Cigarette Machines

Now I know that I am dating myself, but I can remember growing up in America during the 70's and my mom would send me to the nearest gas station to buy her a pack of smokes from the cigarette machine there.  Those days are long gone, and now the only way that you can buy a pack of cigarettes in the US is a face-to-face transaction with another human being.

The Land of High Technology laughs at such limitations.  Rather than abandon the money making cigarette vending machine business like their American cousins have done, Japan has instead opted to have smokers obtain a special ID that they can use to purchase cigarettes at the millions of machines around the country

They are not stopping there, though. the Fujitaka Company is presently working on technology that will allow vending machines to determine the age of the customer making a transaction via a digital camera.  It will scan the buyer's face and by analyzing the wrinkles, crow's feet and sags present, it will determine if he or she is old enough to buy cigarettes.  If that fails, the customer can still use their ID to finalize the purchase, easy-peasy.

Just a note: the average cost of a pack of Marlboros in New Jersey is around $8.50, the price of that same pack in Japan will run you about $4.50!  Yes, American-made cigarettes are almost double the price in America than they are on the other side of the world!