The Financial Benefits Of E-Cigarettes (Vaping)...

by Sophie Davidson
(Nottingham, UK)

The average smoker in the UK could save themselves almost £5,000 (7,600 U.S.) per year by cutting out their habit entirely. Thirteen cigarettes are stubbed out by the typical British smoker each day, costing them around £4,750 over a 12-month period.

That’s a 2001 Audi TT Roadster up in smoke, or a chunk of a deposit for a house. Or that holiday in Bora Bora you’ve always dreamed of!

And instead of a tangible reward sitting in the driveway or in your bank account, what you will likely have in return is deteriorating health, often without you even realising it. That expenditure will very likely only grow each year as tobacco prices rise, too.

No great shock, then, that so many smokers are choosing to ditch traditional cigarettes and switch instead to e-cigarette use, or vaping, as it’s commonly nicknamed. With no tobacco involved, nicotine levels that can be moderated according to the user’s taste and an inhalation experience largely free of the 4,000 or so harmful chemicals typically found in cigarette smoke, it’s believed to be a healthier alternative. And they can be smoked inside many restaurants, bars and other establishments (although it’s always courteous to check first).

E-cigarettes, kits and accessories work out to be much cheaper than tobacco cigarettes too. E liquid manufacture by EL-Science and firms like it help e-cigarette suppliers create ranges of flavoured e-liquids that appeal to smokers with varying nicotine demands.

The e-liquid cartridges are connected to a battery, which powers a small heating element. When the user inhales, a sensor activates this element, which rapidly turns the liquid mixture into a thick vapour. This vapour is what contains both the nicotine and the flavour. The tip of the cartridge forms the mouthpiece, and the user inhales in exactly the same way as if they were smoking a cigarette.

The big draw card of e-liquid cartridges is that they last for about as long as a packet of 20 cigarettes. According to the Tobacco Manufacturer’s Association, the recommended retail price of a packet of 20 cigarettes in the UK is a shade under £8.50. E-liquid cartridges, on the other hand, retail for around £5 per refill. Starters kits sell for around the £30 mark - but after that initial outlay the costs drop considerably.

What’s more, a report on Express.co.uk highlights the intense pressure lobbyists are putting on the government to increase the price of cigarettes by a substantial sum. Proposals brought forward by the Independent Cancer Taskforce recommend raising the recommended retail price by more than 50 per cent. The proposals, pencilled in for 2020, would see the cost of a pack of 20 cigarettes hit £15.

Since vaping is taken up by many cigarette smokers as a way to reduce their smoking, the savings are gradual, building up as cigarettes become increasingly shunned. If smokers were to make a clean break from cigarettes and move to vaping instead, they’d reap about £900 in savings per year.

There are even loyalty schemes that provide cheaper cartridge refills. Plus, the more unpleasant side effects of smoking - the smoky clothes, the random lighters, the ash dropped on the carpet - are banished, which means you don’t have to pay out even more money to replace these items.