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Then hold on to your pants... My husband has severe copd and still smokes almost 4 packs a day. There is usually 1-2 minutes between smokes. I quit ages ago. I presume (since he doesn't like the subject brought up) he has simply decided to hasten his death. He's afraid of going slowly but obviously, he has no guarantee of that. He was diagnosed over 10 yrs ago.
Wow, four packs. I didn't know there was enough time in a day to smoke that much.
Once you acquire COPD, even if you quit, it's not going to prolong your life/lungs much further, if any. It's like getting AIDS, and you then decide to have sex with condoms. Too late!
My aunt developed emphysema, and she quit for a year, but didn't notice any difference in her breathing status. So, not surprisingly, she took up smoking again.
At 67YO, I have been diagnosed with COPD, but I continue to smoke, but only a half pack a day, smoking one cigarette in 3 shifts. If I quit, and develop pneumonia, there's a good possibility I'm a goner.
Any number of people have come close to death in car accidents, but they still drive!
My big worry is gaining weight. My Dad quit smoking after 50 years of smoking, 3 packs a day of Kool's, at 66YO, and went on to live to 96 without any lung problems whatsoever. But he gained a lot of weight after quitting and ended up having a bypass done. My sister, likewise, gained a lot of weight, and all she can say is, yes, I've gained weight, but I quit smoking.
I took NYC off my travel list after I heard that there was to be no more smoking in city parks, office plaza's, Coney Island. Difficult to swallow, coming from Las Vegas, where we can still smoke in neighborhood bars.
You can Google Cigarette Tax Revenue by State, and you'll easily see why cigarettes will never, ever be banned.
Sorry.. all the medical evidence points to quitting being the first thing you should do when diagnosed. It can add some time to what you've got left or at least stave off some of the worst symptoms for a while. Sort of like someone diagnosed with diabetes changing their diet or losing weight (depending on type). No.. it's not reversible... I'm well versed in all of the medical nuances of it. He is now in right side heart failure. My nana smoked until she died at 98. Yippee for that! My friend died of lung cancer from smoking at 49.
And.. unlike you my husband smoking almost 4 packs a day. I shouldn't have to explain to anyone older than 4 what damage that continues to inflict. (and I get to be his caregiver)
I use the same argument... car deaths.. when speaking out against gun control.
And don't get me wrong.. I am not for them banning smokes. Never have been. I was a smoker for many yrs. I believe if a person wants to smoke.. let 'em. My mom does, several siblings do. The purpose in my post was in reference to a few early posters thinking that no one smokes that amount.. that it's embellished. In this case.. it is not.
And good for you that you are able to smoke only a few in shifts. My husband can no longer work. He can barely walk, He's grayish blue and his o2 stats linger around 88 on a very good day. Perhaps your health is not as failing as his is at this point. My husband is 63 now and he was diagnosed at 49.. and then only because he caught legionaires and was in ICU for a good while and they told him then. He's been in and out with pneumonia several times since, almost died about 3 times.
So, while I appreciate your cavalier attitude... that's for you and you alone.
Anyway.. my original intent on posting was that yes, some people do smoke that much... it's not easy to quit for most and somewhere along the line they will make up that lost tax revenue.
Alcohol is enjoyed by the rich just as much as poor people, plus they buy the good stuff not PBR. Poor people are considerably more like to smoke than rich people. Therefore, alcohol = socially acceptable, available in every bar; cigarettes = unacceptable, and not allowed in a bar.
Very true. Plus rich people snort coke and other "high-end" drugs.
I have never smoked. Back in the day when I was driving a truck every time I was in a cheap tobacco state I would buy cheap cigs for my brother-in-law. I had been to Kentucky and bought several dozen cartons of smokes for my BIL back in Nebraska. I was deadheading and I had the smokes and other stuff in my tarps on the flatbed trailer I was pulling. I was pulled over at an Illinois scale for a USDOT inspection. The DOT inspector passed me but he did ask me if I had cigs. I told him oh yeah. I have a few cartons for my BIL back home. He gave me a heads up about Illinois' strict cigarette bootlegging laws. He said he was not going to enforce it but as a courtesy he was warning me. BTW I did have more than Illinois allowed and if caught I could have been charged with a Felony.
Ignorance is no excuse but I did not know that at the time Illinois only allowed possession of ??? packs of smokes without an Illinois Tax Stamp.
I don't smoke but I sure feel sorry for those who do, they are now treated like leapers in our society. This is America, if a person wants to smoke he/she should be allowed to as long as they accommodate those of us who do not want to be around it.
Smokers outside the entrance of a building was gross, we all got a bad dose of their smoke as we entered. Smoking sections in restaurants is like trying to have an un-chlorinated section of a swimming pool. But to ban smoking for an entire campus forcing smokers to get to their car and drive for miles? And now forcing smokers to pay an unfair tax burden when compared to the rest of us with taxes like this? Come on now, as I said this is still America.
In Chicago, just the state and local taxes add $6.16 to each pack, doubling the cost
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gunluvver2
He gave me a heads up about Illinois' strict cigarette bootlegging laws. He said he was not going to enforce it but as a courtesy he was warning me. BTW I did have more than Illinois allowed and if caught I could have been charged with a Felony.
Ignorance is no excuse but I did not know that at the time Illinois only allowed possession of ??? packs of smokes without an Illinois Tax Stamp.
9 packs without the IL stamp is the cutoff in Illinois, 10-250 packs is a Class A misdemeanor, 251 and up (about half a "master case") is a Class 4 felony in Illinois.
When I worked in downtown Chicago, coworkers commuting in from Indiana on the train made enough in arbitrage on one briefcase of low-tax cigs to cover their train ticket for the month.
Today's prices:
One carton in Indiana: $5.97 (Less if you buy in bulk)
One carton in Chicago: $12.30
That's what I thought too. Perhaps people embellish (for whatever reason) how much they smoke but I hear people always saying how they used to smoke 3 packs per day. I imagine you'd have to spend the majority of your day smoking if you smoke that many.
It's about 1 cigarette every 15 min. if you're awake 16 hours a day. Probably 5 min. smoking, and 10 minutes until the next one. And people don't just sit and smoke, ya know - unless they have to go outside - but those people aren't smoking 3 packs a day.
I don't smoke but I sure feel sorry for those who do, they are now treated like leapers in our society. This is America, if a person wants to smoke he/she should be allowed to as long as they accommodate those of us who do not want to be around it.
Smokers outside the entrance of a building was gross, we all got a bad dose of their smoke as we entered. Smoking sections in restaurants is like trying to have an un-chlorinated section of a swimming pool. But to ban smoking for an entire campus forcing smokers to get to their car and drive for miles? And now forcing smokers to pay an unfair tax burden when compared to the rest of us with taxes like this? Come on now, as I said this is still America.
I grew up with smokers. My lungs didn't notice. I still don't get the second hand smoke thing.
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In Chicago, just the state and local taxes add $6.16 to each pack, doubling the cost
