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January 2003 for me — and not even a puff-in-secret since then.

I do think of all the tax money the government isn’t getting — kids suffering because of lesser money to education, etc., as I sit in the nice cushy recliner and watch the LCD TV while surfing FR on my new Laptop.

When I quit, a regular brand cost about $40/carton. Now, they are about $70/carton. I would smoke 3 cartons per month, so I figure I am saving about $2000 per year. Thus, I don’t feel guilty about splurging occasionally from the money I am saving by not buying cigs any more.

There were two big reasons I quit. One, my youngest son, currently deployed in Afghanistan, had asthma attacks that were brought on by expose to my smoking, and he required hospitalization twice before I realized I was the cause. Second, my father, who smoked up until his death from a motorcycle accident five years ago this month, was coughing up black stuff around the same time my son was having his health problems.

A third reason, though not as much of one as the other two, was the first of the huge tax increases went into effect January 1989. That was the month I quit. Since then there have been numerous tax increases on tobacco. I do not recall the price of a carton of cigarettes when I quite. They were under $20. I was smoking 2.5 packs a day at that point. That's 7.5 cartons a month. At today's prices that would be $6,300 a year. Wow!