Quitting smoking hassaved me in many ways

The scratch of the flint would spark yellow, lighting the evaporating butane as it escaped the needle eye-sized hole on the top of the plastic lighter. The ironically clean white filter sat secure between my moistened lips, and I sucked my cheeks in as I brought the flame within 70 millimeters of my face, inhaling as the flame kissed the end of the cigarette. The smoke caressed the back of my throat as it invaded my lungs.

The nicotine breached my bloodstream and fed my brain. I was a smoker. This scenario or one similar to it played out nearly 50,000 times in my life. 50,000 times! That’s about how many cigarettes I estimate I smoked between the ages of 16 and 27. Getting them underage was a challenge, but I learned quickly where to go and when. The decision to start was one of foolishness, of youth, and of wanting to fit in. The opportunities to quit occurred more than once, but it took the impending move-in with my eventual wife to motivate me to quit for good. It took medication and a plan.

The anniversary of my quit date was a week ago today. It’s been nine years. It all adds up In that nine years I estimate I’ve saved more than $13,000. That money will come in handy, too, because I’ll likely live much longer because of my decision to quit; 14 years longer by some estimates. For nine years I’ve had better smelling clothes, car seats without burn holes in them, and my senses of taste and smell have greater clarity. It’s disappointing to me that an estimated 45.3 million Americans have not seen the light as millions of others like me have.

They continue to light up. That’s nearly one in five people in this country. By not quitting they volunteer to pay roughly $31 billion in taxes per year. Here’s how I came to that number. The average state’s cigarette tax is $1.49 per pack. (Minnesota’s is $1.60). The federal tax per pack is $1.01. (Both figures are from the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids’ June report). The average smoker consumes 13-16 cigarettes per day, according to AOL’s Dailyfinance.com. I rounded to 15, or 0.75 packs.