REALLY PAYS TO QUIT

$13 per cig pack

Cigarette packs in New York City need a new warning: Smoking is hazardous to your wallet.

In the latest crackdown on the unhealthy habit, Mayor de Blasio signed a law Monday raising the minimum price of a pack from $10.50 to $13 starting in January — the highest in the nation.

Some smokers said that was enough to drive them to quit.

“I swear, this will probably be my last pack. I can’t afford this anymore,” said Ralph Kalandis, 47, at Elverton Deli & Bagels on Staten Island.

While the smoking rate is declining, there were still 934,000 adults puffing away in the five boroughs as of 2015, the most recent year for which data are available.

De Blasio defended the price hike by calling tobacco sellers “purveyors of death.”

“Today, we send a very clear message: You’re not welcome in New York City,” the mayor said at a press conference in Brooklyn where he signed a package of anti-smoking bills. “We’re not going to keep watching as thousands die who shouldn’t die.”

When former Mayor Michael Bloomberg took office in 2002, there were about 1.3 million smokers in the city and a pack cost about $6.50.

During his three terms, Bloomberg not only set a minimum price on cigarettes for the first time, he also raised the minimum age from 18 to 21.

By 2010, the cost of a pack was up to $10.

The city estimates that 54,000 people will quit smoking by 2020 because of the higher cost.

City tax revenues from cigarettes have nosedived, from $123 million in 2006 to a projected $44 million this year as some smokers quit and others bought blackmarket products.

At least one smoker said the new law is not a big deal.

“I work so close to the bridge, I just run out to Jersey to get cigarettes,” said Jamie Edwards, 23, of Staten Island. “It’s funny to think that it’s cheaper to buy and pay the bridge toll than to just stay in New York and buy them here.”