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Photos You Need To Really Look At To Understand

catseye said:
The lads from the garage, farmers, builders...I'd guess people who make enough money that they don't need to worry about the cost! And most of them are buying at least one pack of 20 a day - that's upwards of £70 a week, just on fags.
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Have to say that having made many foolish decisions in my longish life, I was clever enough not to smoke. :cool:
 
catseye said:
I have to sell these things. And shelve them. I get a really good, long look at all the cancers, amputations and rotting teeth on the packets. I have never smoked in my life and these pictures traumatise me, whilst all the smokers just rip open the packets and never even look at the pictures. Although I did have one bloke ask for a different packet of Players Red, because he didn't like the picture on the front.

So they've done a really good job of putting me off, and seem to do nothing to deter the regular smokers.
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I suspect the target audience for the gross cancer pictures is the group who are just starting to smoke. It's to prevent them from becoming the regular smokers. You get caught in the crossfire so to speak.
escargot said:
Who are the rich smokers buying ready-made fags?
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Americans!!! Everybody knows Americans are rich!!!
 
IbisNibs said:
I suspect the target audience for the gross cancer pictures is the group who are just starting to smoke. It's to prevent them from becoming the regular smokers. You get caught in the crossfire so to speak.
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I've sometimes wondered (not that I'd ever do it) what would happen if one of us non-smoking cigarette sellers sued for PTSD or other mental health problems from having to look at those pictures day in and day out.
 
IbisNibs said:
Americans!!! Everybody knows Americans are rich!!!
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If you lived in NJ, you would see that is not the case at all. They seem to have increased salaries in the last few years, but also during that time many are not working, so I would have to assume public assistance is in use.
Inflation in my part of the country is soaring, rents alone are staggering and have tripled in the last two years. Along with groceries, medical costs, cable tv, phones, internet, and especially utilities (gas and electric) and fuel.
Things were so much easier just a few years ago.
 
Ronnie Jersey said:
If you lived in NJ, you would see that is not the case at all. They seem to have increased salaries in the last few years, but also during that time many are not working, so I would have to assume public assistance is in use.
Inflation in my part of the country is soaring, rents alone are staggering and have tripled in the last two years. Along with groceries, medical costs, cable tv, phones, internet, and especially utilities (gas and electric) and fuel.
Things were so much easier just a few years ago.
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From what I've read and heard, it seems that there are warnings that America could soon be heading for a possible recession, which could have a knock-on affect in other parts of the world?
 
Sid said:
From what I've read and heard, it seems that there are warnings that America could soon be heading for a possible recession, which could have a knock-on affect in other parts of the world?
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I'm not sure how that works, and the USA is so huge - spoke to my stepdaughter who lives in the deep south today, things are much cheaper in her part of the country. But also much less populated.
 
catseye said:
I have to sell these things. And shelve them. I get a really good, long look at all the cancers, amputations and rotting teeth on the packets. I have never smoked in my life and these pictures traumatise me, whilst all the smokers just rip open the packets and never even look at the pictures. Although I did have one bloke ask for a different packet of Players Red, because he didn't like the picture on the front.

So they've done a really good job of putting me off, and seem to do nothing to deter the regular smokers.
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As an ex-smoker, I can say that the images, while gross, never were a deterrent. But the increasing prices certainly were. I quit when a pack of 20 hit $20 Australian (I guess around 10 years ago). A pack of $20 costs close to $50 now, more if you want foreign cigs, like Marlboros. Australian smoking rates have plummeted, and kids can't afford cigs, which is good. However, illegal vapes with kiddie flavours and colours have taken over (you need a doctor's prescription for legit vapes now if you want to use them to help quit smoking), which means kids can buy them in dodgy shops relatively cheaply. They are loaded with high levels of addictive nicotine (far higher than cigs), and without regulation there is no knowing just how much nicotine is in them.
 
catseye said:
I have to sell these things. And shelve them. I get a really good, long look at all the cancers, amputations and rotting teeth on the packets. I have never smoked in my life and these pictures traumatise me, whilst all the smokers just rip open the packets and never even look at the pictures. Although I did have one bloke ask for a different packet of Players Red, because he didn't like the picture on the front.

So they've done a really good job of putting me off, and seem to do nothing to deter the regular smokers.
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I also doubt that the ban that started a few years ago on menthol cigarettes did very much to stop people smoking either. Some may have, but the rest will have just moved onto 'roll-up's' as you can still buy menthol tips for those (work that one out), or they'll have started using 'normal' cigarettes instead.
 
Floyd1 said:
I also doubt that the ban that started a few years ago on menthol cigarettes did very much to stop people smoking either. Some may have, but the rest will have just moved onto 'roll-up's' as you can still buy menthol tips for those (work that one out), or they'll have started using 'normal' cigarettes instead.
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A few years ago I found an unopened 20-pack of menthol cigarettes. Gave it to a chain-smoking friend. He snorted his contempt and promised to hand it on.
He told me later that they were hawked around for a week or more as nobody wanted them. :chuckle:

It hadn't occurred to me that smokers had any preference. :dunno:
 
escargot said:
Was going to make that exact point but you put it better. ;)

I knew someone who'd ask holidaymakers to bring him back Drum rolling tobacco because he liked it.
Baffled me. He's dead now.
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Drum is THE most expensive rolling tobacco though.
 
poozler said:
As an ex-smoker, I can say that the images, while gross, never were a deterrent. But the increasing prices certainly were. I quit when a pack of 20 hit $20 Australian (I guess around 10 years ago). A pack of $20 costs close to $50 now, more if you want foreign cigs, like Marlboros. Australian smoking rates have plummeted, and kids can't afford cigs, which is good. However, illegal vapes with kiddie flavours and colours have taken over (you need a doctor's prescription for legit vapes now if you want to use them to help quit smoking), which means kids can buy them in dodgy shops relatively cheaply. They are loaded with high levels of addictive nicotine (far higher than cigs), and without regulation there is no knowing just how much nicotine is in them.
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We are just as hot over here on age checks for vapers as we are for smokers. Can't buy vapes under 18 (and will ask for ID if you look under 25). There are frequent checks on shops selling these products and extremely punative fines if you're caught selling under age.
 
escargot said:
Was going to make that exact point but you put it better. ;)

I knew someone who'd ask holidaymakers to bring him back Drum rolling tobacco because he liked it.
Baffled me. He's dead now.
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Drum tobacco really is nice smelling (the tobacco, not the smoke). A friend of mine used to make his rollups with Drum, and I loved to just sniff the bagful of leaf.
 
poozler said:
Drum tobacco really is nice smelling (the tobacco, not the smoke). A friend of mine used to make his rollups with Drum, and I loved to just sniff the bagful of leaf.
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You remind me of sniffing my father's pipe tobacco as a young child. It smelt so sweet, like nothing else. :)
I did of course try eating some. :roll:
 
escargot said:
A few years ago I found an unopened 20-pack of menthol cigarettes. Gave it to a chain-smoking friend. He snorted his contempt and promised to hand it on.
He told me later that they were hawked around for a week or more as nobody wanted them. :chuckle:

It hadn't occurred to me that smokers had any preference. :dunno:
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Smokers are true to their brands. When i was a teen in Canada, particular high-schools had preferred cigarettes, which would distinguish students of one school from another. As an adult, I always smoked 'my' brand of cigarettes. It really is crazy because of course there isn't much difference. I know that menthol cigarettes were marketed to the black population in the USA, so you usually saw black kids smoking menthols. Did you know that menthol cigarettes have/had higher tar and nicotine levels?

Here in Australia, as in many other countries, all cigarettes now have identical packaging (here it's a dull olive brown, with indistinguishable simple black lettering, including the brand name) so it is harder for smokers to identify with (or even simply identify) their cigarettes. You can no longer tell a girly cigarette from a macho one -- the horror! the horror! Manufacturers also can no longer say whether their cigs are 'low tar' or 'light', so everyone seems to use words like 'gold' or 'red' to indicate strength -- a not-so-secret code.

Raising the price (taxes) of cigarettes is probably the smartest, best thing thing that Australia has done for its citizens.
 
poozler said:
Smokers are true to their brands. When i was a teen in Canada, particular high-schools had preferred cigarettes, which would distinguish students of one school from another. As an adult, I always smoked 'my' brand of cigarettes. It really is crazy because of course there isn't much difference. I know that menthol cigarettes were marketed to the black population in the USA, so you usually saw black kids smoking menthols. Did you know that menthol cigarettes have/had higher tar and nicotine levels?

Here in Australia, as in many other countries, all cigarettes now have identical packaging (here it's a dull olive brown, with indistinguishable simple black lettering, including the brand name) so it is harder for smokers to identify with (or even simply identify) their cigarettes. You can no longer tell a girly cigarette from a macho one -- the horror! the horror! Manufacturers also can no longer say whether their cigs are 'low tar' or 'light', so everyone seems to use words like 'gold' or 'red' to indicate strength -- a not-so-secret code.

Raising the price (taxes) of cigarettes is probably the smartest, best thing thing that Australia has done for its citizens.
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Had a friend who worked in a proper tobacconist shop, selling everything to do with smoking. It stocked a range of flavoured tobaccos which gave it an exotic aroma.

It's still there and probably sells vapes or whatever now.

(I last mentioned this shop in 2013, when I noted that The shop had no toilet or hand washing facilities so I used to 'babysit' while my friend popped to the shop next door to use theirs. This wasn't really allowed but hey, what's a girl to do?

How the hell can a shop have no running water?)
 
escargot said:
Even now, a whiff of pipe smoke - very rare these days - takes me back to the age of about 8.
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My grandad used to smoke a pipe. I'd watch him fill it with fascination, and called his tobacco 'seaweed' (because that's what it looked like, to a five year old!). And yes, the smell is very evocative, although the smell of pipe tobacco, for some reason, takes me straight to a tobacconists shop in Bruge, when I was about twelve years old. I have no idea why, when my grandad smoked, the smell doesn't remind me of him, but it doesn't, it reminds me of a twenty second burst in a shop in Belgium!
 
catseye said:
My grandad used to smoke a pipe. I'd watch him fill it with fascination, and called his tobacco 'seaweed' (because that's what it looked like, to a five year old!). And yes, the smell is very evocative, although the smell of pipe tobacco, for some reason, takes me straight to a tobacconists shop in Bruge, when I was about twelve years old. I have no idea why, when my grandad smoked, the smell doesn't remind me of him, but it doesn't, it reminds me of a twenty second burst in a shop in Belgium!
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I wonder if the smell was so familiar to you in that foreign environment that it made an unusually strong impression?

We used to have a thread on evocative smells.
 
escargot said:
I wonder if the smell was so familiar to you in that foreign environment that it made an unusually strong impression?

We used to have a thread on evocative smells.
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I remember commenting on that thread, about how the smell of cut, or crushed, grass reminds me of being at the Devon County Show. We went annually with school, and for some reason THAT is the association, regardless of the fact that I've smelled cut grass in millions of other locations and situations - some of them far more worthy of forming memories than sitting by the show ring watching Yearling In Hand classes.
 
catseye said:
I remember commenting on that thread, about how the smell of cut, or crushed, grass reminds me of being at the Devon County Show. We went annually with school, and for some reason THAT is the association, regardless of the fact that I've smelled cut grass in millions of other locations and situations - some of them far more worthy of forming memories than sitting by the show ring watching Yearling In Hand classes.
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It's probably to do with the emotional context.
I used to sniff cut grass with fond memories of sitting on school fields at Break with my mates.

It was special to me because my first school had just a yard, no greenery.

Later we had a very sad family funeral in July when the council were mowing, so that's what the smell evokes now. :(
 
catseye said:
We are just as hot over here on age checks for vapers as we are for smokers. Can't buy vapes under 18 (and will ask for ID if you look under 25). There are frequent checks on shops selling these products and extremely punative fines if you're caught selling under age.
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I used to buy single cigarettes from a local newsagent when I was still at school and even in my school uniform. I can't remember if I paid 10p or 20p but now I look back on it, the shop owner was a prick for selling those to me because I was only 13 . I'm glad the laws are tighter now.
 
CharmerKamelion said:
Isn't it strange that so many of these things found on pebbles/planks/muffins/pancakes/pizzas/ turnips/whatever which happen 'coincidentally' to look like human faces so often tend 'coincidentally' to look like (what we think) Jesus Christ looked like? Just a coincidence within a coincidence?

Any thoughts or theories?
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There was an episode of The John Larroquette Show, a rather dark sitcom about a bus terminal, in which many people saw a miraculous face of Jesus on a wall outside the terminal building. It turned out to be an old Willie Nelson poster that was painted over.

Swifty said:
Half a million cigarettes? .. a pack of just 20 is almost £20 in England now.
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Some smokers in the U.S. buy their cigarettes on Indian reservations, where they are exempt from the high taxes. Supposedly only tribal members should be allowed to buy them, but most shops don't bother to check. I imagine the purchasers don't go out of their way to settle up with the taxing authorities either.
 
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