Violent criminals expand into cigarettes

...or people could just quit smoking. Just sayin'.

Second verse, same as the first!

/TOA

reply to post by SpreadLoveNotHate


Wow, cigarettes in Australia cost $120.00 for a carton of 200 smokes.

reply to post by Erongaricuaro


We just haven't learned from prohibition/excess taxation.

It almost ALWAYS breeds organized crime.

I'm surprised the government hasn't enriched cigarettes with uranium by now. That would be a far easier way to scare people than taxing them.

(I certainly hope they're not reading this and contemplating it!)

reply to post by BadBoYeed


Yeah I have a certain family member on unemployment that spends whatever little money he has on cigarettes.

No sense in trying to convince people.

It's a habit that will send you to an early grave. You can claim that alcohol, etc are far worse for you but nothing hooks people like cigarettes.

when you people give up your pot then you can tell other people to stop smoking

but hey that aint ever going to happen.


cigarettes are indeed outrageously priced its only time before criminals would think of doing that.

Originally posted by bluemirage5
Wow, cigarettes in Australia cost $120.00 for a carton of 200 smokes.

What??

second line..... What?


I just used a currency converter online and it said the AUS dollar is actually worth 5 more cents than the US dollar. So... I'm baffled. I always heard taxes were bad in Australia but you've got to be joking. "WeComeInPeace" moved to Australia, which must explain why he's not posting on ATS anymore?

reply to post by Erongaricuaro


Your headline made me take a look at this thread, I had to laugh, as I was waiting to see a picture of cig execs actually expanding and turning into a cigarette.....

Seriously though, cigs have been gold for a long time now, no wonder they want a share of it.

I thought this was old news. I saw a tv show on 60 minutes or something similar a year or two ago that stated that Hamas raises funds in the US by buying cigarettes in low tax states and sells them in high tax states. Criminals will always look for an easy way to make money even if some state or group of people made it illegal.

reply to post by Erongaricuaro


Erongaricuaro thank you for sharing the good news. I've been waiting for this for years and its been very frustrating. The government s.o.b.'s know damn well that many people who have smoked most all their life are not about to give up the coffin nails. Same old tired "won't someone think of the children!" false hysteria was the over-used battle cry of increased taxation early on. Now they are simply raping nicotine addicts, plain and simple.

I'm smoking three packs a day here in Jersey where it's hard to find something that wasn't corrupt before I was even born and I'm saying to myself: "where the hell are the bootleg smokes?" I've been hoping for this for what - ten years?

Some years back a bunch of smokers (me included) were buying smokes from USA reservations via mail order. Next thing you know, friggin' Uncle Sam is sending out tax owed notices to people who were enjoying decent priced smokes for maybe a year. I know a few people who were sending in big orders because they bought for friends at the same time, and they wound up getting butt-stuck with a large tax bill. I thought that was incredibly mean-spirited for our clown-shoe wearing friends in DC / the IRS to do.

A lot of diners and bars in Jersey have suffered from the no-smoking bit. And these business owners already spent HUGE money having air scrubber systems installed. OMG ex-smokers & the "won't someone think of the children!" bleating sheep won't be happy until smokers are being thrown in jail. Land of the free & home of the brave my ass. I can't wait to get my hands on a few cases of cartons of illegal cheap smokes. I'm going to smoke so much that Denis Leary & Andrew 'Dice Man' Clay are going to have to update their old smoking bits.

reply to post by Erongaricuaro


when i was living in mexico with my fiancee's parents i was getting packs of cigs for 19pesos brand was Euro. Just be glad you arent paying what we are up here in the states. i really wish i wouldnt have moved back here honestly

_________________

well there's always :
FREE TOBACCO SEED'S

_________________

reply to post by neo96


When you give up your crack, you can do the same.

reply to post by Erongaricuaro


Sounds all to similar to Cannabis, Its worth alot of money, its so easy to grow anyone could do it, so they outlawed it.

Those bastards...

when i was younger (18-19) i had some not so smart friends (who were not the best influence)

one of them came up with this genius idea of borrowing money from his dad, driving to virginia, and spending it all on cartons of cigarettes to bring back and sell for a profit.
his target market was underage kids

well long story short. i think he and his family ended up smoking most of them. his dad lost his money and since then the dude has been in and out of jail 3 different times totaling 5+ years behind bars.

hollywood seems to be proud of cigarettes and other commercials cleverly displayed.

reply to post by The Sword


I would vote for organized crime any day of the week over the current situation here in NYS. At least with organized crime you know where you money is going to and as long as your paying your dues you have some kind of protection. Call me crazy but I'd take some goodfellas over state politicians any day of the week. By the way this article should come as no surprise to anyone as this is what happened during prohibition and we can see how well and long that lasted for. But what really irks me is that you cannot order in ciggs from out of state at a reduced price isn't that kinda like a monopoly or price gouging at it's finest? Anything else that is not considered illegal I can shop around for and order from somewhere else cheaper and have it shipped , nope not smokes.

Stop Smoking Cigarettes .. !!

It's been happening for years here in the UK.

Decent brand cigaretters cost approximately £6 per 20 box, (about $10).
The government takes around 80% in various taxes.
As a result stolen, snide, cheap and smuggled cigarettes are big money.

Ar the weekend I was offered a large amount of cigarettes at £22 per sleeve of 200, approximately $37, (10boxes of 20 cigarettes per sleeve).
I would have sold them on at £30 per sleeve, about $50, or £3,50 per box of 20, about $6.

Per 200 sleeve I would have made between £8 and £13.

May not sound a lot but it soon add's up and can be a decent little earner, unless of course the tax man or customs catch up with you, but wtf, nothing ventured nothing gained.

Cheap and snide cigarettes can be made with even more disgusting ingredients than go into decent brand cigarettes and can be particularly harsh on the respitory system.
The brand I was offered at the weekend were real lung buster's and would have done nothing for my health, wealth or personal reputation!
Some people are far less scrupulous or discerning.

Dang... Other states must be crazy... I live maybe 5-6 hours from NYC, and I have been rolling my own cigs for like 5 months now... I urge everyone to check out local tobacco shops, even head shops...

I pay 7$ per CARTON of cigs, just have to roll it myself... bought a 45$ hand crank roller, I can roll 2 packs in 10 minutes or so... the "pipe tobacco" which I use isnt cut as fine as cigarette tobacco, but its the same stuff, just not as fine, and the pipe version costs 5$ per carton of tobacco, while cigarette tobacco costs about 18$ per carton of tobacco... Same stuff just cut finer, so the state can tax it as cigarette tobacco... and the cig filter/paper(tubes) costs 2$ per carton

7$ a carton cant beat that at all...

Cigs are $6.50 a pack where I'm at. I roll my own and spend about $35 a month. You wanna know what would hurt the government? If everyone quit at the same time. Just think of the money they'd loose.