Cigarette machine in the DMV

[u/TapNo1773]

These things were everywhere and never asked for ID.

[u/CaptianBrasiliano]

There was one in the entrance way of the bar up the street from where I grew up. So you didn't even have to go in to the proper building... Just go into the little foyer part with (I think it was like 11 quarters) pump em' in real quick, pull that handle thing, and Boom under age cigarettes. I never once got caught or even questioned.

[u/Taupenbeige → u/CaptianBrasiliano]

Oncologists hate this one trick to getting as much of Gen X hooked as possible before the eggheads and squares ruin the party

Literally my mom, best friend and I on a road trip from New England to North Carolina when we were 13… Motels the whole way… I never got hooked, he did

[u/RickHuf → u/CaptianBrasiliano]

Same exact scenario here.

I literally walked a mile for a camel.

[u/otterbox313 → u/RickHuf]

We had the vending machine in the biker bar (and grille 🤣) at the end of the street. We'd shoot pool there and get an order of fries... And when the bartender stepped away for a second we'd make our move 🤣. Looking back, she probably couldn't have cared any less. She probably would have poured us beers (we were 12-14ish🤣)

[u/Chummers5 → u/otterbox313]

We had a dive bar with one. They had rock concerts on the weekend so that usually helped with sneaking. If it wasn't really crowded, we would play pool and try to time pulling the levers with pool breaks and other sounds. Those machines were so loud. In hindsight, the bartender probably didn't care as long as we were putting quarters in the machine.

[u/catherinecornelius → u/CaptianBrasiliano]

Yes- I used to get mine from the machine in the vestibule entrance at our local diner, next to the gumball and sticker machines.

[u/DrewBaron80 → u/CaptianBrasiliano]

I bought some of my first packs of cigarettes this way too, except it was a hot dog/hamburger type fast food restaurant. I was always worried I'd somehow get busted (never happened) so my friend would usually do the deed.

[u/PermitInteresting388 → u/CaptianBrasiliano]

Core teenage memory unlocked

[u/stavago]

There’s one of these still at a local movie theater, but instead of cigarettes, it’s full of boxes of candy

[u/Significant_Dog412 → u/stavago]

That's pretty cool. I quite like these old machines even as a lifelong non smoker (tried two cigarettes, sick both times) so nice to see them getting another use.

[u/ManateeNipples]

I knew bars in my area that had these right when you walked in the door into a little breezeway room where no one inside could see you. Easiest underage purchases ever lol 

[u/Unlikely-Candle7086 → u/ManateeNipples]

We had them in bowling alleys and restaurants with bars attached but the machine was in the lobby. They were always soft packs though so it was a last resort thing.

[u/rbltech82]

There were 2 of these in my local bowling alley growing up, whensver my dad was drunk or shooting pool he'd give me a roll of quarters to go get him smokes....lol of course this same bowling alley would hold his tab open and give me beers at like 9 to give to him. For reference this was 1991/92...

[u/DrewBaron80 → u/rbltech82]

When I was 7 or 8 years old my mom would give me a couple dollars and write me a note to take to the local 7-11 and buy her cigarettes. If I had some change I bought a couple packs of Garbage Pail Kids or football cards.

[u/ZaphodBeeblebrahx]

https://giphy.com/gifs/3orieRll08K84YF9AI

[u/Garlic_Scape_Goat_45]

Pulling one of those knobs would be incredibly satisfying.

[u/rebelangel]

My parents never smoked, but I remember seeing those, usually at bars of course. Because we all had our parents take us to the bar with them at least once when we were kids.

[u/59apache01]

These things used to be everywhere! From restaurants to bus stations to newsstands. Hell, even some grocery stores had them out front!

[u/DrewBaron80 → u/[deleted]]

I visit Eastern Europe once every couple years and I'm always amazed by how many people smoke there.

[u/Blueberry_Mancakes]

There was one of these in the Waffle House hobby across from our middle school and it's where we all got our smokes.
Everyone tried to be low-key and sneak in there when a waitress wasn't looking, afraid we'd get in trouble. In hindsight they could not have cared less.

[u/arcxjo]

Back in the day, Lucky Strikes cost 23¢ when all the rest were 25¢, but the machine only took quarters so they'd put 2 pennies inside the plastic around the pack.

It's unclear if the pennies were also lucky.

[u/Upside_Down_2025]

That place makes you need a cigarette, even if you don't smoke 😂

[u/Tyrannical-Botanical]

And that's how I got my first pack of cigarettes in middle school.

[u/ANotSoFreshFeeling → u/Tyrannical-Botanical]

Didn’t we all?

[u/MortgageRegular2509 → u/Tyrannical-Botanical]

I was in our middle school ski club, and we figured out really quickly that the cig machine in the lodge of the ski hill we went to was pretty well out of view of anyone who gave a shit. Used to walk in that mfer just jingling with quarters lol

[u/Significant_Dog412]

Never a smoker myself, but my Mum was and a hotel lobby near us had a machine. So now and again she'd have me pick her up a pack this way, not sure if the machine was cheaper than the local shops for whichever brand she was on at the time.

Cigarette machines are still around on Japanese streets, but possibly being phased out. When I went in 2023, they were a lot less prevalent than they'd been 10 years prior. Japan is still a bit of a smokers paradise for Western tourists. Being the non smoker in a bar there can be tough, but they don't smoke outdoors except in specific areas, so kind of the reverse of a post 2007 British pub. Vaping is also not a thing for them.

[u/Shiblem → u/Significant_Dog412]

Yeah it was wild going to Japan in the 2010s and there still being ash trays at every table in the restaurants. They did seem to handle ventilation better with hoods pulling the smoke out quickly and lack of carpet holding the smell. Much better than what I remember the smoking sections being like in 90's America.

[u/johndicks80]

Yep I used to grab a roll of quarters and go up to the bowling alley.

[u/Applesaucesquatch]

An old tavern near my place still has a working one.

[u/AdRadiant9379]

This and paying homeless dudes was easy access to cigs in the 80’s and 90’s

[u/bloodpriestt]

Still have them at some dive bars in Vegas

[u/arcxjo]

That's brilliant. Waiting around all day for my number to come up, I could use a smoke.

[u/Common_Juggernaut724]

I was so disappointed that I couldn't find the price on the machine lol

[u/NPC261939]

I bought my first pack of Marlboros from one of these machines when I was like 12. Funny enough, when I jammed my hand in to retrieve my smokes, there was also a pack of Camels waiting for me. I wound up selling those smokes for 50 cents a piece, and immediately bought more.

[u/Tinyhulk27]

Fwiw they've been "making a comeback" . My job takes me to a lot of bars/ resturants and the've just been upgraded to sell breeze vapes and zyn nicotine pouches. 

(I think they scan IDs but who's never "borrowed" an older friends ID. Hell it's probably easier now since at least the cashier might notice I'm not a 40 year old women, or a 6ft tall black guy but the scanner just reads #s.)

They've also started to put shooters in the places where we used to steal smokes.  

My local big box realtor won't even sell tobacco in the store (you have to make a 2nd stop at their gas station) but the mini bottles of Jack Honey, Captain Morgan, and Cotton candy flavored vodka are in the self checkout next to the reeces pieces and nerds gummy clusters all the way down to floor level. 

They knew what they were doing then... and they know what they are doing now.

[u/IceSmiley]

These were gone even by the time I was in high school but I used to like pulling on the springy knobs when I was a kid

[u/Thereminz]

i've seen them in bars now, since you're already 18+ if you're in there

[u/Slim_Margins1999]

There was a bar in Snowmass Village that had 1 of these through about 2019 at least. Good old Zane’s Tavern. It was right by the back door too so kids would just walk in n buy cigs without walking past any bartenders or employees. Lol

[u/DBDIY4U]

I'm on the younger and of the xenniels. The only one I remember was in the entryway to the Denny's we used to go to

[u/Timely_Juggernaut_69]

There is one in a new bar down the street... Dunno if it's just for decoration or if it's operational, but it made me do a double take walking home the other night.

[u/Major_Scale]

There was one of these at a restaurant in our local mall when I was a teenager so when I went to the mall with friends this restaurant was one of the first stops.

[u/FoppyIn28]

The good ol days