[romille]

I accept that the government s policy of carrot and stick has convinced a number of people to quit.
I do however wonder if trying to price people out of smoking has backfired to a degree, as these days I see so many more people smoking roll ups, which clearly being untipped is much worse for the smoker.

[chevvron]

I don't smoke but the missus does, hence I buy a lot of fags and have noticed the price rising at least twice a year.
What we find is the most recent government policy, that of insisting all fags be sold in simlar packaging, has given the fag producers the chance to fiddle things.
On the 'old' packaging, there was a requirement to show tar and nicotine content and strength on the packet. The dickhead civil servant who drew up the legislation omitted this requirement from the so called 'plain' packaging so now smokers don't know what strength their fags are.
The missus noticed straight away. She sought to smoke the mildest fags she could find, these being Silk Cut 100s with tar and nicotine contents of 5, but as soon as she tried one in the new packaging (now subtley called 'Silk Cut Purple 100s), she noticed they are far stronger than the old ones which of course are no longer available.
So by introducing the requirement for 'plain' packaging, the government have turned a blind eye to tar and nicotene content so smokers can't check this and maybe switch to a milder brand and the net result is there may well be increase the incidence of lung cancer amongst smokers, exactly the opposite to what was intended

[Rob P]

But as has been pointed out many times elsewhere losing the early deaths of smokers will be a greater cost to the NHS than the saving from fewer lung cancer cases to be treated.

It really is a case of 'smoke if you want to' in the long run it makes no huge difference to the rest of us.

Rob P

[johnm]

There is no such thing as a safe cigarette. I smoked heavily until my mid 20’s when I packed it in. Capstan Full strength, pipe and cigars. Mrs Johnm didn’t like it so I just stopped.

Within days I was a violent anti smoker ‘cos I hated the smell.

[romille]

There is no such thing as a safe cigarette.

I agree, but there are some that is less harmful than others and pushing people into smoking untipped roll ups seems to be counted productive.

[Bill McCarthy]

In the enclosed environment of a boat I smoked ten cigarettes a day and not one "ciggie" touched my lips - I have never smoked in my life but inhaled the smoke from other users (about 80% of the crew at that time).
I can't for the life of me see why people still smoke after all the health warnings that are put out. I reckon that a lot more women than men smoke today.

[Flyin'Dutch']

The reduction in smoking rates in the UK is a success story of public health and government joined up thinking and a sensible and effective strategy.

Encouraging too is the dramatic drop of smoking of youngsters.

What is a bit worrying is that there are some previous non-smokers who start 'vaping' although it seems that vaping is less bad than smoking we don't have any long term data to confirm this. For those who already smoke,vaping papers to be a tool to reduce or stop tobacco consumption for non-smokers who start it may be a gate-way drug.

There is no such thing as a safe cigarette and thinking that one is better than another is deluding yourself.

If people are genuinely concerned about the tar and nicotine in their cigarettes they could do worse than contacting their local stop smoking support (usually based at their local GP's practice)

[Genghis the Engineer]

But as has been pointed out many times elsewhere losing the early deaths of smokers will be a greater cost to the NHS than the saving from fewer lung cancer cases to be treated.

It really is a case of 'smoke if you want to' in the long run it makes no huge difference to the rest of us.

Rob P

Makes a huge difference to me. I've never smoked a cigarette (or anything else, legal or illegal) in my life - but am moderately allergic to tobacco smoke. My eyes stream, my nose runs, my face itches, and sometimes I get headaches. Unsurprisingly, it also makes me extremely grumpy. I used to be able to take pubs for an hour or two pre-ban, but every single thing I'd worn had to go into the washing machine as soon as I got home, followed by a brisk shower.

The public smoking ban massively improved my quality of life.

It also, incidentally had a massive impact on the maintenance demands on office machinery, aircraft air conditioning systems, and doubtless other things I don't know about. I recall a "smoking" admin office in the late 90s, when the new CEO banned smoking, after the next service the photocopier - that had failed most months, never went wrong again. Looking over a maintenance technician's shoulder one time, the innards were absolutely gunged up with tar.

I also recall meeting the late Roy Castle, non-smoker, life working in clubs full of smokers, in the late stages of dying of lung cancer. Lovely man, clearly suffering massively.

So yes, smoking makes a huge difference to the rest of us.

If somebody is hellbent on self destruction, can they please just take up dangerous sports.

G

[romille]

There is no such thing as a safe cigarette and thinking that one is better than another is deluding yourself.

I am not suggesting that there is a safe cigarette but surely a tipped one is less harmful than a roll up

[cockney steve]

^^^^^^^^ no, it's a bit like boozing.....4 weak ones, or one strong one?

[Paultheparaglider]

But as has been pointed out many times elsewhere losing the early deaths of smokers will be a greater cost to the NHS than the saving from fewer lung cancer cases to be treated.

It really is a case of 'smoke if you want to' in the long run it makes no huge difference to the rest of us.

Rob P

My mother died at the age of 50. She was a heavy smoker, and the post mortem reported that smoking was a major cause of her death.

To anyone else, that probably wasn't a big deal. To me, it was. My mother lived in an age when smoking was the norm, Although I've personally never smoked, it pretty much was in my generation. I'm glad it isn't any more.

[cockney steve]

Like @johnm ,I actually grew up in a sweets/ tobacconist shop. Father encouraged us to smoke and drink whilst under 10 years old, in the mistaken belief it would put us off.
(he smoked 40 Players a day, didn't inhale) Stomach cancer took him when I was about 23...he drew less than 5 years State pension.

In my 20's I smoked a pipe, became manager of a pure tobacconist's shop. became a travelling salesman for another Company in the group.
weekly consumption...6 oz. pipe tobacco, 200 Disque Bleu (Capstan full were too weak! ) 5-10 Villiger half-corona cigars (Havana leaf in a machine-made cigar...best quality and value ) A tin of snuff here and there ! Yes! I inhaled the pipe and the cigars-serious nicotine addict -
Had a severe sore throat infection that took almost a month to clear, made a concious decision to not restart. The money I saved, helped to bring up 3 kids...apart from Waccy Baccy, they don't smoke.

2 years before I stopped unconsciously reaching for the pipe, while relaxing. still have my pipe collection, everything from a carved Turkish Block Meerschaum to a corn-cob.

[Rob P]

My mother died at the age of 50. She was a heavy smoker

My brother died in his fifties for the same reason. My mother, a smoker virtually all her life died at 97.

[Genghis the Engineer]

It is I believe pretty well established that smoking does not guarantee you will get any of various diseases, nor will not smoking prevent them.

But it does massively shift the percentages.

G

[Rob P]

Indeed.

I was relating facts rather than trying to establish cause and effect.

Nobody can doubt that the only benefits from smoking are the inflow of funds to the government's coffers and the savings to the pension fund

Rob P