Does anyone on here still buy cigarettes ?

Back in the day I used to smoke 30 cigs a day ( benson & hedges gold )
The self same cigarettes are today priced at £15.90 for 20.
If I was still hooked I would be paying £23.85 per day OR £715.50 per month.

 

This is why i vape. £30 a month

 

That's very expensive. I used to smoke that brand. I have been trying to give up for over 10 years now.

 

Wow 30 a day. If you assume 8 hours sleep that's getting on for 2 a hour. Well done on stopping.

 

Used to smoke 30 plus a day when I was a lad (late 90's)

Common sense has seen me stop. A long time ago.

 

I could double that...haven't had a draw from one for 15 years

 

I gave up nine years ago and switched to vaping. I was gob smacked recently when I was behind someone in the kiosk queue at Asda who was buying cigs when I heard the cost.

It amazes me that stats still suggest that around 15% of people smoke. I don't know who they are because, other than outside the East Stand at half time, I hardly ever see anyone smoke in public these days.

You could pay the mortgage on a decent house with what cigs cost these days. Its mad that people still do it.

I like the system they have put in place in New Zealand where they have legislated to make the legal age for buying cigs one year higher every year, so someone born after 1 January 2009 will never be legally old enough to buy them.

 

Not trying to be a Tommy Top-up.. but I use to do forty a day. I use to work away driving earthmovers from 7 till 7 twelve hour shifts.. smoked 20 on the machine then straight in the pub at night and smoked another twenty..
Have to add I've not smoked or drank for above 20 years now

 

make my own, 15 ish per month

 

So much cheaper when you go abroad and in Airport, government coining it in.

 

Smoking costs a lot more to the country than we make in tax

 

What health wise ?

 

https://fullfact.org/economy/does-smoking-cost-much-it-makes-treasury/

 

Mainly yes. Health-wise in direct costs to the NHS, costs from lost work days due to illness, lost productivity, clean-up from all the discarded tab ends, landfill costs etc
Obviously some of those are not exclusive to smokers but when it's all added together smoking costs more than the tax brings in even after taking into account the savings in pensions etc.

Not judging by the way. My only judgement at the moment is to the parents allowing their kids to vape illegally.

 

That's from ten year old figures which doesn't say I'm wrong and the figures now will be much much further in the way of it costing more and generating less with a lot less people smoking but a lot of ex smokers still suffering health problems because of it

 

Also the price for them in NZ is much higher than the UK to deter people buying them.

 

Blimey! It's probably cheaper to pop pills! Used to smoke heavily as in my 20s B& H Gold or JPS (I was suckered by marketing with the shiny Black 'classy looking packet)' Were comparatively cheap and, in any case, my late brother in Law worked in the UAE and often brought me back packs of 200 .I also got into a brand called Mapleton that worked out at around 20p a packet.

The problem is that in my 20s I was playing in a band and surrounded by smokers in a social group . You would light up and offer them round. Then, someone else would have a craving so they offered them round so naturally you also smoked one, where if you had been on your own you probably would not have bothered for while.

I finally gave up when my wife got pregnant and we had our daughter and I was reduced to smoking outside and not in the house. It wwas an incentive to stop which I did (at the 2nd attempt) That said, most venues still allowed smoking and some places were so smoke filled we could even leave out using the smoke machine that highlighted the beams in the moving lights on the rig. It was like smoking 20 cigs in a night some venues and the equipment, truck and storage area and ourselves used to reek of cigarettes.

Potentially the fewer people in the peer group that smoke, the less likely to smoke heavily or even start. I am surprised how many smoke over here although to be fair a lot more vape nowadays.

 

A couple of the lads who rent the house next door to us this year do as I see them stood outside smoking and their front path has about 100 tab ends strewn across it. One had blown under the fence and Betsy tried to eat it but thankfully I saw her and got her to drop it. They move out in a few months but I can’t imagine they will pick them up. Same thing happened a few years ago when we rented and people who lived upstairs used to throw them all over our shared path. We reported that to the landlord though so they did get picked up.

 

Used to spend £60 a month rolling my own (smoked about 10 a day before I quit). Even that was too much, over £700 a year and living in a shoebox with astronomical rents in Bristol. Whatever my outgoings though, I always found money for booze and cigs. When my girlfriend and I got together, she couldn't believe I spent more money on them than actual food each week. It's incredible how much money you save when you quit, especially now. And the benefits to health are not to be underestimated. I really feel for people trying to quit, I 'quit' on and off for a long time. I'm very fortunate now that after nearly 2 years of stopping I no longer crave them, and I think a big part of it is stopping the drinking too. A guinness and a ciggie used to go hand in hand.

 

I stopped smoking on Thursday 23rd of March 2023, if it wasn't for the odd puff on a vape I doubt I would have made it this far, I'm so glad I quit and I'm determined not to smoke again.
The main thing I've found to be beneficial other than the financial aspect, which is incredible, is my taste and smell has improved to unbelievable levels.