If you smoke

[thinykinny87]

Then how do you afford it

No judgement at all. I'm inspired to ask by another thread where someone said it costs £12 a pack. I had no idea. I thought maybe £7/8 a pack.

I'm guessing so many are vaping now due to cost.

I'm thankful to have never started smoking

one of the reasons is if I’d smoked anywhere near the house my mother would have battered me. Not actually battered me but it wouldn’t have been tolerated. I personally can’t imagine a parent buying a child cigs

i do have a friend who's absolutely struggling for money at the moment but prioritises cigs, it is a true addiction.

I buy the cheapest cigarettes available which are about £10.20 and I don't smoke a lot. I only smoke when I'm at work which is 3 days a week and if I have a few drinks which is about twice a week. So all in all cost about £20 a week. I definitely couldn't afford to smoke more than that. I could probably give up cos I'll have a few cigs Friday with some drinks then won't smoke again until I go to work Monday and don't crave them at all but then I want them all the time then if I say I'm giving up.

I smoke roll ups. 30g costs roughly £15 and it lasts roughly 10 days. I'm not a heavy smoker though and only smoke 5-7 a day.

I also don't drink much, because I only drink socially and don't have much of a social life! I have friends who wonder how people afford to smoke, but they get through several bottles of wine each week. Each to their own.

What the fuck?

Death helps cut down on smoking too.
Vaping is substantially worse, but it’s trendy just like smoking was in the 20’s, and when you’re young you’re invincible. What do they care about their lung health?
I guess, in a world where they were taught in school that the world is going to boil itself alive if we don’t cut back on cow farts, and in light of their odds of ever owning a house, why should they care about tomorrow when they believe everything is so bleak.
My generation did it with acid tabs and ecstasy. Vaping isn’t quite a sociable, but it also isn’t as final when it goes wrong.

I used to smoke Benson & Hedges but ended up smoking Mayfair as they were the cheapest one around & you could get menthol ones. I don't know how anyone can afford to smoke now but that is what the government really want, make it so expensive that everyone stops.

Ellif, could you elaborate on "vaping is substantially worse"? I had always understood it it to be substantially better.

It's my only vice and I'll be gone long before it catches up with me. It's a crutch that I can afford and won't be giving up. I never smoke inside or in my car and have done everything in my power to demonstrate how stupid it is and what the financial and health implications are to DC, who are all non-smokers
I'm always shocked at the cost of alcohol in pubs and restaurants. I know lots of people who spend far more on wine than I do on tobacco.

When I smoked I used to buy big pouches from a man in the market selling it out of a bin bag for around 1/2 standard price. I don't know how anyone affords full price tailor-made. It's a horrible addiction.

Seems like a reasonable plan, especially if they have an alternate revenue stream in mind. But if they don’t, it seems rather short sighted because they’d end up with a budget deficit.

I had to go over to vaping due to the cost. I could easily smoke 20 a day and ended up buying dodgy knock off ciggies for a few years because I couldn't afford otherwise. They honestly made me feel so ill, they tasted awful and wouldn't burn down properly. Looking back I cant believe I powered through. I hated my vape at first and supplemented it with the fake ciggies, then rollies. But at £30 for the vape thingie and £1 liquids, what a bloody difference.
It was a revelation to be able to smoke (vape) in bed and the living room (never ever smoked in the house). I do walk past people smoking and think "fuck that smells good" but haven't actually smoked for a really long time, even when drinking.
I still got told off by a random teenager the other day. "You shouldn’t vape! It's really bad for your health!" The fake ciggies were probably a lot worse

Haha! 😂

@Dianehb has certainly tapped the fish tank on this thread.

I think I was programmed to smoke.. both parents & grandparents puffing away, a heavy blue fug hanging over the room. I was probably addicted long before I started!
I'm delighted that none of my children smoke. :-)

I understand why heavily addicted smokers carry on smoking and make all sorts of other economies to prioritise their addiction.

I don't understand why occasional smokers or those who don't smoke every day keep buying them. Why don't you just quit? You're not even that addicted!

It's not worse
You can go to cancer research, public health England, NHS, virtually any U.K. website and see the studies that have been done. It's also used as nicotine replacement therapy and by stop smoking clinics
It's pretty obvious that
Inhaling smoke with tar and everything else
Or
Inhaling nicotine, PG and VG
Which is going to be better

It's 95% safer and the misconception that it's not, often means smokers are put off trying it by incorrect information which leads to them not quitting and smoking related deaths
Nobody bothered about nicotine inhalers but vaping seems to be a target

@LangClegsInSpace posts a lot of good info

Wow it's like travelling back in time 50 years, to when people didn't know smoking was a killer

What does smoking and drinking cost the NHS though?

When I was a teenager (early 1980s,) and I first started working in factories, I would say about 80% of the women that worked on my shift (of 60 women) smoked. As did 65% of my extended family members (about 25 people.) I would go to the pub two or three times a week in the 1980s and early 1990s, and about 70 to 80% of people smoked. Including me. Although I did give it up. I started at 17 and give up in my mid 20s. Some 30+ years ago.

My daughter is now in her late 20s and she has, and I'm not kidding you, about 22-23 friends ... from college, University, school, work, etc... Not one. I mean NOT ONE single one of those friends smoke. Neither does she or her fiancé. Her fiancé has approximately 15 extended family members. Only one of them smokes, and that's his nan, who's 79. In MY extended family I have now, now around 20 people, (on mine and DH's side,) NONE smoke. Not one.

In my street we have 21 properties. approximately 45-50 people in those 21 properties. I don't think more than three or four of them smoke again, they are 55 plus.

I think it's becoming increasingly unfashionable to smoke, as well as being extortionately expensive. I think it makes people look quite unclassy to be honest... It looked classy some 50+ years ago, but now, it makes people look quite unclassy. If I see anyone under 50 smoking now, I surmise that they are not very bright, and are intellectually challenged.

Exactly, and hence the high tax. Although the conspiracy theorist may also say its to a government's benefit to have people addicted to drink and cigarettes too! Would be interesting to see the numbers that's for sure

Are you one of them Royals?

Vaping is a lot more sociable than doing acid IME. E on the other hand is an extremely sociable drug but only in the very short term. But neither acid nor E cause the same kind of dependency as smoking.

Vaping is much, much less harmful than smoking. We have very good data, research and policy in the UK. We are world leaders on this:

www.gov.uk/government/collections/e-cigarettes-and-vaping-policy-regulation-and-guidance

I switched to vaping for my health and it has made a huge difference.

It is a lot cheaper, especially with the old school kit I use, but I would have been prepared to pay the same as I spent on smoking, or even a bit more, for the health benefits.

I dunno but my husband is the only non smoker out of the males on his side of the family. They all smoke 20-60 a day and not only does it stink, I often wonder about the cost too. I am so thankful he doesn't have the habit as I'd hate seeing that amount of money going up in flames on a daily 🙈

@Rebellious23

I did buy an e cig at the weekend with the capsules.

I gave up with one a few years ago and it worked for two years but I've tried vapes and they just don't work so hoping the e cig does.

wtfisgoingonhere buying the capsules is more expensive than having a mod & tank, 1 100ml bottle of vape juice with 3 nic shots added lasts me a week & costs £10, I buy mine in bulk & often get discounts of 20% or the company I buy from will add a couple of free bottles.