I’ve traveled all across these great big old United States, and I haven’t seen anything like what Cook County is going to do to smokers starting March 1..
$7.59/pack in Chicago. Can any city in America beat that?
What’s the cheapest place to buy? The south, I’m sure, but where specifically do they charge the least for the cancer sticks?
Happy
I paid $3.24 or so in Omaha.
I was in North Carolina recently, and they weren’t significantly cheaper there.
I pay $12.99 for a canister of tobacco that lasts about 2 1/2 weeks. It’s as though it was the world’s best-kept secret that some of us don’t have to take out a loan to buy cigarettes.
Just be glad you don’t live in Canada! $14 a pack!
Similar in Australia, but its not necessarily a bad thing.
It would be considered bad in hushed corners of the U.S. Taxes that high would make people quit smoking in significant numbers and that is secretly bad. You see, what you want them to do is make smokers cough up almost everything they are capable of but not so much that they get forced to quit. Addiction causes a great, captive revenue stream and you have to hit that yield curve just right to milk the most out of it.
I’m not a smoker BTW nor is anyone in my family but it disgusts me the way that they do psychological and economic manipulation on them and still spin them into the enemy while those taxes were advertised as offsetting problems they cause.
I was paying around $5.50 a pack in Chicago, and was about to quit.
Moved down here and they are $2.20 (premium brand, Camel lights). There goes half my motivation.
They’re about four bucks a pack in California, but I can usually find a “buy two, get one free” deal if I feel like looking for one. It also helps that I’m willing to smoke several different brands. I cannot tell the difference between Camel filters, Marlboro reds, Winston reds or Chesterfield filters. Those Chesties are good, and I think they’re usually a little cheaper than others.
Wow, those things are not cheap in the States, are they? In Korea they’re around 2,500 won (2.50 in American dollars), but I never realized how cheap that is until I went to England and found out it was nearly 5 pounds a pack. That’s like 9 dollars, right? Luckily I bought a whole carton at the duty-free store before leaving Korea. In London, people would offer to PAY me for ONE cigarette, and acted like I was generosity incarnate when I gave it to them for nothing, thanking me profusely. Made me feel all tingly inside.
I have a good friend who buys cigarettes in my county (McHenry) which borders Cook County. She saves a bundle. I buy Benson & Hedges Gold which NEVER offer coupons or any deals. In my county I pay $45/ctn. In the city, I’d have to pay $70.00? That’s just $5 less than me and Mr. Kal pay together for ours. You need to jump the border, my friend.
To address the OP, I would think Kentucky or somesuch would be really cheap. But the best deals are on the reservations. If you can get to one fairly easily, I think they let you take 4 cartons at a time.
After posting in a previous thread regarding prices, sorry no linky, and having Kalhoun mention tax collectors calling on you for taxes on internet cig purchases, I called my dealer paylesscigsonline dot com. They maintain staunchly that they will not report sales to anyone. I had recently read an article in the newspaper that prompted me to make this call to them; I wanted to buy out their stock of Basics before the Feds got involved. He laughed and stated again that there’s no way that anyone could get their sales info. He said they shred docs after order/payment. Hmmm, that sounds kinda scary, but I’m honestly not worried.
Anyway, in regard to OP, I pay $26 per carton and purchase six at a time to take advantage of their shipping fees. Stores in the area charge close to $4 a pack.
If anyone tries this website, please mention RSSchen as the referral, and we both will get a $10 credit.
I buy Jester tobacco, ditto. Good rolling tobacco is quite mild and way cheaper.
A friend is laid up with a bad back and I’ve been buying packs of smokes for her. Holy crap. The cheapest I could find (Misty Menthol Lights) was $4.05 a pack, and she easily smokes 2 packs a day. That’s closing in on $300.00 a month. :eek:
That is a huge, huge chunk of change for people who don’t make a lot of money to begin with. In her case, it’s almost 25% of her monthly net income. Unbelievable.
Not $14 here, but it was about $8.50 a month ago. The price went up about two weeks ago as well, I think it’s $8.75 now, or around there. Some stores are more expensive than others.
Wow that’s motivation to stop right there, over $7 a pack. I’m not a smoker, but here in Iraq you can get a pack of “Haji Cigs” for a dollar or so a pack. A lot of the soldiers take advantage of this and mail home cartons before they leave.
Thanks for the leg work! I will be looking into it!
I think in China, it’s just a few Yuan, which is under a dollar.
Then again, 70% of Chinese men smoke.
Very similar proces at smokes-spirits dot com ; also a Native American business.
They also sell rolling tobacco & supplies, as well as wine, candy and other non-tobacco-related products. I figure it’s the least I can do, supporting the original occupants of the area.
The first few times I went to Canada, they were still around 6.00 a pack and a US was worth about $1.45 Canadian. That was for 25 cigarettes. When you convert that to US currency and a pack of 20, it figured to about $3.30 a pack.
Back then (this was about 8 years ago), cigarettes in New Orleans could still be found for $2.00 a pack (20 in a pack).
If the Canadian dollar would’ve been stronger, like it is now, that would’ve been a pretty huge jump.
IIRC, they are about $9 per pack in NYC. Am I close?
In an apples to apples comparison (same brand, same type of store), I’d be very surprised if New York City weren’t the most expensive place in the U.S.
I seem to recall hearing that North Carolina had the lowest tax on cigs in the country, but I haven’t verified that.
My guess’d be NYC for the most expensive, though L.A. might take the flag, what with all of California’s wacky laws.
In Eastern Washington I only (only, ha!) pay between $5.50 and $6.00 for a pack of Marlboro reds, depending on what store I go to, or I can drive ~10 miles to Idaho and get a pack for $3.35.