$10.49

Indiana raised the cigarette tax two dollars a pack on July 1. It had been under a dollar since 2007. I found out because I went to the Speedway on Markland on the 2nd and my Pall Malls were $10.49.

I started at 19 and I remember when they were a dollar eighty-something. I’m not going to be the guy who complains about what everything used to cost, but I did stand there at the counter for a second.

Here’s the math I did in the car. A pack a day on a normal day, more on a show day. Call it 30 packs a month. That’s $315 a month now. My car payment is $240. I charge $175 for a birthday party. So that’s about two parties a month, just for cigarettes, before gas, before anything else.

Guys at the Moose are already talking about rolling their own. You buy pipe tobacco instead of cigarette tobacco because it’s taxed different, and use a little crank machine and empty tubes. Denny showed me his. It takes him about twenty minutes on a Sunday night to do the week. He says they taste “almost the same.” He was smoking one while he said it and his face said something else.

My daughter texted me the news article with no message. Just the link. That’s how Kayla tells me things.

I didn’t quit. I want to be honest on here or there’s no point. I bought a carton at Kroger instead, because it’s a little cheaper that way. But it’s the first time the number got big enough that I did the math out loud.