Cigarette money put to good use

[dddddmorgan]

To shorten a long story as much as possible... I quit smoking for real a while back. I've smoked my whole life, off and on. So on the suggestion of others I have been putting my cigarette money aside and I planned on using that for a "treat".

Well I had honestly put it out of my mind when I was out in the garage beginning casting season again and I got frustrated with my tired old equipment. I've had my furnace and sizer for more than 20 years now and they were well used when I bought them.

Suddenly the light comes on... the computer fires up and looks around... and two boxes arrived yesterday from the big brown Santa. I ordered the Lyman 25 Mag furnace with the digital controls and the RCBS Lubamatic with the variable base warmer.

Boy oh boy am I in fat city now!

The luber will have to wait until my White Label order shows up, it's okay the boolits can pile up

I cleaned the Lyman furnace out as best I could and fired it up, ran a bit of scrap through it to clean it out thoroughly and then filled it up so it's ready for a fun day today.

That Lyman melting pot is huge! Twice (actually more) the size I'm used to, and the digital controls are beautiful, I'm in heaven. Although I will tell Lyman I think they missed the mark not putting an on/off switch on the silly thing. It would be simple engineering for them to add a switch that would let the fan run after turning it off to help cool things down to a certain point.

I took the advice of others and bought a little lift table from Amazon, glued some non-slip rubber on the bottom and took out the included mould guide.

I'll see you later, if you need me I'll be in the garage...

[Baltimoreed]

Congrats on quitting, it is an expensive and unhealthy habit. I never smoked and gave up alcohol in ‘72. Add a good fan to keep all those nasty fumes that you don’t want to inhale away from you and go cast some boolits on your new toys.

[dddddmorgan]

Yep, I had a good setup for ventilation where I previously lived, not so now. I'm going to correct that today. I'll swing by and get a switch and a couple of fans. The boss sent me home sick so I have today through Friday off with pay.

Funny story, I was eating sunflower seeds when I walked into the office, swallowed a split shell accidentally and started gagging and choking and would up throwing up in the break room sink. Turns out a fellow employee is out with the back door flu and throwing up and the boss is a hypochondriac, panicked immediately and dismissed me.

[dverna]

At $8/day for cigarettes (one pack), that comes to $2800/year. Think of all the nice toys a person can get for $2800/year.

[lightman]

Heres another "good on you" for quitting! It sounds like you have put that money to good use.

[TNsailorman]

A thousand "attaboys". Great decision on both quitting the weed and using the money to buy casting equipment. james

[Bmi48219]

Congratulations on quitting! It’s been 17 years for me. I occasionally notice cigarette prices in the grocery store. The brand I used to smoke is $10.30 per pack at our neighborhood Publix! Truly a luxury habit nowadays.

[kayala]

I've been smoking for over 30 years at least pack a day. Quit in 2008, I think, and never looked back. In 15 years even at $5 a pack savings come to a $27000+ - quite a chunk of cash lol.

[jsizemore]

I quit smoking when cigarettes hit a dollar a pack. Figured I use the cigarette money for guns and gun stuff. For a while there I was about 20 years of cigarette money in the hole from all the gun stuff I bought. I think I'm ahead after seeing the price of cigarettes nowadays.

[obssd1958]

Congrats on quitting!
I quit in 2003, after smoking for almost 33 years. A pack a day right from the start.
I also gave myself a present at the end of the first year after quitting. I bought a brand new Zeiss Conquest 4.5-14x44. At almost $800, it was something I never would have purchased otherwise.
I can't believe the cost of smokes these days!!!

[dddddmorgan]

I’m grateful for the support. I started at the age of 13, Camels were.50 a pack, remember that?

I was feeling a little guilty for my purchase so I went to the garage and cast 50lbs of boolits, feeling much better!

[rbuck351]

I have never smoked but I'm told it is a very hard habit to quit. Congrats. I have trouble understanding why people would spend that amount of money for something that is that bad for them. But, with that habit gone and a pack a day at $10 @, $3650 a year would keep me well supplied with stuff for my hobbies.

[porthos]

i quit a 2-3 pack a day habit in the early 1980s. if i could quit smoking that much daily; no-one can tell me that they "can't quit". i do smoke a good cigar every week or two.

[Bazoo]

Awesome treat, enjoy it! I've never smoked myself, but my mom did. Once... she chose buying smokes over paying the electric bill, and didn't tell me until the power went out. It's a strong addiction for sure. She had a cigarette about an hour before she passed away from various smoking induced cancers.

[Tall]

Good for you! I quit in 1983. At that time cigarettes were about $1 a pack; a carton cost me around $9. At that time a new Mustang GT cost around $13,000 so for me, with a 25% downpayment my car payment was around $200 / month. My cigarette habit payed for my car.

[GasGuzzler]

$1.78 in 1993.
$9.78 now.

[WILCO]

Great report!!!!!!!!

[Charlie Horse]

Of all the things I've done, including going to college and staying married 31 years so far, quitting smoking back in 2003 is by far the best.

[Carrier]

I haven’t smoked or drank in decades. The cigarettes were $3.50 for pack of 25 and the 26 oz of whiskey I drank every day or two was $20.00 for a 26 oz. They are now $20.00 per pack and about $60.00 for a 26 oz up here in commie Canada. Not only am I so much healthier and happier I have money for so many other things that do.

[georgerkahn]

At $8/day for cigarettes (one pack), that comes to $2800/year. Think of all the nice toys a person can get for $2800/year.

In your state, prices are low? In New York State the average price for one pack of cancer sticks, as we wall them, is $12.89 a pack. Most ma-pa stores sell than at from $12.50 to $14.50; the legal low-price in New York City is at $13.00 per pack, and some cigarette machines purvey them -- credit card purchase only by swiping your card -- running up to twenty U S dollars per pack! The TAX collected by the state is at $5.35 per pack, which may be part of the reason why they are so high!

Fortunately for me, I quit -- believe it or not -- when they passed $1.50 a pack for Ralieghs -- $1.53 to be exact. I attended a hospital X-mas party (wife's a RN) and one of the doctor's handed out free prescriptions for the then-new patches. I took advantage of this -- one of the best things I ever did!
geo