In message , Stu Fields
writes
Understand..I was paying $1.00/carton whilst working for the USAF in Puerto
Rico.
..
Well, as someone who quit aged 9, (one crafty drag in the schoolyard,
and I thought "these are awful, why does anyone DO this?") I'm amused by
the current costs in the UK.

As far as I can tell, a 20 pack is now around UKP 4. Call it $6????

(Mostly due to very high Govt tax - there's a lively smuggling industry
bringing tobacco in from the continent, where cigs are much cheaper.
Paradoxically, we're told that most of the tax on tobacco and booze goes
to fund our more-or-less free Health Service. Er - guys, if people
didn't drink and smoke, the costs of the Health Service would be less
than half what it is!)

And still people queue up to kill themselves, paying around $42 a week
or more for the privilege...who says there's intelligent life on earth?

What puzzles me is this:

How does anyone stick it long enough to get addicted?

I mean, no kid EVER lights up his first ciggy, and thinks...."Oh, GREAT,
this is what I've been waiting for all my life"

Let's face it, they all taste absolutely crap at first, no? So why does
anyone persist with it until they can't do without it?

I'm interested to know.....

--
Rod Buck