Table of Contents
*2023 Update - The cost of a pack of cigarettes is on the rise and will continue to do so - check out our blog on why vaping is better for your wallet than smoking to learn more!
Ten quid. Tenner. Ten pounds.
Whichever way you say it, it doesn't sound like much at first.
But then you remember that £10 is the cost of cigarettes for just one pack. More even if you buy a premium brand.
Ten pounds wouldn't amount to much if, say, you were buying only one or two packs of cigarettes a month.
But the thing is most people who smoke use a pack a day!
Ten pounds per day--that adds up very quickly. But smoking doesn’t just cost more; it stops you from earning as well.
SMOKING IS HOLDING YOU BACK
It's no secret that smoking in the workplace is generally a no-no. Second-hand smoke is a huge problem, and most places banned smoking, even before it became law.
Few places of employment reserve a pro-smoking break room for employees. And it has been years since you could smoke inside the workplace.
As well, employers don't want their staff taking cigarette breaks while on the clock. It may seem harsh but smokers are simply less efficient, costing a company over £2,000 a year! (1)
After all, employers want to provide a clean, healthy work environment for their other employees. This isn't just from the kindness of their hearts though, healthy employees don't take as many sick days. Smokers however are more prone to sickness, taking on average 8 extra sick days a year compared to their non-smoking colleagues.
Smoking not only makes you less productive to your employer, but it is an instant warning sign for interviewers as well. Even if you are a hard working employee with a great resume, an interviewer knows that if they take you on, they are also taking your smoking addiction as well.
SMOKING RUINS YOUR HEALTH
Smoking is terrible for you. We all know this, but it is a fact that all smokers try and forget.
Cigarettes contain over 4,000 chemicals as well as 50 ingredients linked to cancer and so many health related diseases.
In fact, over 700,000 people in Europe die each year of cigarette smoke-related diseases (2). That's almost a million people in Europe alone! The death count gets even higher in other areas of the world.
And then there's non-fatal but still concerning side effects that smoking causes. For every person who dies because of smoking, over 30 people are being treated for a smoking-related disease. So that equates to over 24,000,000 being treated in hospital each year around Europe – for something that is completely preventable.
If the whole death issue is ignored by smokers, then how smoking can damage their bodies over time isn't even considered!
Beyond the health issues, there are the cosmetic ones as well! Yellow teeth, premature wrinkling, loss of taste, loss of stamina and energy--smoking causes it all.
HOW THE COST OF CIGARETTES SENDS YOUR WALLET UP IN SMOKE
Most of us though don’t want to look old before our time, or lose those pearly whites.
But keeping on top of the damage that smoking does to you is going to cost you. Dentist appointments, anti-wrinkle cream, gym memberships, dry cleaning bills…. they all add up. And all this isn’t even about improvement! It is just about trying to keep yourself at the same level as you would be without cigarettes.
Add up all of these additional costs with the cost of buying cigarettes…. It will certainly add up over time.
To get a true number on how much money you spend because of cigarettes is difficult though. So much of the cost is hidden in everyday purchases that we don't even notice.
What we can work out though is the price you pay on cigarettes. And that all depends on how often you smoke.
If you are buying a pack a day at £10 a pop, for the average pack-a-day smoker will be spending about £300 every month.
That adds up to over £3,600 a year.
That's money that could be spent elsewhere: on vacation, on a new car, on a down payment for a better home.
To gain a better perspective on the issue, think of how much you make per hour.
Let's say you make £11 an hour (which is the roughly the UK average). That means that 55 minutes of your workday goes to a single pack of cigarettes.
Is it worth it?
BETTER (AND HEALTHIER) ALTERNATIVES TO CIGARETTES
There is of course a better way to get the nicotine you crave – whether it is patches or gum or for over 3 million people in the UK, it’s the e-cigarette.
E-cigarettes have only four ingredients in them: propylene glycol, vegetable glycerine, flavouring, and nicotine. That means you don't get all the chemicals and tar you get in cigarettes, but you get the nicotine that you crave.
In fact, Public Health England recently stated that “e-cigs are roughly 95% less harmful than cigarettes”. (3)
They also leave no odour, give off no second hand smoke, and are more convenient as they can be used anywhere.
Plus, they're a lot cheaper. Each refill has about 35 cigarettes worth of nicotine in, and you get 5 refills in a box. That means you getting 175 cigarettes of nicotine for only £10!
Treat yourself to a pay raise by switching to e-cigs!
ABOUT SMOKO PREMIUM E-CIGARETTES
SMOKO Premium Electronic Cigarettes is the UK’s leading brand of e-cigarettes. Since starting over 5 years ago, SMOKO has helped prevent the use of over 100,000,000 cigarettes. We have helped our customers save over £40,000,000 in extra disposable income. See how much you could save with the our quit smoking calculator!
SMOKO E-Cigarettes contains only the highest quality, pharmaceutical-grade ingredients that are all Made in the UK! The majority of e-cigarette brands sold in grocery and convenience stores, petrol stations and on-line use Chinese-made ingredients.
SMOKO Electronic Cigarettes contain only 4 ingredients vs. the 4,000 chemicals and 50 known carcinogens found in traditional cigarettes - and they could help you quit smoking!
*2024 Update - The largest review of evidence to-date, conducted by Cochrane, on the effectiveness of E-Cigarettes for quitting smoking found 'high-certainty' evidence that E-Cigarettes are more effective than nicotine replacement therapy like the nicotine patches or nicotine gum! (4)
SMOKO – Amazing flavour, realistic smoking sensation and quality you can trust!
*2024 Update - Now you can try the SMOKO E-Cigarette for FREE when you purchase one box of E-Cigarette refills!
REFERENCES
(2) 700,000 deaths a year: tackling smoking in the EU