# Smoking a carton a day **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 6, 2007, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-a-carton-a-day/394751 "2007-03-06T00:36:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2007, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-a-carton-a-day/394751/41 "2007-03-07T23:01:54Z")
I’m picturing one of those cartoons where someone has twenty cigarettes stuffed into their piehole at once. Would there be any speed advantage to puffing on more than one cigarette at a time? Unfiltered Pall Malls, eh? That’s what my boss smoked; he believed in a very efficient and effective nictotine delivery system. Now he’s on patch, gum and lozenges. ---
**Author:** ![Mirror\_Image\_egamI\_rorriM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e56c9b/32.png) [@Mirror\_Image\_egamI\_rorriM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mirror_Image_egamI_rorriM)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-a-carton-a-day/394751/42 "2007-03-08T04:34:48Z")
Cigarettes crammed in a piehole? [Here ya go.](http://cellar.org/iotd.php?threadid=746) Of course they don’t all appear to be lit. ---
**Author:** ![dedubew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f0a364/32.png) [@dedubew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dedubew)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2015, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-a-carton-a-day/394751/43 "2015-01-18T22:27:17Z")
My friend who smokes six packs a day has smoked up to a carton day in states of extreme nervousness,when he was having trouble sleeping. In any case he puffs his cigarettes down to his fingertips and then lights the next cigarette from the burning butt of the previous one. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2015, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-a-carton-a-day/394751/44 "2015-01-18T22:37:12Z")
> [@dedubew](#): > > My friend who smokes six packs a day has smoked up to a carton day in states of extreme nervousness,when he was having trouble sleeping. In any case he puffs his cigarettes down to his fingertips and then lights the next cigarette from the burning butt of the previous one. Yes, I believe you posted in the other smoking thread you revived: > [@Who is the heaviest smoker you have known?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-heaviest-smoker-you-have-known/615360/50): > > He is a man about my age. WE are just over seventy. For more than half a century he has chain smoked six packs of non filtered Lucky Strikes every day. This is accompanied by fifty cups of strong and black coffee everyday. , and I’m still not buying it. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2015, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-a-carton-a-day/394751/45 "2015-01-18T22:47:56Z")
Between Nicotine and CO poisoning, I’m pretty sure that it would be deadly to just about everyone. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2015, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-a-carton-a-day/394751/46 "2015-01-18T22:53:14Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > Between Nicotine and CO poisoning, I’m pretty sure that it would be deadly to just about everyone. Let’s not forget the 50 cups of strong black coffee. ---
**Author:** ![chiroptera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@chiroptera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chiroptera)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2015, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-a-carton-a-day/394751/47 "2015-01-18T23:14:23Z")
Is a carton a day even physically possible (even for a zombie)? When I was a smoker I considered myself a very heavy smoker but 2- 21/2 packs a day meant I was smoking 2-3 cigarettes every waking hour. A carton is what, 200 cigarettes in a 16-hour day. That’s …well my math is failing me…that’s 12-13 cigarettes per hour? And it takes 6-8 minutes to smoke a cigarette. So that’s smoking non-stop, lighting one smoke from the cherry of the last one. So six packs plus 50 (really?) cups of coffee per day means putting something in your mouth once every minute or two. I just don’t see how this is possible. ---
**Author:** ![usedtobe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@usedtobe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usedtobe)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2015, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-a-carton-a-day/394751/48 "2015-01-19T00:31:52Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > Between Nicotine and CO poisoning, I’m pretty sure that it would be deadly to just about everyone. I used WAY less than this to OD and become quite nauseous at the smell of cigarette smoke. If you want to die a ugly death, try unfiltered Camels (or closest surviving poison). I give a rank beginner three packs before hitting the ground. ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2015, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-a-carton-a-day/394751/49 "2015-01-19T00:43:02Z")
I smoked between 8-9 packs once while driving. I pretty much chained smoked for 18 straight hours after getting very little sleep the night before, because between the nicotine and the actions of smoking it kept me more alert than just staring out the windshield. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2015, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-a-carton-a-day/394751/50 "2015-01-19T01:04:07Z")
I worked with a guy in China who smoked 6 packs a day most days, including waking up every so often to smoke. He smoked non-stop, all day, every day. Packs were only 25 cents or so. ---
**Author:** ![Fubaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@Fubaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fubaya)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2015, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-a-carton-a-day/394751/51 "2015-01-19T03:39:29Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Let’s not forget the 50 cups of strong black coffee. But the cups are tiny ---
**Author:** ![Boogly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Boogly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boogly)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2015, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-a-carton-a-day/394751/52 "2015-01-19T04:40:31Z")
Butt were the cigarettes? ---
**Author:** ![dedubew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f0a364/32.png) [@dedubew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dedubew)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2015, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-a-carton-a-day/394751/53 "2015-01-19T05:36:13Z")
When I spent a weekend with him, it was nonstop smoking and nonstop coffee drinking during the whole time except during sleep. > [@chiroptera](#): > > Is a carton a day even physically possible (even for a zombie)? > When I was a smoker I considered myself a very heavy smoker but 2- 21/2 packs a day meant I was smoking 2-3 cigarettes every waking hour. A carton is what, 200 cigarettes in a 16-hour day. That’s …well my math is failing me…that’s 12-13 cigarettes per hour? And it takes 6-8 minutes to smoke a cigarette. > > So that’s smoking non-stop, lighting one smoke from the cherry of the last one. > > So six packs plus 50 (really?) cups of coffee per day means putting something in your mouth once every minute or two. I just don’t see how this is possible. ---
**Author:** ![dedubew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f0a364/32.png) [@dedubew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dedubew)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2015, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-a-carton-a-day/394751/54 "2015-01-19T05:39:53Z")
And he moaned, groaned, coughed, tossed and turned in his sleep, as his system screamed for nicotine and caffeine. He woke up shaking, perspiring, coughing, and claimed he had a pain like a lump in the pit of his stomach. He immediately lit up and five minutes later his automatic coffee maker had brewed his coffee, and the symptoms disappeared. Still tense and jumpy but much less so, with his endless coffee and cigarettes for the day. And yes he smokes while he eats. ---
**Author:** ![Cillasi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@Cillasi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cillasi)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2015, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-a-carton-a-day/394751/55 "2015-01-19T08:10:19Z")
> [@elmwood](#): > > I enjoy a good cigar every now and then, but in my four decades on this planet, I never smoked a cigarette. I want to change that, though. Thing is, if I take up smoking, I want to go all out, balls-to-the-wall, and do it right. I want to puff like [Union Pacific 3985](http://www.uprr.com/aboutup/excurs/up3985.shtml), or better yet, a chimney of a Chinese coal-fired power plant. I want to smoke a carton of smokes a day. > > So, if I work at home where I can puff away beyond the reach of nanny state laws, sleep eight hours a day, and puff away at a normal pace, is it possible to smoke a carton of cigarettes a day? Do people smoke a carton a day? I got up to 4 packs a day on the weekends (I worked during the week) and I was definitely a chain smoker. The only time I wasn’t smoking was when I couldn’t smoke (i.e., in the shower, eating, sleeping). Now I have COPD, but I haven’t touched a cigarette in 7 years now. So, a very safe bet would be approximately 4, maybe 5, packs a day if you really tried, but you’d be cutting into that 8 hours sleeping time. ---
**Author:** ![Cillasi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@Cillasi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cillasi)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2015, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-a-carton-a-day/394751/56 "2015-01-19T08:25:09Z")
> [@berff](#): > > I don’t know how anyone can smoke a full cigarette in 3 minutes. Mine last about 7-8 minutes and they’re the short ones. > > Since we’re on the subject of cigarettes, why is it that if I go 8 hours without a cigarette during the day, I’ll experience major withdrawal symptoms, yet when I first wake up in the morning after 8 hours of sleep, I don’t crave cigarettes any more than I did when I smoked my last cigarette the night before? I smoke about a pack a day, but I typically wait until I’m driving to work before I light my first one. Does nicotine stay in the body longer during sleep? Nicotine seems to be a mood flattener (my term). Think about all the things that make you smoke. Excitement, nervousness, anger, happiness, frustration, satiety. It flattens the emotional response. When people try to stop smoking, even after nicotine withdrawal (which only takes a week), they often experience trouble controlling their emotions because they haven’t developed other coping mechanisms. When you wake up, you’re naturally flattened. My first cigarette used to be when I left the house in the morning. The cigarette I missed the longest was the one I lit when leaving work in the evening. ---
**Author:** ![Washoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecae2f/32.png) [@Washoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Washoe)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2015, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-a-carton-a-day/394751/57 "2015-01-19T17:24:21Z")
This thread was started in 2007, before vaping became popular. If you want to consume the _equivalent amount of nicotine_ as a carton of cigarettes, it would be a lot easier. I vaped for about six months, and was up to about 4 ml. of a 24 mg./ml. solution per day. That’s about 96 cigarettes. And it wasn’t that hard. I only vaped in the morning, during my lunch break, and after work. Eventually I came to my senses, flushed all my juice, and gave my batteries and tanks to somebody at work. ---
**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:** [January 19, 2015, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-a-carton-a-day/394751/58 "2015-01-19T17:37:13Z")
> [@Boogly](#): > > Butt were the cigarettes? They were Freudian Lights, I believe. ---
**Author:** ![Drummond\_Bays](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8edcca/32.png) [@Drummond\_Bays](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drummond_Bays)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2015, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-a-carton-a-day/394751/59 "2015-01-20T02:56:46Z")
Heavy smoker here. Hit the 2 pack a day mark, so I started limiting myself to a pack a day just by only buying a single pack per day, with the added bonus of sometimes breaking a 1 cm piece of the tip, throwing that in the pack, and possibly rolling 1-5 smokes when my pack dies out. Been buying my own packs since 14, I am now 32. I am one of the (un?)lucky few who can smoke at work without anyone batting an eyelash. Many smokers comment how I smoke “far too much,” and I smoke strong(er) cigarettes than most, Next Red, a Canadian brand. I light a smoke every fifteen minutes or so it seems, the time it takes to smoke varies depending on the situation. 3-5 minutes is a good estimate for a heavy smoker, a leisurely smoker could easily stretch one out to ten minutes. It used to take ten minutes to finish a smoke when I was a kid. Now I reckon when it’s cold, I smoke a full smoke in perhaps a minute and a half. I smoke most of the cigarette, leaving perhaps 7-8 MM of the white paper portion. (Fun fact, most smokes actually have tobacco inside the filter portion, perhaps 3 MM.) A Carton a day? I could do it for money, once. Perhaps an older smoker could pull it off, my Grandfather says he smoked between 4-6 packs a day driving a truck for the post office, but keep in mind, the cigarettes of 30-40 years ago are a pale comparison in strength/toxicity to the smokes of today. Nowadays they’re loaded with cough suppressants, combustion inhibitors (for premium brands - not my kind,) and much more “exotic toxins” than they used to contain. I used to have to commute 110 kms to work every day, I would smoke eight to ten along that journey, perhaps an hour and a half. As aforementioned, during a long drive, one’s smoking increases exponentially, especially if one is tired. “Gotta stay awake! Time to light a smoke!” I will speak for myself, after about 30 smokes in a given day, my ears start to hurt, and I will have uncomfortable build-up of phlegm in my chest, and mucous in my nose. I’ll be gagging, snorting and spitting, and probably have a nice headache to boot. Keep in mind, I’m a “clamper” meaning once a smoke is in my mouth, (when at work) I will usually only remove it once or twice untill it is done, a by product of working with one’s hands, and being able to smoke. My father (pack a day for 40+ years) has commented that he “does not know how I can do it like that.” I’m actually going to go outside, and have a smoke. I will time it. Keep in mind, it is cold and windy outside, so this isn’t a “leisurely” “enjoyed” smoke, this is simply feeding my addiction. (Will be back!) ---
**Author:** ![Drummond\_Bays](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8edcca/32.png) [@Drummond\_Bays](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drummond_Bays)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2015, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-a-carton-a-day/394751/60 "2015-01-20T03:05:18Z")
2:04.75, from lit to out. I am a “double puffer” meaning I take a draw, inhale, take another draw, inhale again, and then exhale. Most would consider that to be smoking hard. My brand burns fast and strong, I usually finish a smoke before other smokers of various different brands. Brands like DuMaurier and Belmont tend to burn considerably slower. Uh, yeah, lost my train of thought, but just my two shekels. Hope it helps! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-a-carton-a-day/394751.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-a-carton-a-day/394751.md?page=4)