Smoking

[GeorgeRoberts]

wish I could give up..$15 a pack in Oz but still buying....bloody stupid but can't help myself

[Mike S]

I quit 25 years ago and have lived here over 4 and have no desire to take up that habit again I quit cold turkey .... threw the pack I had away and never picked them up again ..... they want to raise money here in the Philippines start taxing smokes and alcohol ..... fastest way to raise revenue ..... IMHO ..... :tiphat:

[andre007]

Sorry Bob the local smokes are more like Canadian than American and very cheap . i can,t remember the price but aroumd 200p for a carton of cheap smokes at Gaisano

I need a not like button!!!

:mocking:

I remember years ago I was in USA and talking to a lady in the Caribbean who smokes and has a 14 year old son. She adamantly told me not to tell he she should not smoke etc. I advised that is her business how she lives her life but then I proceeded to tell her how mad I was at my mother when she died. She asked why? I said because my mother chose to smoke and she died early therefore cheating out of my life with her and it was not fare.

The lady told me she thought she heard every reason in the world not to smoke until I told her my story. She stopped smoking and we remain friends to this day. In case you are wondering it was a true story about my mother RIP...

[jode]

Hey Jode,

You mentioned on your trip to Baguio and Manila, you were to told (3 times) to put out your cigarettes.

I'm curious exactly where it's enforced by the local PNP not to smoke.

Thank you -- Jake

Once in burnham park once on the side of the road boardering the park and once standing outside the bus station in manila. Manila is supposed to have many places now where smoking is prohibited and a huge fine possible for violators. Every time I lit up there my gf was afraid i would be fined.

For anyone who has quit its important to realize that you can never have another cigarette again no matter what. I knew that and still started smoking again. About the most regrettable thing about my Philippine experience.

[i am bob]

they want to raise money here in the Philippines start taxing smokes and alcohol ..... fastest way to raise revenue ..... IMHO .....

Is that why they don't have T.P. ?

:mocking:

[samatm]

I think its really funny to see the those baby packs of Marlboros the 5 packs and the 10 packs. Kinda cute. YOu know a country is poor when vendors make a living selling single smokes. I don't smoke but have been tempted occasionally by the cheap smokes. In fact I bought 2 pieces from a vendor on the side of the road, but threw the smokes away when I saw the vendor finger them with his grubby (we know where those hands have been fingers).

[ekimswish]

I started smoking at 29 years old in the Philippines. Before that I had dabbled just a little bit with an ex girlfriend at the bar in Korea, but even the few smokes I had would put my asthmatic butt in coughing fits for the rest of the week. Every time I laughed at a movie, I'd end up coughing, so decided it wasn't good for me.

Then I small town, Leyte, when we were building our nipa house, I'd end up drinking tuba with the workers every couple nights and started smoking a bit with them. I would just buy a pack since I knew the smokes were expensive for them, but then I got to liking it. Something about fresh air and a relaxing country life attracted me to it for some weird reason.

Then i left my family to work in Taiwan, and being lonely and bored, I kept up the habit. Now I've been smoking a pack a day for the last year. They cost about $2us in Taiwan, which is expensive for me anytime I come back from the Philippines, and the local brands are $0.50. I usually get a couple cartons at the mall and take them back to last a month.

I'm planning on moving back to Canada this summer, and I think I'll give it up there where I'm definitely too cheap to be spending $10 on a pack. I have a hard enough time with $2 in TW. Still, you never know, so I hope I don't get "used to it" when I move home.

Also, not having my kids around is a big part of smoking a pack a day. I've kept up the habit when visiting in the Philippines, but always feel guilty around my kids. I think about dieing young from lung cancer, but I also think about them picking up the habit when they're older, and that'd be a big disservice to them as a parent. My parents never drank or smoked, but they're conservative Christians. They had a big part to do with me never smoking until late, as well as having a late start as a drinker (again, in Asia).

My wife was a smoker when I met her, and after getting pregnant she stopped, but with a little assistance from me. I found a pack she hid on top of the fridge one day and reasoned that if I threw it out she'd just buy another. Instead, I took out about five cigs from a nearly full pack, and wiped my butt with them in front of her, and then put them back in the pack in different spots. She thought it was funny, but I knew it would mess with her mind: "Why buy another pack when I have a mostly good pack here; but do I really want to smoke ass?"

It worked. At least until we moved back to the Philippines at which point I started new, and started anew. Hopefully high taxes in Canada will get us out of the habit.

[samatm]

Then i left my family to work in Taiwan, and being lonely and bored, I kept up the habit. Now I've been smoking a pack a day for the last year. They cost about $2us in Taiwan, which is expensive for me anytime I come back from the Philippines, and the local brands are $0.50. I usually get a couple cartons at the mall and take them back to last a month.

I'm planning on moving back to Canada this summer, and I think I'll give it up there where I'm definitely too cheap to be spending $10 on a pack. I have a hard enough time with $2 in TW. Still, you never know, so I hope I don't get "used to it" when I move home.

Well it will be Harder to buy Long Life Brand in Canda so that should slow you down. How do you know Brent in Taipei?

Edited May 12, 2012 by samatm

[i am bob]

Ah how I remember the good old days when I swore I would quit when cigarettes hit $2 a pack...

:mocking:

[ekimswish]

Then i left my family to work in Taiwan, and being lonely and bored, I kept up the habit. Now I've been smoking a pack a day for the last year. They cost about $2us in Taiwan, which is expensive for me anytime I come back from the Philippines, and the local brands are $0.50. I usually get a couple cartons at the mall and take them back to last a month.

I'm planning on moving back to Canada this summer, and I think I'll give it up there where I'm definitely too cheap to be spending $10 on a pack. I have a hard enough time with $2 in TW. Still, you never know, so I hope I don't get "used to it" when I move home.

Well it will be Harder to buy Long Life Brand in Canda so that should slow you down. How do you know Brent in Taipei?

Whose Brent in Taipei? Sorry if you're just kidding. A lot of things fly way over my head.