What on Earth can I do with 460 cigarettes?

[wineoclockthanks]

They were my Mum's.

I think they're worth about about £250 so don't really want to just throw them away. I honestly don't know anyone who smokes. I've asked local women's refuge and food bank and they don't want them. Although they were bought in UK (and so have had tax paid on them), I don't know where to sell them.

I don't want to make a profit from them as my Mum died from a smoking related illness, so anything I do make I'd donate to Cancer Research or similar, but just don't have a clue what to do.

Any suggestions?

Why would I treat a vulnerable person like that.

True. They should just get their pleasure from sitting on their sofa, eating chocolate and watching tv in their nice warm house. Or maybe they’ll nip into their local for a pint and a game of darts if they decide not to go to the cinema after their nice dinning out experience. Oh...that’s right, they can’t, so they’re not permitted any kind of pleasure, unless we decree that it’s good for their health. I forgot that we get to judge grown adults on how they should live on the streets.

You might find a few takers in the smoking area of your local pub?

Freda You are saying that, as long as no one puts temptation in your way, you can ration your sugar intake. I understand that, but I'm not sure that a homeless person addicted to smoking would have the same level of willpower - otherwise, why would you see homeless people foraging in bins for cigarettes? Even if you had the worst sugar-craving in the world, and no money, I doubt you'd resort to going through a public bin or scouring the pavement in the hope someone might have thrown away the end of a Mars Bar.

I am very sorry to read some quite judgmental posts here, but it's a cross section of life I guess.

If it were me I would, over time give a pack or two to any homeless person I saw until they were all doled out. They can smoke them or sell them.

Cigarettes are legal remember, just unaffordable for many already on their uppers. A little humanity.....

Actually @FredaFrogspawn for people that already smoke, like a lot of homeless people, cigarettes can help to manage your anxiety and mental health. If you have no intention of quitting anyway there is nothing to be gained from smoking bin rollies as opposed to nice cigarettes except a loss of self respect.

If they don't smoke, they can sell them. Your chocolate analogy is stupid. Source; exsmoker, exhomeless.

In your position, I shared out cigarettes around other people I knew smoked. They weren't going to give up, and it saved them money.

I still haven't figured out what to do with all the unused smoking cessation products, though.

good idea about your local pub, do you have a weekly market?

I'll have them !can't see the harm with selling them and giving the money to charity some good would of come out of then,if no one you know smokes do it if they wanted to stop people smoking they would ban it but they haven't and probably won't

Homeless people would absolutely love a packet of cigarettes. Funny how so many people are concerned about the homeless peoples' lungs! Ever wonder how they survive the winter? What the cold does to their lungs?

Some people make me sick.

Are there any local artists that you could get in touch with? Perhaps they could use them to create some sort of anti-smoking art work? (I'm thinking similar to the giant angel that was built out of knives)

Oh come on. What do you think makes people sick? Main modifiable cause of sickness?

You can't sell them, it's against the law.

And here's a point - if the homeless person doesn't want the cigarettes, they can refuse them. No one is suggesting the OP lights one up and slips it between the person's lips while they are sleeping.

The homeless people who live in our city are always asking me for a £5 towards some fags. If I were you I'd go and hand them out. You'll be very popular.

I've been homless years ago when I was 16/17 (just so everyone knows, homeless people are just normal people, and young homeless people are there normally because they have had abuse at home or are care leavers and are not given help once they "age out" of care, we aren't another spiecies) and Iv also been a smoker.
A lot of the young women would roll up butts from the ashtray later in the week because they had run out and couldn't buy more.

I would have been absolutely over the moon if someone had given me even 20 cigarettes at that point in my life!

Smokers are going to smoke until they choose not to no matter if they are living in a mansion and have a million quid in the bank or have 20p in their pocket and live on the street. It's not any of your places to judge what is good for them or judge wether they "should have" something.

I’m buying

I agree. However I don't think she should give them to anyone :) certainly not a 16 year old, homeless or not.

I would treat a homeless person as if they could be my son. Maybe one day it could be my son. I cook nice tasty healthy food as a volunteer which is enjoyed. Maybe one day someone will do that for a child of mine. I am saying what I say not because I judge a homeless person as less but because I feel an equal. Im not knocking cigarettes out of anyone’s hands. I never make judgemental comments to smokers from any sphere of life - I wouldn’t dream of it. I just wouldn’t want to consciously do anything which might harm someone. If my son smoked he wouldn’t get them either. Not from me.

like those appalling shoe boxes- thousands of pounds spent on tat making children no better off at all in life so we can feel warm fuzzies at the thought of their little faces when the same money could have funded a well. I know someone from a former war torn country who received a shoe box parcel as a child. She very much appreciated it and was happy to know that someone cared. Only one person, I know, but I don't think you are in a position to say the children don't welcome the gifts.

I agree it would absolutely be the OP's prerogative not to give them away, Stealth but the OP has already decided she would rather try to do some good with them than waste them.

Giving them to a homeless person might mean the difference between that person catching something from smoking a germ-laden dog end; or spending their last £10 on tobacco and forgoing food as a result.

Or with more cigarettes they may smoke more than they otherwise would, with an associated increased risk of many diseases.

Same goes for anyone BTW. But I think it's particularly bad to harm the health of someone who is already more likely to be in poor health and less likely to get healthcare they need.

If the person is a long term smoker, giving them a packet of 20 which they may or may not smoke more quickly than they'd smoke the equivalent amount of bin-tobacco is not going to increase their risk of disease.

However they're shared out they will cause 460 cigarettes' worth of harm. I'm sure I will be eye rolled at, feel free.

Don’t worry Stealth, there can’t be many eye rolls left. The sheer momentum of them has projected me from West Paddington to Potters Bar. I’m realising my views are maybe a bit extreme. Having a hard think!