.png) [@EmeraldGrue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmeraldGrue)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2005, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-does-a-2-pack-a-day-smoking-habit-cost-a-person/288943/20 "2005-02-08T20:11:14Z")
Here in my Canadian grocery store: you can get the cheaper cigarettes for maybe $6.50, $7.50 a pack, and the more brand-name ones like DuMaurier or whatever for a few dollars more. Depends on the size. Works out to anywhere between $100 and $130 a week. So, maybe $6000-something on average. Christ, that’s a lot. _So_ not worth it. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-does-a-2-pack-a-day-smoking-habit-cost-a-person/288943.md?page=2)