When I was a kid growing up in Summit Hill, smoking was pretty much a rite of passage, right up there with getting a driver’s license and drinking beer.

An older neighbor introduced me to Lucky Strike cigarettes when he stole a pack from his father’s stash. I was 7 and got caught by my mother. My backside paid a significant penalty for my experimentation.

It took me seven years before I tried another cigarette, this time on a dare from friends in front of Nick’s Place, a gathering place run by Nick Vasiliou on Ludlow Street in my hometown.

I was urged to inhale a Camel, which was considered the “strongest” (and unfiltered) cigarette of the day. When I did, I convulsed in a coughing fit, and, amid my friends’ laughter and finger-pointing, threw up on the sidewalk.

Ultimately, however, I became a pack-a-day smoker three years later after my senior year of football and continued for 8½ years until I quit on Jan. 31, 1966.

Just about everyone I knew smoked then. Even in my own household, my oldest brother smoked a pipe; another brother was a cigarette-smoker; my father smoked two cigars a week during Sunday afternoon drives; even my very proper mother was a closet smoker, who lit up only at home and never when we had guests.

Fast forward 50 years, and smoking, which at one time was considered the “cool” thing to do, the activity a person did to “calm my nerves,” is now considered very “uncool” and unhealthy.

Smoking in the United States has hit an all-time low, according to research done by the National Center for Health Statistics. Today, just 17 percent of the country’s adults are smokers, compared to 42 percent in 1965 and more than 60 percent in the 1940s.

That was the year that Congress required all cigarette packages carry a health warning. That was broadened in 1970 when the warning was made in the name of the Surgeon General. In 1969, all cigarette advertising was banned on television and radio.

According to the Stanford (California) Prevention Research Center, the life expectancy for smokers is on average 10 years less than it is for nonsmokers.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that smoking is responsible for one out of five deaths in the country.

In addition, the Surgeon General reports that 80 percent of these deaths are due to lung cancer. Smokers also face increased risks of heart disease, stroke, asthma, diabetes and nearly a dozen other forms of cancer.

The Stanford research project showed that smoking is much higher in poorer neighborhoods. Its conclusion was that higher cigarette taxes might continue to drive down the number of smokers as would smoking-cessation programs in these low-income neighborhoods.

When I quit smoking in 1966, cigarettes in the Panther Valley were about 25 cents a pack. When I checked several outlets in Carbon, Northampton and Lehigh counties in doing research for this column, I found the cost now is in the $7 to $8 a pack range.

In New York City, a pack can cost around $13 as city officials continue to increase the tax as a way to try to reduce smoking.

Here in Pennsylvania, 8.8 percent of students smoked cigarettes in a 30-day survey period last year, 11.3 percent used e-cigarettes, 5 percent used smokeless tobacco and 7.6 percent smoked cigars.

The State Health Department reports that health care costs associated with diseases from tobacco amount to $6.4 billion a year statewide, while lost productivity associated with smoking tops $5.7 billion.

The Health Department says that the state has received $1.79 billion in tobacco settlement payments and taxes during the 2017-18 fiscal year. Of this amount, the state allocated $15.8 million to tobacco-prevention efforts in 2018.

Pennsylvania ranks 11th in the nation when it comes to the amount of taxes imposed on cigarettes — $2.60 a pack. The national average is $1.73 as of 2018. New York has the highest tax at $5.85, while Missouri has the lowest at 17 cents a pack.

Little cigars are taxed at 13 cents each, while e-cigarettes are taxed at 40 percent of the purchase price charged to the retailer. Roll your own and smokeless tobacco are taxed at 55 cents an ounce.

In Pennsylvania, smoking is prohibited in government and private workplaces, schools, retail stores and child-care, recreational and cultural facilities. Smoking restrictions exist in restaurants and casinos — smoking is permitted in designated areas. There are not any smoking restrictions for bars.

A little-known fact: Tribal establishments are exempt from smoking restrictions and bans. It will be interesting to see how this plays out when the deal is completed by Wind Creek Hospitality, an affiliate of the Poarch Band of Creek Indians of Alabama to take control of the Sands Hotel and Casino in Bethlehem in a $1.3 billion deal, which is expected to close this year.

By Bruce Frassinelli | tneditor@tnonline.com