Do cigarettes expire?

geepondy

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Ok, to shorten an involved story, my girlfriend sold the liquor store she owned to another guy. He owes her quite a bit in inventory costs but is giving her the real runaround. First he said several bottles of liquor had expired and are no longer good, like $500 worth. Now he is saying many cartons of cigarettes have expired as well, I think a couple of thousand dollars worth. He is looking for a real substatial discount on the inventory costs of which he has yet to pay a cent. Now I don't think bottles of liquor expire do they unless maybe they are like twenty years old? What about cigarettes? I imagine they might become stale after a period of years so is there an expiration date on the carton?

Her lawyer says to make him to show the proof and I'm hoping she will listen to him but she needs the money towards another business she is buying and it's making her life and hence mine to a degree, totally miserable. I'm hoping she won't cave in. I think the guy she sold the store to is trying to weasel out of paying whatever he can because in addition to the inventory hassle, he paid a certain amount down to purchase the business itself and agreed to pay the rest in monthly installments but it took a lawyer's letter to get him to pay for the first two months installments.
 

tvodrd

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Beer tends to go bad with time, but not hard liquor. Cigs also get stale after a while, but are still smokable. (I've smoked them from 20 year old C-rations.) IMO, the buyer is trying to rip her off!

Larry
 

smokinbasser

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Beer can go blinky but liquor won't and sealed wine is safe. Unless you believe the stories that tequila can go bad in a new york second so you need to do a taste test daily. Tobacco products I wouldn't think have a shelf life for all practical purposes considering they are usually sealed hermetically. The older cigar tobaccos are the smoother and more expensive selections.
 

BB

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Play hardball with the buyer... Had a friend's relative that sold store/businesses and right from the beginning the buyer was complaining about every little thing (even to the point of the buyer suing for fraud)--but not paying down the note. After about one year, no payments and no virtually no business left to reposes.

Being state and federal ATF types are involved (taxes)--make sure that she does not get hit with taxes if (or when) the guy runs and leaves nothing behind.

-Bill
 

chmsam

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Maybe time for a 250 lb., rabid, frothing-at-the-mouth pitbull, who just happens to have a law degree from an ivy league school, and a lot of billable hours?
 

greenlight

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Are the cigs dated? I don't know if they do that. Beer tends to have a date on it (but who would turn down a beer just because it was old?). Liqour gets better with age, just check the top shelf.

Maybe the cig company will take them back or exchange them. They have lots of extra tobacco around, so it wouldn't be much of a hardship.
 

cyberhobo

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I once smoked a pack of black Russian cigarettes that were 17 years old. No one ever bummed a smoke from that pack.:grin2:
 

magic79

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I've never seen expiration dates on cigs, liquor, or even beer.

Call his bluff: ask her lawyer to demand the evidence in discovery. There isn't any!

I don't think cigarettes expire early...just their users! :laughing:
 

geepondy

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I believe the place is officially sold (certain amount down and then monthly payments for a period of time) so I hope that if the business fails, she would be absolved from all responsibilities regarding unpaid taxes/bills.

BB said:
Being state and federal ATF types are involved (taxes)--make sure that she does not get hit with taxes if (or when) the guy runs and leaves nothing behind.

-Bill
 

cobb

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Ive smoked them for 3 years. They do seem to taste differently based on time spent on shelf. I find the ones at 7-11 to taste the best/strongest when on sale per carton. Walmart you get older flavors. I tend to buy from kroger or 7-11. If they go bad they loose their power and go from like a ground coffee to tea taste to rolled cabbage. Putting them in the freezer helps to freshen them up.

As for beer, it seems to taste the best the colder it is. I tried a few brands,but they all still taste like beer. :)
 

greenlight

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magic79 said:
I've never seen expiration dates on cigs, liquor, or even beer.

Call his bluff: ask her lawyer to demand the evidence in discovery. There isn't any!

I don't think cigarettes expire early...just their users! :laughing:

Budwiser actually advertises "expiration date", admitting that their crappy product doesn't even hold up to storage.
 

kfortune

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YES CIG DO EXPIRE. EACH COMPANY HAS ITS OWN WAY OF PUTTING THE DATE ON THE PRODUCT.
EXAMPLE RJREYNOLDS GOES BY THE ALPHABET FOR THE MONTH A - IS JANUARY, B - FEBRUARY ETC THEN THERE IS A LETTER THEN THE YEAR IT WAS MADE. CIG ARE NORMALLY GOOD FOR A YEAR AFTER AIT WAS MADE. PHILLIP MORRIS GOES BY THE JULIAN DATE. AS FAR AS BEER IS CONCERNED SOME BEER HAS BORN ON DATES. THESE ARE THE DATES THAT IT WAS MADE AND SOME HAVE EXPIRATION DATES.
 

127.0.0.1

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expired cigarettes are mixed with tobacco bits found on the floor in the plant that
makes cigarettes....this is ground up with stems, hair, mouse droppings...etc...whatever is swept up
with the floor...and put in a huge vat and cooked with chemicals. then this 'mother liquor' is sprayed
onto paper which is then shredded and makes up 1/4th the content of all new cigarettes. so no...
cigs never expired they are re-introduced into new cigs

the above is 100% true fact for most cigarettes sold. look it up, watch the 'how it's made' video

the more you know
 

StarHalo

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then this 'mother liquor' is sprayed onto paper which is then shredded and makes up 1/4th the content of all new cigarettes.

It's actually half, the industry calls it "recon"; I worked in a tobacco store for a few years and got familiar with the business, and the smokers too - you'd have no problem selling aged cigarettes regardless how you priced or advertised them, you could even mix them in with the newer inventory, very few of your customers would notice or care. Addicts aren't picky..
 

Tim33

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I tried to smoke an old pack of cigs (about a year old) and they were pretty nasty. I guess the tobacco dries out after a while.
 

Obijuan Kenobe

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I say stick to your guns. If he bought it by signing on the line, he owes her for inventory. The only way I can see this being legally in question is if he can prove that your girl sold him inventory that was already expired. In that case, maybe he has something legit to say.

obi
 

Obijuan Kenobe

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Com'on...I thought maybe you'd help out...you know, to keep it going. This was an amazing resurrect by a first poster. Super-happy-cyberforoawesomeness that does not happen every day.

Oh well. Fun while it lasted. ;)

obi
 

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