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!

My friend moved to roll ups, she’s a little machine that rolls them for her and a case. She smokes over twenty a day too and each day she sits and rolls up about twenty or so and puts them in her case, then just smokes normally the rest of the day. Cost has went from about 450 a month to about 100.

I stopped a couple of weeks ago, it is hard I won’t lie, but the Nicorette mist really works for me. A couple of squirts in the side of my mouth and the craving is gone in about twenty seconds, and already I am using it less.

there are so many replacement products now available, from patches, to mints to gum, to inhalators,vapes etc that it really does ease the transition. The worst part is actually breaking the habit itself.

id see if they would be willing to try, if not then move to roll ups and get them a little machine and a cigarette case to put them in.

I am not hiding, but thinking how to raise this sensitively. They don't have a reference frame yet for how much things cost vs income. I remember a shock a couple of years ago when I realised that my normal weekly shop for one in Switzerland was around £200 when converted into sterling. Was on a three-week project there and seriously considered stopping eating

Thank you very much, very comprehensive!

I was shocked when behind someone in ashop and had milk and cashier said a 1.00 then person asked for fags and it came to 11.00.

Maybe try to get across to them the real cost of smoking. My father just died of that (he smoked 20+ a day).

I gave up 20 years ago. Worked out how much money I would have spent had I carried on ... £71,000!!!

When I gave up it was approximately £5 a pack, now it's more like £15, so I averaged it out at £9 a pack. It's hideously expensive.

It is not a habit it is a serious addiction that has trapped millions of people.

Ex heroin addiction and ex alcoholics claim cigarettes were the hardest thing to abstain from .

I used to smoke about 30 a day. I've stopped loads of times but atm am on them, but have managed to get a pack of 20 last 3 days, so it's about £100 pm. I know, I know.....I will give up! I gave up from Feb till December last year, even stayed off when I broke my shoulder in September and was in pain and stressed out to the max. Fuck knows why I started again, I'm not happy at all with myself.

£500 a month must be a serious habit, about 40 a day, which is a hell of a lot.

It is a lost cause unfortunately, I've been trying for 20+ years to talk sense, doesn't matter. And they've been through cancer and chemo/radiotherapy, made a recovery that was a 1 in 1000 chance outcome statistically, and still no effect. I resigned myself now that there's nothing that can be done there, it is damage limitation now (including financial).

That is exactly my point, and the reason I would be steering towards a vape, although I know just how stubborn and defensive smokers can be. I have exactly the same problem with my mother and there is no chance she will ever stop.

It is a problem for me because I have medical conditions which are exacerbated by it including some scarring from previous bouts of pneumonia. I currently cannot even visit my mother's house because I have a lung infection myself at the moment and just can't take the smoking. I definitely could not tolerate it in my own home.

I appreciate it is a problem for OP, as the person she is taking care of has always smoked and can't just suddenly stop or even drastically reduce. It is still also a problem for any non-smokers who are trying to look after them, not just through smoke inhalation, but potentially financially too.

There isn't an ideal answer. It is an addiction.

30g pouch of baccy lasts me exactly 4 days, they’re £15 each. So around £125 a month including rizla.

I’m getting to the point where I really need to stop, but I’m going through a pretty stressful time right now and my willpower isn’t the best. I tried vaping but it really didn’t agree with me- most awful stabbing pains after a week or so.

I smoke. I love smoking. I have smoked since I was 12.
I do spend around £300 a month on cigs, but love flying with Ryanair. £40 for 200 Marlboro.
pour DD smokes rollies and vapes. She spends about £20 a month on baccy products.

I'm a vaper at the mom but tobacco is my Achilles heel. I can stop, do stop (sometimes for years) but never fall out with it or stop wanting it. I don't currently smoke because my elderly Dad hates it, last smoked in December and then I paid £11 for 50g which lasted me a month because I can tight roll (prison rollies according to Dad) so it's not always as expensive as people think.
If you get to know the right place for snide you can get decent quality and prices.

One thing that are actually cheaper in Switzerland are cigarettes!

Maybe you could switch them to roll ups or vaping in the short/medium term?

Also, maybe some connections from the community in question might know shops that sell under the counter.

I smoke. On average - 2 before work, one at lunchtime, 3 between finishing work and bedtime. Sometimes I don’t smoke all 6 a day, sometimes I go over my ‘allowance’.
i know that sounds a bit regimented but I buy 40 a week on a Saturday (roughly £27) and never need to top up.
to be fair, I should just give up.

I smoked at uni and in my early twenties. Roll ups all the way - despite the fact the cost of even rolling tobacco has increased loads since I stopped, it's still significantly cheaper than smoking straights (and I also hated the taste of normal cigarettes).

Realistically, vaping sounds like the way to go. I smoked from age 15-49, 40 a day for most of that time and have not had or wanted a cig since vaping, 10 years now. Agree with other posters that it evens out to approx £30 a month with kit and liquid, for me at least.

For a current heavy smoker, go for 1.8 nicotine liquid, it can be reduced over time.

Crikey just looked and 400 Mayfair is £270, DH and i when we smoked would have gone through over 700 in a week, that would now cost us about £500 a week ! thank god we gave up.

I smoke 6-8 a day, and they're £10.40 for 20, so just over £20 pw/£1k pa.

I'm cutting down by using nicotine lozenges, but may give the mist a try. I didn't get on with vaping, for some reason.

You must be mad to fund £500 a month on someone else's fags.

That's why I am asking what are the workarounds to make it cheaper. £500 won't lead to bankruptcy, but I could do with it being halved or thereabouts.

If they are a mentally competent 60-something, then don't try to find the solution yourself. Say that the difference in price for cigarettes in the UK is x much (perhaps put it in the currency they are used to). Say that few people smoke that much in the UK because of the cost. What do they think ?

Unfortunately, they are not fully competent in the usual sense. Nothing like a disability, but have never lived independently / self-sufficiently or had to manage budgets, or earn own money. But that's another story.

I am reminded of when my late DB was staying with us. He became ill. We called the doctor (this was obviously a fair few years ago when home visits happened).
Doctor asked how many cigarettes he smoked a day.
DB: ”Five or six”
Doctor: “That’s not many”
DB: “I meant packets”.

Get them a vape. Much healthier and much cheaper. 88vape brand from Poundland is fantastic and 1 quid a bottle.