Question to smokers - the cost of your habit?

[forinborin]

Posting for traffic mainly (and, strangely, there does not seem to be a dedicated forum for unhealthy living and bad habits where to ask ).

I am helping someone new to the UK with budgeting / finance optimisation. They are a (quite heavy) smoker, and after we went through their April expenses / receipts, it looks like just the cost of cigarettes for the month was over £500. Bought from a usual corner shop, nothing fancy.

I have zero experience with smoking myself, soI was completely shocked at the cost. Is there a way to reduce this bill in any way? What do experienced smokers do, do they bulk buy? Are there any special suppliers to buy from? Do e-cigarettes turn out cheaper?

Sorry for the stupid question!

I used to roll my own when I smoked. That was much cheaper

£500 is quite the amount - how often are they smoking 😯 that’s well over a pack of 20 a day!

I may have misread, but 500??? I'm a reasonably heavy smoker, but smoke rollies, so tobacco is cheaper, but maybe spend 120 per month. However, it also depends if your income can support this, mine can. If it couldn't, I would cut back. But 500 is crazy. A friend has moved to valine, and is nowhere near thus.

Many corner shops sell under the counter cigàrettes much cheaper .....
That's how people I know can afford it .

Around 30 cigarettes / day I gather, sometimes more, sometimes fewer. Total 46 packs bought in April, at around £11 to £12 / pack.

It is not that I begrudge the money , just genuinely shocked at the cost and thought there must be something I don't get.

They're circa £10 per packet, so that's well over 20 a day!

Smoking less cigarettes would be the optimal way to reduce the cost (and the harm) but as above switching to rolling tobacco would also reduce the cost although I'm not sure by how much as I've never smoked roll-ups.

Rollies as in making your own cigarettes? Thank you, I will look into it.

It is not that I begrudge the money , just genuinely shocked at the cost and thought there must be something I don't get.

I think what you don't get is that smoking is an addiction, not a habit.

A habit is biting your nails or leaving wet towels on the floor. Smoking is much more serious than that.

The only smokers I know are a couple of neighbours and I see them standing outside, rolling their own.

Is there a secret handshake one needs to know?

I roll my own, costs roughly £70 a month (rizzla included) plus £15 every 2.5ish months on a big pack of filters.

When I smoked normal fags I could easily get through 20 a day, but roll ups burn slower so last longer

Vaping is much much cheaper, feeds the nicotine addiction for about £50 a month! And is much less bad for your health and it can be smell free if you chose the right liquid.

I understand that, they've been smoking since 14 and now in 60s, so quitting is probably not a realistic option. I meant that I don't get how people usually manage this cost.

My corner shop has been doing it for years ,they will sell to their regular customers.

pouch of 30gram tabacco costs me roughly about 13 quid and lasts a full week , filters and papers i get from home bargins and thats only about a quid , papers last ages and the filters easily over a week .

some brands are now about £13 or even more....i happened to glance while at the customer service desk.....couldnt believe how much they cost now....i smoke about 2 or 3 small roll ups a day....spend very little...one packet of tobacco last me a month....£14 or usually friends bring some over duty free so about £6...corner shops wont sell if they dont know you....massive fines for this offence..

Habit/addiction... Who cares. Anyone who is having to seek help to optimise their finances needs to seek help to stop smoking. Unless they're heating their house from the lit end, £500 a month is an INSANE amount of cash to literally burn.

Simple maths - 1 year £6k
5 years £30k
25 years £150k. Literally up in smoke. That's more than I paid for my house 8 years ago.

Insane.

Tobacco would be cheaper and vaping will work out cheaper still.

When I smoked I bought 20 cigs for £10.40 ish and Amber leaf 30g around £15.

I don't smoke any more, but buying a reasonable brand from the corner shop for a heavy smoker could be that much. You said this person was new to the UK - if they have recent trauma, such as coming from a war zone, they are likely to be smoking far more than normal and needing familiarity rather than trying new things like roll ups or vaping.

Unregulated dodgy fags, it's inviting trouble smoking those.

I'm 8 years down the line with an extra £26k in my pocket and that's basing them on the price then. It is insane and stupid.

... Because smoking, regular, expensive ones is so much safer?!?

Plenty of people still smoke normal fags and spend a fortune.

Many Brits have quit due to the cost not health reasons. Its absolutely extortinate. I smoked until 30 and now vape. It doesnt surprise me at at all that someone european smokes 30/40 a day. If I go to europe I smoke while there as its so cheap to do so. Even though its not as cheap as it used to be its still bloody cheap compared to here.

I would advise a vape but they may not like it. So the other alternative woulld be roll ups. Again, they may not like these. Otherwise, quit. Absolutely unsustainable to smoke 30 fags a day. Under the counter fags died out in the noughties. Im sure certain places you might but they are few and far between.

I don't think quitting is an option here, so only looking at the cost minimisation at the moment. I agree with you that it does seem quite high, I was shocked myself.

Wether you condone it or not the Op asked how people could afford to smoke
And ime this is one of the reasons ,a packet of twenty under the counter cigàrettes,costs about a £5 in my local shop ,they will only sell to regular customers ,it goes on all over the place .

Yes from a war zone, but they have been smoking at that level that pretty much all their life. The difference that it costed pennies (literally) over there.