I'm a smoker. I have been for 15 years. I find it utterly repulsive that New York State, together with New York City, have imposed such ridiculous takes on cigarettes. When I started smoking, cigarettes cost about $2.00 a pack. Now, they average about $12.50. In Manhattan, they are even more expensive. This is getting really outrageous. Especially since a pack of cigarettes costs less than .80 cents to manufacture. These taxes are draining the pockets of every smoker in New York. Most non-smokers say that the simple solution is to quit, but I like smoking. I enjoy it. There is no reason for these taxes to be so high. The combination of Bloomberg/Patterson is making the lives of working class people in New York very difficult. Cigarette prices are just one of the many ways that our state and local governments are really taking advantage of us.