More bad, bad news for smokers, as the price of a packet of cancer sticks now hits an average of $ 35 from a 12.5 percent tax hike.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7421087/Cigarette-prices-Australia-surge-12-5-cent-latest-excise-hike.html?ico=pushly-notifcation-small
“The price of Australian cigarettes rose by another 12.5 per cent on Sunday - the latest in a series of tobacco excise hikes that's taken the average packet to a world record of $35. The federal Government has now hiked tobacco excise for seven consecutive years - with an average pack expected to hit $40 a pack by 2020. One health official said the habit will cost an average smoker $10,000 a year. The excise increases are on top of regular CPI hikes, with experts telling Daily Mail Australia an average cigarette stick now costs more than $1 including GST. People looking to save a buck by rolling their own sticks are not immune to the tax sting, with prices for a bag of tobacco jumping by a similar amount.”
That is over a dollar a cig. At that price cigs are getting close to the cost of bullets. While I do not recommend that people smoke bullets, which is a very dangerous and unwise thing to even think about, it would be an option to abandon smoking and take up guns. If smoke is your thing, shoot black powder weapons, say in classic cowboy action, where you can get your smoke and blast targets too:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWaZPUxIQcc