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I found it hard many times before. The price these days makes it easier as it's quite hard to justify. It's almost £11 a pack here!

Well done for stopping so well!

When I was a cadet, at the French naval academy, in 1968-1970, for the equivalent of US$1, every month we were given 16 packs of black tobacco cigarettes ("Gauloises"), without filter, of course.
I was already smoking before starting the naval academy, but was limited by my finances: you could buy a pack of Gauloises for a little less than 50 cents, and that was expensive for me, as I had no money allowance from my parents.

I have heard many times of Gauloises, they were meant to be ridiculously strong werent they? That must have been the black tobacco part. It always amazes me that they didnt have a filter. That kind of smoke would send peoples heads reeling.