Half a croissant, on a plate, with a sign in front of it saying '50c'
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Cut down your smoking

Buy loose cigarettes instead of a whole pack
  (+4, -5)
(+4, -5)
  [vote for,
against]

Why not sell cigarettes one or two or three at a time instead of a whole pack. I smoke a pack a day, but wish to cut down. However, I can't because there's always the temptation when I have a few more in the pack. Now, if cigarettes were sold loose, then I could just buy 3 or 4 for the whole day and thus cut down. Moreover, if I get the pangs after I've run out of cigarettes, then I could always run down to the nearest 7-11 and get just one cigarette. An idea for the anti-smoking lobby to impose this on shops. What say folks?

- Kaching

kaching, Mar 01 2002

[link]






       In Britain they made selling loose cigarettes illegal because it was too easy for children to buy them; having to pay four or five pounds for a pack is intended to be a disincentive, while a child may more easily have the money for an individual cigarette. However, 10s rather go against this trend.
pottedstu, Mar 01 2002
  

       I used to buy cigarettes in ones and twos when I was a lad. They were absolutely aimed at the pocket money demographic. I even used to go to a shop that sold a special cigarettes and Polo mints package for a pound - which can be for no other reason that to sell to children who need to avoid parental detection. I can't see any worth in this idea - if you want to give up, then stop smoking. Cutting down is kidding yourself.
mcscotland, Mar 01 2002
  

       Ridiculously bad idea, but unfortunately baked.   

       Kids who can't afford to buy a whole pack will be able to buy a few at a time. This already happens in many places. I personally know a store owner who used to do this, until he got caught. He kept a few open packs of the most popular brands behind the counter, and the kids that were in on the scam would come in and buy them singly, a quarter a cig.   

       Don't you see, it's only kids who would use this. Adults who insist on death by self-induced cancer can afford to do it a pack at a time.   

       // I smoke a pack a day, but wish to cut down. However, I can't because there's always the temptation when I have a few more in the pack. //   

       Yup, that's right. You can't. Why even try? It's just not going to happen. Of course, after you smoke those last few, there's the temptation of all of those full packs at the shop, calling out to you. What's the point of even considering quitting?   

       Bullshit. YOU CAN. As long as you tell yourself you can't... you can't. Tell yourself you can, and then do it. No excuses.   

       (sorry, angel, I couldn't help it. It's been a while since I've gone on a good anti-smoking tirade.)
waugsqueke, Mar 01 2002
  

       Hey, don't apologise to me. I totally agree.
[Kaching], I stopped over eleven years ago (on Jan 18th, 1991). I chose a date that was significant to me and decided that, on that day, I would stop. No excuses, no 'cutting down' (because that *is* an excuse), no 'just one more'. To quote again from a film, "Either you're a smoker or you're a non-smoker. Decide which one you are, and be that person." As long as you keep telling yourself that you're 'cutting down', you're still a smoker. Even if you go a day or two without smoking, you're just a smoker who hasn't smoked today. *Be* a non-smoker.
Good luck to you. Make that luck yourself.
angel, Mar 01 2002
  

       What he said. It's only as difficult as you make it. Break it down to the simplest form. Which is:   

       You know how when you smoke? Don't.
waugsqueke, Mar 01 2002
  

       SMOK1N 1Z KEWL! DOE 1T NOW!!!!!!!
pottedstu, Mar 01 2002
  

       A smoker, I went to Spain and bought 200 Marlboro lights last easter, and they stayed in my desk drawer while my friends came and said - oh can I buy them fags off you (I bought them about half the price they would be in UK, and sold at about the same to 3/4 price or so, depending on who it was). I had them there well within temptation's reach, and smoked not one of them. Definitely thought about it a few times, but it's amazing what an amazing thing willpower is when you actually believe you've got it.
sappho, Mar 01 2002
  

       Baked in India and Nepal. Probably elsewhere too, but definitely those places. Shops sell any no. of cigs or a packet.
lubbit, Mar 01 2002
  

       Individual Cigarettes don't have Tax Stamp on them. In U.S. - each State has its own Tax Rate on Tobacco and therefore Tax Stamp. If ciggies are loose - there is no proof it is that States own blah blah blah.
thumbwax, Mar 01 2002
  

       Good idea - if the loose cigs are individually wrapped and cost the same each as a whole pack would. Maybe people who were trying to quit could buy these, but kids would obviously go for a whole pack.
blainez, Mar 01 2002
  

       blainez, buying cigarettes is not trying to quit, is it?
waugsqueke, Mar 01 2002
  

       // but kids would obviously go for a whole pack.

You not read my annotation blainez? Selling cigs in ones and twos is just for kids. When I was a kid and smoked, buying a whole packet really stretched my paper round money. So the shop that sold them singly, though not responsible for my smoking, certainly made it much easier. I think all my friends who smoked between the ages of ten and fifteen would have found it quite difficult to do without single serving cigarette sales.
mcscotland, Mar 02 2002
  

       Truth. A beautiful thing. Cig makers should be allowed to dump their product where it is most welcome, notably shelters and welfare service centers. Because … if you're old enough to be homeless or be on the dole, you shouldn't need an ID to buy smokes and no one should have to waste their time at work checking you for identification.   

       No one asks me for ID when I buy (adult products) but I'd be asked to show my ID for smokes, if I didn't have a conspirator who diverts expired packs to me for $.25US. So notify, and give packs to the down-and-out, and you'll keep their profile lower and probably invite less juvenile exploitation of their indigent parents and friends.   

       God, bless the shower of bones I am about to receive.
reensure, Mar 02 2002
  

       This is very nearly baked in the UK. Vending machines in pubs dispense packets which contain *only * 16 ciggies instead of 20 (for the same price of course!).

I do understand kaching's point though. I don't smoke at all during the week but almost invariably end up with a pack in my pocket at the weekend. And, of course, once they're in front of me I puff my way through them in next to no time. So vending machines that just dispense smokes in small numbers would be a definite improvement. But the only real solution is to ban the sale of the bloody things altogether. So, no fishbone from me but no croissant either.
DrBob, Mar 02 2002
  

       sod selling them in 2s, Sell them only in boxes of 500 - commitment to the cause for those of us that enjoy smoking and a financial disincentive to those too weak to make their own decisions, then stop moaning about the poor innocent kiddiwinks (remember parents, the more you tell them not to, the more they will want to - and rightly so). I reckon yours are down the end of the street having a puff right now....
notripe, Mar 03 2002
  

       Ok folks, I see that my idea was only one-quarter baked! I didn't think 'bout the kiddie angle. I will quit altogether. Weekends are the real problem, though. I can't drink without smoking. So, I'll have to quit drinking also. Besides, there's always the pangs after having a sumptuous dinner. So, I will stop eating. Then there's the good sex that I get on lucky weekends. That'll have to go too! So there...
kaching, Mar 04 2002
  

       what you need kaching is patches, nicotine patches, alcohol patches, sex patches.....
po, Mar 04 2002
  

       kaching... your last paragraph is all lame excuses. Just stop.   

       I really think I need to develop a common sense smoking cessation course. I'm convinced beyond doubt that the typical thinking about this problem patronizes those who are reluctant to quit. "Yes, we know it's hard to do..." "it's an addiction, and tough to break"... "you need help, try this patch..." All excuses. "justquitdammit.com" is available...   

       Just stop. Don't pander to it. Just stop. It really is that simple.   

       // But the only real solution is to ban the sale of the bloody things altogether. //   

       Good doctor, would that it were so. Unfortunately it would just blossom the already existing black market. Some people are just insistent on killing themselves, and they'll pay a lot of money to do it.
waugsqueke, Mar 04 2002
  

       "I want to quit but I can't" = "I want people to think that I want to quit but I don't"
angel, Mar 04 2002
  

       Yep, the only people who give up at those who want to give up smoking. Knowing the price isn't enough, the damage to your health isn't enough. You just have to want to not smoke any more.
dare99, Mar 04 2002
  

       waugs, yes but pehaps I should rephrase my comment to 'the only solution for me is if they stop selling them'. All the while I'm not exposed to them I'm fine, but when someone lights up near by and I get a whiff then my willpower just disintegrates. Perhaps I need to wear an airfilter when I'm in the pub? Oh why am I so weak!
DrBob, Mar 04 2002
  

       Perhaps a bit of aversion therapy, associating the ciggie smell with something unpleasant - Gawt it!   

       What yer need is a personal slap-me-sideways arm. Ask bliss.
neelandan, Mar 04 2002
  

       Anything that lets children do whatever they want gets MY vote. Crossaint for you!
Amishman35, Sep 20 2002
  

       Crossaint, the angry angel.
bristolz, Sep 20 2002
  

       Fishbone... usual reason.
madradish, Sep 20 2002
  

       they sell cigarellos single. particular black and milds... 60 cents each. dont be silly. silly boy.
bubblegrrl79, May 14 2003
  

       Hey Kaching I read your profile and I was wondering why you want to live in Tonga?
silentman, Apr 02 2006
  
      
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