Sorry to butt in, but we all need to butt out again |
There was no big ceremony, no date recorded for posterity. All I remember is that some time in the mid 2000s, I stubbed out my last cigarette.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
Login or signup to continue reading
Health played a large part in the decision; my mother was a heavy smoker all her life and had recently succumbed to cancer. And there was no avoiding the nausea-inducing anti-smoking ads on TV.
The expense was a factor, too. I had my first puff when 33 cents bought you membership of the Escort club - or so the ad promised. Steadily the price of a pack of 20 rose as taxes piled on over the years. I vaguely remember vowing to give up the habit when the price of a pack of gaspers reached, first, $5 then $10. They're now between $40 and $60 a pack.
But the biggest motivator was shame.
When I first joined the workforce in the late 1970s, every office was cast in the blue fug of tobacco smoke and upon almost every desk sat an ashtray, more often that not overflowing with butts. Buses had smoking and non-smoking sections and on aircraft, as soon as the seatbelt signed was switched off, passengers reached into their pockets for cigarettes. Every car came with a cigarette lighter and ashtray.
As the world became aware of the dangers not only of smoking directly but of breathing in the carcinogen-laden exhalations of other smokers, tobacco began to be banished. From offices, banks, restaurants, public transport, anywhere where people gathered. Smokers, once portrayed as cool, became pariahs, seen furtively gathered together on pavements outside office blocks, chuffing way while hoping the boss didn't see them.
The brands once marketed as glamorous were covered in plain packaging, stark warnings and graphic photos. Instead of Benson & Hedges, "When only the best will do", it became B&H and your choice of lung cancer or gangrene.
One dirty look too many and I decided to kick the filthy habit. Smoking in those first few years of the 21st century seemed so, well, last century.
In 2026, Australia's illegal tobacco trade is estimated to be worth $10 billion a year. Barely a week goes by without a report of a seizure of cigarettes or yet another tobacco shop torched as organised crime fights a vicious turf war over this pernicious trade. It's become so bad, some apartment owners living above tobacco shops face their insurance premiums tripling.
While the percentage of Australians smoking remains among the lowest in the world, those who remain addicted are generally........