If you switch to vaping, how much money could e-cigarettes save you versus tobacco?
DOES SWITCHING TO VAPING REALLY IMPACT YOUR HEALTH?
Kicking the smoking habit to switch to vaping saves lives. That’s a given, fully endorsed by Public Health England who gave our mission a huge boost last year by declaring that vaping is 95% less harmful than cigarettes.
Too many people believe vaping is more harmful, more dangerous and more expensive than smoking. They are not helped by tabloid headlines who sometimes pick on a single incident and declare a whole industry to be off-limits.
The trouble with the media is that they only report on extremes. They usually take a single – usually negative – perspective and focus in on it, ignoring all the positives. After all, good news doesn’t sell so well as bad.
SO, WHAT COULD YOU SAVE BY SWITCHING?
So we thought we’d put some facts and context into the debate by focusing on the cost of e-cigarettes versus conventional cigarettes. Hit the nay-sayers in the pocket, so to speak.
The biggest difference between conventional and e-cigarettes is tax. At least 57% of the price of a pack of fags is excise duty. And without fail every year and in every budget the government raises that duty. They have targets to stamp out smoking in the UK, relieve the burden on the NHS and get us to a healthier place. Yes there have been proposals to tax vaping products, but these have been met with outrage not just from the vaping community, but also organisations such as Cancer Research UK who declare such a move as a “tax on people trying to quit smoking”.
In 2018 Tech Round published a report comparing the cost of smoking versus vaping. They found that the average cost of smoking per year is more than £3,500 more expensive than e-cigarettes.
We’ll just let that sink in for a moment. Three-and-a-half-grand.
They based their calculations on the average smoker’s 20-a-day habit at a cost per pack of £10.40, and not including the cost of lighters and matches (or the estimated £2 billion a year NHS bill for looking after them). So that’s a whopping £3,796 just on cigarettes.
Basic vaping kits start at around £20, though they can go up to the £70 mark. But once you have the kit the only lay-out is for e-liquid and replacement coils. A 10ml bottle per week at round £5 each (though you can get ours at £1.99 each or 3 for £5) is 52 bottles a year at a cost of around £270. Total cost per year even if you treat yourself to a high-end kit: £340.
Switching to e-cigarettes is not only better for your body, it’s a massive boost to your wallet.
What are you waiting for?