Buying fags is a nightmare at the moment.

[EssieTregowan]

I know, I know. But it is. They're all changing over to the same sludge green packaging.

Which means all the shops are winding down their stock so they never have the cigs I want. None of the staff anywhere know what the new packaged ones are.

The fags I bought yesterday have turned out to be 'crush ball' ones which means if you squeeze the filter they turn menthol. Boak.

It's almost enough to make me quit.

Bugger. That's probably the point.

Whinge whinge whinge. AIBU?

Yak, you are being unreasonable.

HMF : You can harm other people's health as a direct consequence of the act of smoking in their presence however you cannot harm another persons health by simply drinking alcohol in their presence.
Tell that to the husband/wife/child of an alcoholic.

Tis a bit naive to say smoking affects others and alcohol not. Alcohol does affect the whole family for decades to come.

Xpost user

I gave up ages ago in favour of vaping, and I smoked rollys anyway, but can someone explain to me how buggering around with the packets will make people give up? I don't understand the reasoning behind it. If I want a cig, I'll have one, I don't give a toss what packaging it comes in.

(I'm honestly not snarking, I really do want to know).

The OP is talking about smoking, not alcohol. I don't think anyone is debating that drinking can ALSO be bad for you. Can we all just agree that smoking is bad not only for the smoker, but it pollutes the air for others nearby too?

My mother was an alcoholic smoker. The damage the alcohol did to me was 1000 times worse than the damage done by smoke.

What about generic packaging for sweets and sugary drinks with lots of graphic images?

juneau
Its relevant to the discussion. Cigarettes are drugs, alcohol is a drug. One is socially acceptable, the other is not.

I can believe that Clara I really can x

I don't understand the reasoning behind the packaging thing, either KitKats.

I don't know anyone who started smoking because they liked the pretty packets.

Find it so hard to understand why anyone smokes and even harder why they don't want to stop. I know it's an addiction but there is so much support out there if you want to stop. Sadly most people stop when it's too late and they have been diagnosed with cancer or heart disease.

I feel sorry for the shop staff who have to look at those pictures all day. Ugh.

If I was still a smoker I'd buy a cool silver cigarette case so I could live my old Hollywood movie fantasies whenever I lit up.

why do you think the manufacturers bothered with the pretty packs then? They are trying to sell as much as they can. Everything they do is geared to that.
tobacco is unlike alcohol because there is no safe dose. Plenty of people are able to drink alcohol in small amounts and no harm done. Tobacco is far more addictive and any amount will harm you AND those around you.

Meh it was price alone that stopped me, nothing else. When you're addicted to something you don't really care about sob stories or pictures.

My bets on the smuggling thing as well, governments losing money.

So the anti-smoking brigade have probably left me intaking more tar/nicotine/etc than I want to be grrrrr

Yes, damn those nasty Anti-smoking brigaders, forcing you to inhale carcinogenic smoke. Bastards!

Shallishanti I could vaguely understand the pretty packs when they were displayed in the open and advertised in colour printed media, but they have been shut behind doors for ages and not advertised for years, so I don't see what different it makes now.

Polly because it's highly addictive. Many people do want to stop. They find it too difficult.

I accidentally gave up via gaping - the gaping helped the cravings and I just naturally lost the need. After forgetting to take it with me to work 3 days running I realised I didn't need it, had it for a bit with wine but the nada. Try vaping, so much cheaper and less vile smelling anyway. I was mortified when I realised what I had smelt like and the kids said they loved my new mummy smell. That made me feel crap for all the time before.

i think they are trying to price people out of smoking - putting the pack sizes up to 20 or 30g for tobacco.

It's daft, mostly, and will just leave people with less money for other things. I've got customers who are non-smokers but buy for their partners 'because he's so miserable if he doesn't have any fags'. And these are people who can least afford it - but they're not going to give up. As I said, I don't smoke but have no axe to grind with smokers as long as they don't blow it in my face.

Do NOT get me started on the £10 scratch cards and the morality of selling those buggers.

I quit with vaping, and it was money that pushed me to it. I spend £3 every 3 days on a bottle of stuff for it, as opposed to £7 a day on cigarettes. It made such a huge difference to our finances.

I dont use those huge vape things that pump out clouds of "smoke" though, dont get me fucking started on dicks that use those and stink everywhere out with fucking Tutti Frutti stink or whatever!

I think it's about smuggling too. The government relies on tobacco revenue, which brings in way more than smokers cost the NHS. Also if all smokers gave up today it would mean even more people living to extreme old age and would totally screw the government's projections on pensions. People dying at 60-70 and not taking too long about it suits the government far better.

I think people should think about passive drinking. Alcoholics harm people around them, and that's accepted. But what about all the rest? Drink driving accidents and fatalities? Or go into A&E at the weekend. DV, and all those households where you couldn't say anyone was actually an alcoholic but one or both parents "like a drink". Kids dealing with wine o'clock... And all those social occasions ruined by drunkenness or brawling.

Boozers, be not smug. They'll be after you next. There's already been uproar in France about putting warnings on wine bottles. The UK has the worst foetal alcohol figures in Europe.

Certainly smoking and alcohol are both drugs. But there is a difference.

Alcohol in modest quantities is not addictive, and some studies suggest that small amounts of e.g. red wine can be beneficial .
There is no safe limit for tobacco smoke.

(Thant's what I tell myself anyway :) )

There is a diiference between smoking & alcohol consumption & I am making this point only in response to some of the comments on here. You can harm other people's health as a direct consequence of the act of smoking in their presence however you cannot harm another persons health by simply drinking alcohol in their presence. I think there are huge differences in the public health consequences & therefore I think it is reasonable to regulate smoking before considering any further regulation on the sale of alcohol. When I started working I woked in an open plan office with many smokers who could smoke all day & some did. I came home every night reeking of smoke it was unpleasant to say the least.

Of course alcohol can cause harm to other peoples health if you consider the crime relating to alcohol! You're also making an assumption that all smokers are inconsiderate. Smokers CAN smoke in areas where it does not have an impact on anyone elses health, in fact it's pretty much illegal to smoke anywhere that it does!

*Alcohol-related crime in the UK is estimated to cost between £8bn and £13bn per year
*A fifth (29%) of all violent incidents in 2013–14 took place in or around a pub or club. This rises to 42% for stranger violence. Over two thirds (68%) of violent offences occur in the evening or at night
*There were 8,270 casualties of drink driving accidents in the UK in 2013, including 240 fatalities and 1,100 people who suffered serious injury
*Victims believed the offender(s) to be under the influence of alcohol in over half (53%) of all violent incidents, or 704,000 offences
*Male and female prisoners who reported drinking daily drank an average of 20 units per day

www.alcoholconcern.org.uk/alcohol-statistics

SoupDragon - obviously they're not making me smoke, I never said they were - I said they are making me unable to choose cigarettes with more or less tar/nicotine etc in them. Sheesh.