Did your local bowling alley have smokes in the vending machines?

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InsideReflection8238@reddit

When I was 13, I would go to the post office, use the change machine, then go to the pizza place nearby and grab a pack of Marb Reds for $2.50.

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ThatDarnSmell@reddit

Recall seeing one by the restrooms in a restaurant still being there in the 90s, but I can't recall what year it was removed.

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iamrosieriley@reddit

Bowling alleys are the only place I will immediately crave a cigarette. And I haven’t smoked in years

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Raynet11@reddit (OP)

Been over 20 years for me ... but anytime I have a long drive, bowling alley, bar, or have cup of coffee. I'm good to have one every couple years for nostalgia sake.

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iamrosieriley@reddit

Road trips! Yes— that is absolutely another one. It makes me happy you can indulge in a nostalgia smoke every now and then!

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NW_Forester@reddit

Yes, but not like that style vending machine. https://preview.redd.it/l50e8num7ald1.jpeg?width=375&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=570cb72cfb345139ef7dc0f3fd45034de2ab1e5c That's what they looked like.

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WaitUntilTheHighway@reddit

100%. I loved bowling as a kid even though you were looking at the pins through a thin haze of cig smoke.

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notsureifxml@reddit

Yeah this is what I remember! Loved yanking on the handles!

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RelevantFilm2110@reddit

Hah I used to go to a pizza shop that had one of these because they didn't care if you weren't old enough to use the machine.

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Bradddtheimpaler@reddit

Are you from southeast Michigan by any chance? My pizza shop cigarette machine hookup was called Pia’s!

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RelevantFilm2110@reddit

Pennsylvania. But sub and pizza shops are the de facto official state traditional restaurants. It's the closest thing to regional cuisine that we have, so they've always been gathering places.

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Calm-Preparation7460@reddit

Pennsylvania, huh? Same! SWPA…You?

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84OrcButtholes@reddit

Our bowling alley would ask if they saw you getting them but wouldn't give a shit if you just said they're for your dad.

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ahoypolloi_@reddit

Sometimes you’d yank and a book of matches would fall out

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Interesting-Goose82@reddit

Those long ass foose ball handels?! You would think, holy crap i pulled it out a foot, how much more? Then it would clunk and come out another foot!!!!

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ChromeDestiny@reddit

The place my sister went for her swim meets had this style of cigarette vending machine next to the soda machine. The soda machine struck me as odd as a kid, it was all Fanta.

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burrito_magic@reddit

Our Waffle House had one well up into 2006

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Reagannite1981@reddit

This is exactly what they looked like at Pizza Hut

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OperatorP365@reddit

Came here for this, the old PULL style!

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BasketballButt@reddit

Exactly. That’s the vending machine we got our cigarettes from in junior high.

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Pissouthaass@reddit

Pulled the knob. Man that was a good one

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KingdomOfFawg@reddit

There was one of those at the entrance to the bar in the back of the restaurant my grandpa and uncle liked.

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brilliantpants@reddit

Yup, that’s the one! Every diner, bowling alley, and arcade.

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I used to get $5 every week when my parents bowled. I had to grab my old man a soft pack of Basic lights - and let's be real, it was fun as shit to yank the handle on these machines as a kid - and the rest was mine to do with as I pleased. Which of course meant arcade games. So much TMNT, Off Road, and pinball... And pool. Good times.

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reznxrx@reddit

Gauntlet, NBA jam...

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RelevantFilm2110@reddit

They were always the same price at least in the ones I saw. Why buy generic?

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Totallynotatworknow@reddit

Basic was/is a Philip Morris brand. Not generic but not “high end” either.

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Bradddtheimpaler@reddit

I also loved how the cigarette machine would sell me cigarettes when I was 12 too. That was very convenient about them.

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aftershave_cabinet@reddit

There's a weird sub shop about 45 minutes from me that still has one of these and it's functional!

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Hellament@reddit

So, do you just stick in an entire roll of quarters now, or do you have to count them out?

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RelevantFilm2110@reddit

I know of exactly one of these still around in a bar.

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_Lil_Piggy_@reddit

I saw one of these in a strip club in Portland back in 2016.

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bulanaboo@reddit

We had socks and nuskin, thumb insert grips

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RoxyLA95@reddit

I looked forward to paying around with the cigarette machine. It was even better when an adult gave you money to buy them cigarettes.

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cerialthriller@reddit

This the kind the bowling alleys and bars near me had

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zombie_overlord@reddit

This is how I got cigarettes when I was 12

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So-Called_Lunatic@reddit

When I was about 12 my friend and I were at a bowling alley that still had one of these. He pulled one and a pack came out. By time he was 13 he was a regular smoker. They made them illegal shortly afterwards.

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Henchforhire@reddit

Only motel that had one like that without the dollar bill thing on the side. Got to use the change to get a soda when I got my mother a pack of Marlboro reds.

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timothypjr@reddit

Right! We didn’t have those fancy, new-fangled twisty things with motors. We had to pull the knob and pull the smokes out ourselves.

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AfternoonPast3324@reddit

When I was overseas from ’99-‘01 I was blown away to see these things everywhere. They even had some set up outside of businesses.

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Raynet11@reddit (OP)

Those were in the bars and restaurants but yeah they were everywhere like gambling machines are today in this state.

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redditsuxbutter@reddit

I bought my cigs at the vending machine at the local grocery store. $3.15 and a friend had to keep lookout not for the workers but for neighbors.

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patriotAg@reddit

Honestly, we are too freaking regulated today. They should still have these.

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CMDR_MaurySnails@reddit

Pool hall in my case, but yeah the handles not this contraption.

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Downunder818@reddit

Wouldn't be a legit bowling alley, if it didn't....

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ImprovementCapable15@reddit

Our local pizza hut had them

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NYK-94@reddit

We had an old cigarette machine.

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PlaneLocksmith6714@reddit

I see that Red Pall Mall filterless soft pack! Those are the cigarettes my dad smoked for decades.

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Past-Adhesiveness150@reddit

Everywhere had renting machines. That's where I got mine. When my hand written notes from my mother didn't work anymore

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Swimming-Food-9024@reddit

Absolutely, back by the bathrooms, in an alcove where no one could witness you purchase them and you always had an excuse of needing to go to the bathroom if nearly caught

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Dirtweed79@reddit

More like the teacher's lounge.

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poindxtrwv@reddit

The local pizza place in our mall (appropriate named "The Pizza Place") had one.

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BigHobbit@reddit

Still does. Couple bars around here still have em too.

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chocki305@reddit

No. The bar around the corner to the high school had a machine in their entrance area. So you didn't have to enter the bar to buy. It had a "must be 18" sign.. but that was only enforced when the police stopped by for a working lunch / dinner.

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ballthrownontheroof@reddit

My local Denny's had cigarette machines

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walkabout16@reddit

Local bowling alley? Seems like everywhere had those! Restaurants too.

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Assortedpez@reddit

Almost posted one of these the other day, miss seeing things around for some weird reason. Simpler times. They seemed to be at a lot of restaurants as well

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Facestealer_theA2CHS@reddit

Absolutely they were EVERYWHERE too

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Illustrious-Hair3487@reddit

There’s a bar in my area that still has one. Not just as a relic or decoration either. You can buy cigarettes out of it still.

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Gaming_Esquire@reddit

Not enough Camels and Newports! And... did we as a society and generation ever figure out why a soft pack would ever be preferable to a hard pack? Especially when falling, say, from a vending machine?

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cherrydarling79@reddit

Those were the days

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cbih@reddit

A cigarette machine, pay phones, and the greatest arcade game ever, Final Fight

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nam3_us3r@reddit

I remember the huge crowd of teenagers playing SF2 next to me while I wondering why the heck they weren't having a blast playing as I was playing Final Fight. I loved that game too

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Raynet11@reddit (OP)

This one had a Neo Geo and Jukebox to take whatever money was left over

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DLeck@reddit

I worked as a dishwasher at a hotel's restaurant when I was 17 (~2002) and they had one of the old school wood paneled ones between the kitchen and the bar near the lobby. When I first saw that thing I couldn't believe my eyes. I didn't think they were even legal anymore. Unfortunately, I used it. A lot. Every time I did It was like a James Bond mission. I did not want anyone to see me.

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MeribandDHB@reddit

That glass would be broken so fast

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ReeceDawg@reddit

The local everyplace had em.

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redditreader_aitafan@reddit

I went to a billiards parlor when I was 16 that had a cigarette vending machine but it was the old style with the pull knobs, not this fancy thing.

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Beginning_Vehicle_16@reddit

My Waffle House did.

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xrobertcmx@reddit

My local Giant Grocery did.

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Heidi_ann76@reddit

Sure did but it wasn't fancy like this, it had the old pull knob. I smoked virginia slims at the time, when I got questioned I just told them they were for my mom as that really was her brand lol. Occasionally they'd get the packs mixed up & you would end up with something other than what you wanted which was annoying!

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Oomlotte99@reddit

I remember when you could still get them from the pull tab ones on bars. Also my mom used to get them from one of those pulling ones at a burger place by our house; when I was a kid I’d beg to pull the handle, lol.

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aamabkra@reddit

Mmmmm …. Smokey treats

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Sp4ceh0rse@reddit

I’d assume so, it sure smelled like it. Ironically it burned down a few years ago. RIP Bowl Texas

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Resident-Device-2814@reddit

The front entryway of the local Friendly’s (ice cream restaurant) had one.

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Federal-Cockroach674@reddit

Oh wow, giving yourself cancer was so much cheaper back then.

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AnnOminous27@reddit

I knew where all the ones in town were that I could use without anyone checking (or caring) my age

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Dave-justdave@reddit

What no Camel's?

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TheJokersWild53@reddit

We had them at the bowling alley and a couple of pizza places. The struggle was always getting $3.75 in quarters for the machine. Now that I’m thinking about it, none of us had the common sense to go to a bank and trade a ten dollar bill for a roll of quarters.

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CaptianBrasiliano@reddit

There was a bar just outside my neighborhood with one of those like, entry rooms you see in places with colder weather... like the little coat room looking place then you had to go through another set of doors to get into the actual bar. Anyway, they was a cigarette machine in there. As a kid I could run in there real quick and just hope no one came in and I had the quarters all ready to go 1,2,3,4,5....14 pull the knob for Marlboro Reds, grab them and jet.

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Throwaway_inSC_79@reddit

A pizza place we used to go to had one. Mayfair in Woodbridge NJ, or maybe it was Avenel but that’s a twp. Also a dark dimly lit pizza place. Baffles me that decor of the time consisted of dark wood tones and dim lights.

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Spear_Ritual@reddit

Hell yeah. Probably $1.25.

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Inside_Freedom7237@reddit

yep and when we went to our bowling group in hs we all bought them and smoked them and ate junk food. Ah the days, also the days smoking with my teachers in the smoking section out side.

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impeesa75@reddit

These were in the hospital my mom worked in

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reznxrx@reddit

So did restaurants.

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djsynrgy@reddit

We had cigarette vending machines at the grocery store, until the mid 90's. That's how I supported my habit for the first year or two.

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AccidentalGK@reddit

One of the alleys I went to had that type. Candlepin can be frustrating.

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carlitospig@reddit

Cigarettes were *everywhere* when we were kids.

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buffoonery4U@reddit

Every Village Inn, every Pizza Hut, and every shitty bar.

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ChimmyChongaBonga@reddit

Used to have the old pullstyle ones at the unstaffed snackshack between holes 9 and 10 on my local golf course. When I was a teenager I'd go play the 18 hole course and load my golf bag up with Newports.

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planenut767@reddit

Last place I saw one of those was one of those old style pulley type machines about 2 years ago. It was in the Terminal at Reading Municipal Aiport in Reading PA of all places (ground areas of airports are typically no smoking for obvious reasons). It has since been removed. Meanwhile over in Porto Portugal I see these fancy digital cigarette machines that take credit cards now too.

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ChimmyChongaBonga@reddit

Last time I saw one was in a pizzeria right outside of Reading, but that was about 20 years ago. That was my goto for getting smokes before hitting the movie theater next door.

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Shameless522@reddit

The style in your pic was at the gentlemen’s club

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neon_honey@reddit

In high school, we knew where to find these machines in dark corners of pool halls and restaurants for the days there was no one old enough around to buy us a pack. Always more expensive than the gas station, though

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Osprey_Talon@reddit

Local pizza place too. Conveniently placed in the entrance where no one could see who was using it.

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kg51113@reddit

>Conveniently placed in the entrance where no one could see who was using it. Yup! That's where they always were in my area!

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Unfair-Geologist-284@reddit

Yes! I could tell when my mom had been there because she absolutely reeked of cigarette smoke.

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Raynet11@reddit (OP)

So crazy part about these vending machines was that the had smokes, candy and chips… I do remember the price on the smokes was higher than the gas stations, but captive audience so made sense.. We would play pool and bowl, ahh to be young dumb and invincible…

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Kenneth_Lay@reddit

Yes

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madproof@reddit

Yes. There are still 4 of these machines left in my city and everything I’ve see one I get transported back 25 years

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mclms1@reddit

Was a gas jockey next door to a bowling alley , our cigarettes were cheaper than the machine in the alley . Use to make bank on league nights.

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CemeteryWind213@reddit

The only time I saw the corkscrew-style machine used for cigarettes was a bar, long after the conventional machines disappeared.

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usernameJ79@reddit

I grew up in North Carolina so everywhere had these until about 20-25 years ago whenever it was that the age to buy was raised to 18 federally.

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RelevantFilm2110@reddit

You could buy them under 18 in NC?

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usernameJ79@reddit

Lordy even worse I was about halfway through high school when they got rid of the student smoking area.

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RelevantFilm2110@reddit

When I was in grade school in the 80s/early 90s, high school students who were over 18 could smoke in the smoking lounge, but that was gone before I was old enough. But in my state, 15 years old would get served in bars. Illegally, but the liquor control board didn't enforce 21 and over at all in bars, so it was a matter of going to the next town over to prevent your parents from finding out.

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Low_Connection_9254@reddit

I would steal 3 quarters to get me some back in the day

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kankles3000@reddit

Of course they did around the corner by the far end door, perfect for 13 year old me to buy my smokes

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BoukenGreen@reddit

Yep.

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Inallahtent@reddit

Yep. Donut shop, Plazas, malls, supermarkets, pizza spots and the odd arcade because they didn't give a fuck. Shame, too, because by the time I started smoking, the regime done took all.the machine's. I think there was an old ass tiny in the teachers' lounge in my high school.

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PinkFloydDeadhead@reddit

My grocery store had these. The old school pull knob ones were at the bowling alleys in the DC metro area.

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wanderButNotLost2@reddit

My local bar still has one, you have to show your ID to the bartender and they will flip the switch to turn it on.

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Side_Honest@reddit

It did, but it had the pull knobs. We knew how to steal from it, buy one get unlimited for free. 20 years later I managed to kick the habit.

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RelevantFilm2110@reddit

Was it the don't release the pull lever the entire way and pull again machine? I knew a few like that.

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Side_Honest@reddit

Yes sir

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ephemeralspecifics@reddit

Mc Donald's had a vending machine

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thispartyrules@reddit

There was one at a hotel that was unguarded that we'd use in middle school, but in high school there was a local pizza place with a cigarette machine by the bathroom. You'd ask them for quarters for the arcade games and then go get cigarettes. In those days quarters had pictures of states on them

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onlysurfblacksand@reddit

Who else ran smokes for their parents while they bowled?

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carosotanomad@reddit

Until the coppers started sending in 16yo narcs to buy some...

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inspectortoadstool@reddit

No, but my barber shop did.

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MLDaffy@reddit

We had the regular ones in my area. They faded out in the early 2000s. I know of 1 that was around until about 2014. Whoever stocked that machine is a savage. That is no way to organize it.

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nevadapirate@reddit

I know at least one casino in my tiny town still has the 70s style machine next to the bar. Gotta love Nevada. 2.5 thou people and three casinos. lol.

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nevadapirate@reddit

Bowling alley and every restaurant too. Other than thats way too modern looking for the 70s and 80s. Ive never seen cigs in a snack machine before.

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thefro023@reddit

And some restaurants.

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Defiant-Fix2870@reddit

Yep and in diners too (I grew up in NJ)

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SewGangsta@reddit

Absolutely. When I was a teenager and still underage I would stop by the bowling alley next to my job to get smokes because nobody was ever watching the machine or seemed to give a shit that kids were using it.

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RelevantFilm2110@reddit

I think that's half the reason places had them. Since you weren't buying them directly from a cashier, they had some plausible deniability. It reminds me of a joke from the Simpsons where Moe says "If it weren't for the junior high school next door, no one would use the cigarette machine.

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Raynet11@reddit (OP)

If we were in the same town you would have been welcomed our crew.. raised by wolves… 😂

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probablyatargaryen@reddit

Mine did and once when my stepdad sent me over to get grab him some (I was maybe 9), a lady scolded him that I shouldn’t be doing that. He yelled back “She’s not smoking them yet!!” Lol different times

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RelevantFilm2110@reddit

We abused these things as teenagers because literally nowhere would stop you and there was no practically no legal enforcement.

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EastBayVaper@reddit

I remember smoking booths were still a thing until about 20 years ago. Even in California

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angrybirdseller@reddit

Brought cigarettes with vending machines back in 1997! It was bowling alley with billiards tables and small bar.

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kettlebell-j@reddit

Yes! As did my local Mexican and Chinese food spots.

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ZedGardner@reddit

When I was 15 Our local hotspot arcade had one of those, and the best part about it is that they sold single cigarettes for a quarter along with the packs and so if I was broke, I would bring couch change and just get a couple. Lol

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inko75@reddit

YES the other thing I remember was the vending machine that filled up a literal paper cup with soda fountain soda but like this 6oz cup 👀😂

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One_Breakfast6153@reddit

The grocery store did.

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spirit_of_a_goat@reddit

Don't know about the bowling alley but the bars all had one.

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Jokierre@reddit

Right next to the gumball machine in the grocery.

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psilosophist@reddit

Yes and I bought smokes out of it.

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Possible-Tangelo9344@reddit

The local Chinese restaurant did. But it was one of the squat machines that are being repurposed for small art pieces these days

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JohnBrine@reddit

Remember how the world smelled of cigarettes all the time everywhere.

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ahoypolloi_@reddit

It’s astounding how we just accepted it as such, and equally amazing at how much better it is when it doesn’t!

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Spider-1205@reddit

Omg me and my Dad were just talking about these 😅😅

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graveybrains@reddit

All the restaurants I went to as a kid had them

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Practical-Trash-4976@reddit

Hell yes it did. My dad was on many leagues when my brother and I were kids in the 80’s. My mom waitressed in the evenings so my dad would take us to the bowling alley with him and we would bring our homework. If we were good we could get a *mountain dew* at 8pm on a school night. One of the guys he bowled with had one of those voice box thingies but still smoked. Something about being in such a loud, smoky place makes me sleepy to this day

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ShillinTheVillain@reddit

> One of the guys he bowled with had one of those voice box thingies but still smoked. I get it. Quitting after you've already lost your larynx is like wiping before you poop

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Practical-Trash-4976@reddit

Lmao right?!

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_--_Osiris_--_@reddit

No, but my local Chinese restaurant did. If you had your quarters ready and were quick enough you could get in and out before the manager stopped you while on your way home from school lol.

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polygonalopportunist@reddit

![gif](giphy|SWoRKslHVtqEasqYCJ)

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sapperbloggs@reddit

When I was a teenager, the easy way for kids to buy smokes was to wait until the drive-through liquor store was a bit busy, then run in and buy a packet from the vending machine before the person working there saw you and told you to piss off.

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dontletyourcrownslip@reddit

I remember these best from Howard Johnson's.

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poofandmook@reddit

I can smell the American Legion entryway with the kind that had the levers.

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jessek@reddit

yep, also bowling alleys were the last places exempt from the indoor smoking ban, other than tobacco shops, where I lived.

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gwinnsolent@reddit

Restaurants and supermarkets, too.

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C0BRA_V1P3R@reddit

Yup. I remember several bowling alleys and restaurants having cigarette vending machines. I also remember gas stations having condom dispensers in the men’s room.

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lifeat24fps@reddit

‘78 here. The vending room of my dorm building had one.

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B0b_a_feet@reddit

When I was in the Marine Corps, I remember we had a cigarette machine in the barracks next to a beer machine.

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I_Have_No_Name_00@reddit

Oh yeah. When I went bowling with friends (usually Cosmic Bowling on Friday or Saturday nights), one adult would have a bottle of Budweiser and a pack of Marlboro Reds.

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HappySkullsplitter@reddit

There was so much second hand smoke in our bowling alley we didn't have to buy cigarettes, just breathe I couldn't handle more than 30 minutes at a time before I had to go outside for air, my eyes burned

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Raynet11@reddit (OP)

Ours had the built in ash trays built right into the bowling equipment 😂

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CactusHide@reddit

It sure did. There’s still a crappy dive bar around me that has a cigarette vending machine and it even takes cards. I think you have to do separate transactions if you also want to buy Cheetos or chewing gum, too.

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flipnitch@reddit

Yeah. The bowling alley and vfw had cig machines but they were the older style cig specific machines. There was a bar in my town that had the set up shown in the pic though. I think it lasted in that bar until around 97/98

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