Cigarettes as trading stock?

[DunRanull]

Store sealed cans of tobacco, and glass bottles of alcoholic beverages. I would stash pure grain alcohol as trading stock and Isley malt scotch for personal use. I keep pure turkish tobacco for my own use. Hot wax can be used to seal bottle tops.

 

[Eric in Oregon]

Shrink Wrapped and keep in Freezer.

This. Back when I smoked, my grandmother gave me her last 2 packs that had been stored in the deep freeze for the ~20 years since she had quit. The one that still had the factory seal was literally as good as new. The other one had been opened and then stored in plastic wrap and was completely unusable.

 

[Spec.-K]

My theory is you need to hunker down for a whole month if the SHTF.
Most food will have been used up in the first couple of weeks, and so will be the people that didn't have it. I think they say that most (like 95%) of people in urban areas will be dead in the first 2 weeks.
If cities can't be resupplied, people will turn to desperate measures real quick.
Cans (or pouches) of tuna fish or other meats will be extremely sought after, and can be used as very enticing bait!
Anyone who survived beyond that point, could be a formidable opponent.

But back to the OPs topic...
When it comes to tobacco once the SHTF, it won't matter what type, the only thing that will matter is having it when others don't.
I keep some rolling tobacco vacuum-sealed just in case.

Small bottles of liquor would be another great commodity. Even airline sized.
Survival is rough, and people naturally seek escapism, so even a tiny airline bottle of liquor can have a great placebo effect.

Bullets and being able to make them will be invaluable. If people run out of bullets, their guns become useless, and then you can acquire said guns for other items...like little bottles of liquor, or a small amount of tobacco....

 

[raylo]

Does anyone remember the scene from Costner's 'The Postman' at the beginning when he knocks over a cig machine, sees the cartons fall out and he says 'I'm rich'.

I have four varieties of tobacco seeds and a greenhouse. I intend to grow a few plants next season. Great natural pesticide and antifungal. Also very good for cleansing soil. Much like hemp it extracts metals and other undesirable elements from the dirt.

 

[EPS]

You have to get vape juice now.
Well not really just enough to get them in close enough .
To shoot them in the head lol.

 

[DuneHopper]

The biggest risk to tobacco was drying out - If tobacco dries try and put a a piece of cabbage leaf in the tobacco tin and this provided just enough moisture to 're-invigourate' the tobacco. For ready rolled cigarettes that have dried out it might be possible to liven them up by taking them out of their packet and putting them in a tin with something moist like cabbage leaf. Without care a pack will last around a year (ish) to 18 months . Its not so much what you wrap them with as how you do it as mentioned.

 

[MannyGlocks]

I love tobacco in all it's forms: Chewing (Mail Pouch my favorite, but sure Redman, Beechnut, and plug too, Days Work, and soooo many others, like Mickey's Twist, Skoal, Luckies, Old Golds when I was a kid, Marlboros, and fine, hand made, ridiculously expensive cigars. Tons of them.

Now though, I don't indulge. Haven't for years. Still miss it.

If I don't croak overnight from a killer M.I. or by some stupid self induced accident, (like yesterday carelessly walking into a tree, damn that hurt...) but if I'm given ye olde "Mr. Smith (fake name) you have (fill in the terminal blank) and have but a short time left on the mudball before you shuffle off this mortal coil, WELL if, most probably when that announcement is make "I'm gonna smoke and chew" to my quivering heart's content.

I'll die with my last smoky breath and a big old smile plastered on my face.

 

[Defense Minister]

Finely loaded brass never goes out of style either.

Someone could kill me for a cigarette, but they can't kill me with one! It would take a great level of trust for me to barter with ammo, but cigs are definitely on my radar especially since I don't smoke. I may get a couple cartons and vacuum seal them.

 

[RVNvet]

Ah, old memories!

When I told my dad I was soon bound for Vietnam, he told me to take along some tobacco, "just in case." He had been on Guadalcanal and New Britain, and said any tobacco there had been worth more than its weight in gold. So I threw in a large can of Bugler rolling tobacco (which I had grown fond of while working for the Forest Service deep in the heart of the Bob Marshall Wilderness area the summer before). Sure enough, we were first sent to a remote area outside of Qui Nohn, and the only cigarettes available were a Vietnamese brand that tasted like horsehair dunked in battery acid. (We only had K-rations, so no cigs there, either...this was in '65.) I could have sold or traded my tobacco, but 'brotherhood' and all that, so shared with the guys in my tent. I was one very popular PFC for the next week or so!

ON TOPIC: Canned rolling tobacco should keep just about forever if left sealed, so I'd go that route. Just remember to toss in plenty of rolling papers; we ran out, and soggy issues of Stars and Stripes were a poor, though adequate, substitute.

 

[Spec.-K]

I do enjoy a little pinch of snuff from time to time. You can get a container of it for around $10.
It's a completely dry powder, and stores extremely well.
Even with a healthy habit, I've barely made a dent in it.
It's cheap, and will last almost forever if it doesn't get exposed to moisture.
I like to store my pipe tobacco in a tin. It works quite well at holding its moisture in.

 

[CountryGent]

Thanks for the ideas, etc. @RVNvet. Bugler is a good idea.

(Your memories keyed one of my mine: a dear friend of my, years ago, used to smoke hand rolled cigarettes with said. He didn't drive nor own a car, so I remember plenty of times giving him a lift to buy canned goods, staples, and, naturally the big blue tin.)

 

[Camelfilter]

Thanks for the ideas, etc. @RVNvet. Bugler is a good idea.

(Your memories keyed one of my mine: a dear friend of my, years ago, used to smoke hand rolled cigarettes with said. He didn't drive nor own a car, so I remember plenty of times giving him a lift to buy canned goods, staples, and, naturally the big blue tin.)

AFAIK, Bugler is no longer sold in a tin. It's a cardboard replicate. Could be wrong tho.

Anywho, if it is a cardboard, mayhaps repackage in mylar?

Don't forget to stock up on the rolling papers & the little cigarette rolling machines!

I'd imagine one could make a fare trade off of decently rolled cigarettes, in a time when commercially mades are no longer available. Should one so chose. ie a cigarette for a fresh chicken egg or 2, 4 apples/pears, nails, wood screws etc etc.

Mind that there's a bunch to bartering, where one may have to do multiples to get to a sought needed/desired product. ie, the cheese or soap folks may not want cigarettes, but may trade for nails. On example.

 

[gunfreak]

I think it's a good idea, I don't smoke or drink but keep both on hand for emergencies.

 

[Jcon268]

I don't doubt it. I remember reading the report of a man trapped in New Orleans after Katrina. He was sleeping in his car and was awoken by two men outside fighting over a can of meat. One eventually pulled a pistol and plugged the other.

As a smoker and casual drinker, if you don't have the goods to last yourself at least 2 months on light rations....WELL, that's too bad. Some people's inability to prepare for their own needs astounds me. It's one thing if you never had the money to begin with. It's another if you had it and chose to spend it useless bubblegum. If the whatever SHTF situation doesn't begin to resolve after a couple of months then cigarettes and whiskey will become the least of problems IMO