# The most expensive cigarettes in the word **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 15, 2009, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-expensive-cigarettes-in-the-word/503149 "2009-07-15T20:31:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![fachverwirrt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fachverwirrt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fachverwirrt)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2009, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-expensive-cigarettes-in-the-word/503149/1 "2009-07-15T20:31:24Z")
A New Hampshire man was charged [$23 quadrillion](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8152278.stm) for a pack of cigarettes. The most amusing part, of course, is the $15 overdraft fee. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2009, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-expensive-cigarettes-in-the-word/503149/2 "2009-07-15T20:40:46Z")
So it’s true that buying tobacco will make you go broke… ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2009, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-expensive-cigarettes-in-the-word/503149/3 "2009-07-15T23:40:15Z")
Almost identical story [here](http://www.nbcdfw.com/around_town/shopping/Wow-Quadrillion-Dollar-Credit-Card-Bill.html?yhp=1). The identical figure is a little suspicious coincidence, even if both stories are from reputable sources. This guy bought dinner instead, and his card is through a different bank. ---
**Author:** ![ErinPuff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dbc845/32.png) [@ErinPuff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ErinPuff)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2009, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-expensive-cigarettes-in-the-word/503149/4 "2009-07-15T23:52:21Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > Almost identical story [here](http://www.nbcdfw.com/around_town/shopping/Wow-Quadrillion-Dollar-Credit-Card-Bill.html?yhp=1). The identical figure is a little suspicious coincidence, even if both stories are from reputable sources. This guy bought dinner instead, and his card is through a different bank. [CNN says](http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/07/15/quadrillion.dollar.glitch/index.html?eref=rss_topstories) it happened to a number of people. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-expensive-cigarettes-in-the-word/503149/5 "2009-07-16T00:01:37Z")
Yow. Somewhere shy of 13,000 people got hit for $23 quadrillion? Just needed one of them to make the monthly minumum payment to cure the national debt. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mighty\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Girl)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-expensive-cigarettes-in-the-word/503149/6 "2009-07-16T00:11:57Z")
Wait! Here is my plan: I go on a shopping spree and spend 23 quadrillion dollars, then I file a chargeback. What can I buy with that kind of money? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-expensive-cigarettes-in-the-word/503149/7 "2009-07-16T00:33:50Z")
I hear that’s the price of Europe. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-expensive-cigarettes-in-the-word/503149/8 "2009-07-16T01:10:56Z")
Analysis suggests that instead of binary zeroes in the numeric field, hex 20 was placed. Eg, ASCII ‘space’. So spacespacespacespace12.50 became 202020202012.50. Convert that to hexideximal, and pop, there’s the number. (I’m simplifying, there’s a \*100 issue, too, but anyhow. ) ---
**Author:** ![ladyfoxfyre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ad7895/32.png) [@ladyfoxfyre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ladyfoxfyre)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-expensive-cigarettes-in-the-word/503149/9 "2009-07-16T01:22:52Z")
I hadn’t realized that the dollar had deflated in value so badly. We’re worse off than I had previously thought! ---
**Author:** ![cornflakes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@cornflakes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cornflakes)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-expensive-cigarettes-in-the-word/503149/10 "2009-07-16T02:25:21Z")
Maybe I’m an idiot, but if that happened to me, I think that I would close the account, pay off the rest of the balance and let the $23Q go into collections. It might be fun in a strange sort of way to protest the ding on my credit report with a defense of “Dude! That’s two thousand times bigger than the national debt of the US!!!” ---
**Author:** ![Chez\_Guevara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Chez\_Guevara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chez_Guevara)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-expensive-cigarettes-in-the-word/503149/11 "2009-07-16T04:27:20Z")
I’d tell 'em I didn’t have the $23Q right now, and would it be OK if I paid in instalments of a few trillion a month until I got my finances in order. If they refused, I’d transfer the outstanding balance to another card company. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-expensive-cigarettes-in-the-word/503149/12 "2009-07-16T06:36:16Z")
Either Muszynski has a sense of humor or this is fake. “It is a lot of money in the negative,” he said. “Something I could never, ever, afford to pay back. My children could not afford it, grandchildren, nothing like that.” Ya think? I don’t think anyone getting dinged that much would really contemplate how they could pay it off. ---
**Author:** ![Encinitas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@Encinitas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Encinitas)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-expensive-cigarettes-in-the-word/503149/13 "2009-07-16T06:47:26Z")
But think of all the mileage points he got on his card! ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-expensive-cigarettes-in-the-word/503149/14 "2009-07-16T06:56:26Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > Either Muszynski has a sense of humor or this is fake. > > “It is a lot of money in the negative,” he said. “Something I could never, ever, afford to pay back. My children could not afford it, grandchildren, nothing like that.” > > Ya think? I don’t think anyone getting dinged that much would really contemplate how they could pay it off. Don’t worry, Mr. Muszynski–as the old adage goes, if you owe the bank [$18,000](http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/SavingandDebt/P70581.asp), you have a problem. If you owe the bank $23 quadrillion, the _bank_ has a problem. In fact, everybody [del]on the Planet Earth[/del] in the Sirius Sector has a problem. ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-expensive-cigarettes-in-the-word/503149/15 "2009-07-16T06:59:19Z")
Also: I knew the Democrats were considering hiking “sin taxes” on things like tobacco in order to finance healthcare reform, but _dayyum_. Wait till them Canadians get a load of _our_ new healthcare system, baby! ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-expensive-cigarettes-in-the-word/503149/16 "2009-07-16T07:46:48Z")
> [@Mighty\_Girl](#): > > What can I buy with that kind of money? 😉 I know one thing you can’t buy, baby. You can’t buy love. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 9:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-expensive-cigarettes-in-the-word/503149/17 "2009-07-16T09:59:01Z")
> [@Rigamarole](#): > > I know one thing you can’t buy, baby. You can’t buy love. No, but you can park your Learjet right next to it. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-expensive-cigarettes-in-the-word/503149/18 "2009-07-16T11:49:02Z")
Those were only the _second_ most expensive cigarettes in the world, since he’s still alive. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-expensive-cigarettes-in-the-word/503149/19 "2009-07-16T13:51:27Z")
The best story on this story comes from Fox News: [http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,532740,00.html?mrp](http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,532740,00.html?mrp) “A New Hampshire man was shocked to learn that when he purchased pack of cigarettes he also got charged $23,148,855,308,184,500, or more than $23 quadrillion — a number that rivals that of the national debt.” I like how the journalist said that $23 quadrillion RIVALS the national debt of approximately $12 trillion. In the same way that my checking account RIVALS the cost of a beach house in Malibu. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mighty\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Girl)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-expensive-cigarettes-in-the-word/503149/20 "2009-07-16T14:22:24Z")
> [@MEBuckner](#): > > Also: I knew the Democrats were considering hiking “sin taxes” on things like tobacco in order to finance healthcare reform, but _dayyum_. Wait till them Canadians get a load of _our_ new healthcare system, baby! Five star hospitals! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-expensive-cigarettes-in-the-word/503149.md?page=2)