In article >,
George Shirley > wrote:

[snipped stuff about how everybody used to smoke in the olden days]

> Unfortunately I see lots of young people taking up smoking nowadays too,
> mostly in junior and high school. I often wonder how they can even
> afford to smoke as cigarettes are closing in on $5.00 a pack around
> here. I hear they are $11.00 a pack in NYC. The most I ever paid was
> $11.00 a carton and I bought four of those every week, sometimes more.
> Yup, smoked four packs a day of king size filter tips every day. Don't
> miss them and spend the money on other things now, like nice steaks,
> imported fruit, presents for DW, important things. <G>

Yeah, things used to be way different. Nobody realized that it was a
health hazard back then. I had lots of relatives in the military.
Cigarettes were US$2.00 a *carton* on the base. That's right, one penny
per coffin nail, twenty cents per pack. Soldiers in basic training got
free cigarettes, courtesy of the tobacco companies. I heard lots of
reliable stories that during forced marches in basic training, there
were "smoke breaks". If you didn't smoke, you didn't get the break.

--
Dan Abel
Petaluma, California USA