Your mates vape. Your boss quit smoking. You promised to quit in 2019. But how will Big Tobacco give it up?

Thank you for Smoking

Thank you for Smoking is a fantastically biting satire movie on this very subject along with the other disciples of Beelzebub, firearms and alcohol.

If you have not seen it, I strongly recommend you do, a great speech by J.K Simmons in the movie:

"People, what is going on out there? I look down this table, all I see are white flags! Our numbers are down all across the board. Teen smoking, our bread and butter, is falling like a shit from heaven! We don't sell Tic Tacs for Christ's sake. We sell cigarettes! And they're cool and available and addictive. The job is almost done for us!"

"Now it worries about a whole new market consisting of teen vapers"

Is the problem that they're all turning Japanese?

My employer slammed the gate

There is no smoking anywhere on company property. (You shall not pass with a ciggy!) There are only a couple of smokers left now? A few vape now, but most have quit.

I've seen one teen vaper follow this path. Vaping > Cigarettes > Rolling tobacco (due to cost). Could this be the plan? Work it in reverse. Increase tobacco smokers via vaping? I'd be interested to see some numbers on this. I also believe that vaping helps some but in my case I just don't find it the same though I'm planning to quit before new year. (this will attempt number 4 billion but I'm not giving up, which sound ironic really.) The reason for that is so that it isn't some new year resolution which you see everyone giving up at some point.

In the late 1970s one of our IT support customers was a tobacco company. On visiting their site they always offered us free packets of cigarettes***. They were used to the offer being declined as smoking was already noticeably less popular than even a decade before.

It was widely reckoned by their staff that there were marketing plans for marijuana stored in a safe for the apparently inevitable day it would be legalised.

***In order to protect their main cigarette brands - they also registered similar brand names. The registration required them to offer these brands for sale. Each year they produced a limited run and stocked them in a few selected tobacconists. Hence freebies for people like ourselves.

New markets

With smoking declining in the West (down to around 14 % in America) the tobacco companies have for years being looking for new addicts in Asia and Africa. Recently, however, the Chinese, alarmed by the problems associated with long term smoking, has started clamping down, so this probably means an even stronger push into Africa.

give it up?

Big Tobacco like Big Oil will give up their profits when you pry them from their cold dead fingers.

Any chance of giving the total number of teenagers who smoke cigarettes and/or vape and how that total is trending?

Seems like a serious article about teenage nicotine use would give that.

Also, talking about an increase without giving the _actual_ numbers is shit.

Big tobacco is moving into marijuana, at least here in the US.

Altria (Philip Morris) is checking their options, so I suspect marijuana will be removed from the schedule 1 list before to long.

35 comments, and no one has twigged ??????

Look at all the CBD vaping going on, plus worldwide moves decriminalising or even legalising cannabis.

Now start to guess where PM et al have "diversified" into ???????

Inevitable, really.

Anyone who did the most cursory of maths following the 2007 UK smoking ban would have noticed a steady decline in the revenue from ciggies (after all, if every smoker had 1 less a day - 7 a week - 31 a month, that's a lot of tax going missing. To say nothing of those that just gave up).

Add to that the increasing healthcare costs of ex-smokers who selfishly did not die at 60 so cost the NHS (and DWP) a lot more, and you have a perfect storm.

I still maintain that had the government of the day been honest and asked non-smokers if they were willing to pay a LOT more tax in order to introduce the smoking ban, it may have been received somewhat differently.

Wait until the decline of the motor car starts hitting. Already there's a generation that isn't learning to drive or own cars.

The anti-vaping lobby

As I recall, at the time of the first big vaping health-scare, the largest group lobbying for strict regulation / outright banning of vaping and e-cigs was actually Big Pharma, who were extremely concerned about the hit to sales of their nicotine-replacement products. NiQuitin (made by cuddly, loveable GlaxoSmithKline) and the like.

Here's an idea...

Just get control of yourself and stop being a self-harming addict.

But, the long-term smoking of others does affect me..

"this doesn't affect me, I don't care what you do." Umm... No.

I have spent years trapped in a cubicle farm surrounded by people with chronic wet coughs from decades of smoking. You get a pass with me if you have asthma. Only way I could escape those ADHD triggers was to get downsized.

Problem solved, thank you for the severance payout.

I'm old enough to remember the 80's when you could still smoke at your desk, as long as you didn't set your trashcan contents on fire...again.

Mints

There is a radio ad running here in Canada about how you might miss the big hockey goal if you go outside for a smoke, so stay inside and have a nicotine mint. So a product that was first sold as a quit smoking ade is now an addition to smoking.

I really don't care if smokers are now vapers

What hits my hot button is to walk into the local One Stop and be accosted by a Sweet Young Thing (about 19-20, dressed inappropriately in order to enhance her salesforce) actively attempting to sell me (and everyone else walking in) vaping products in bright coloured packaging, from a brightly coloured stand, in all sorts of fun flavours - and not paying much attention to the age of the customers she was attempting to entice.

And this isn't hypothetical - it actually happened about 3 months ago - in the UK, in a shop directly opposite a park full of kids with a _very_ popular skating area (and with the shop manager pretty unhappy about being forced to put up with having her there)

Bear in mind that One Stop is a trading brand of Tesco.

Any claim that Vaping products are NOT being sold at new recruits pretty much went out the window some time back.

But how will Big Tobacco give it up?

Easy, don't buy any of their products and they'll just disappear. There are plenty of non-BT vapour products out there, we don't need them.

Whenever “Pro” & “Con” are “On The Stage” [doing whatever “they”do best], “Truth” will “HaveTo Wait Its Turn”. And what happens when The-Waiting” is merely A Game? You know, when The-Wait is, somehow but don’t know how, “infinite” ? Well, then, “Eets Jest Too-Bad, Sweets”. When DemonKrazy is able to masquerade as Democracy, DemonKrazy Running-Amok is then The Reality.

When The Vast Majority within The Human Universe employ “Selfishness” as some kinda Excuse in order to “Gain An Advantage”, “The-Waiting” will be Forever & Ever, Amen ! Name the person who won’t really mind giving, for example, 1% of his “paycheck” to “Whatever”. NOT when said “paycheck” is too small to Balance-Out the Bills. Hands-up those who would like To DisAgree. No wonder when The Vast Majority are “Bribe-able”/”Do-able”, Who-You-Know/”Relativity” is then The-Reality and not What-You-Know/”Reality”.

NOTHING will change when “Selfishness”/”Pro-vs-Con” is Running-Amok. There is only ONE reason for Materialism’s existence and that is to be The Embodiment of Love, which happens when “The-Gifting” is Real. That of offering a “Face” to Love. NOT the love which expects-demands but The Love which is UnConditional. That of “Motherliness”. A quality, even “Animals” are able to-express.

Evil is when Destruction has neither Rhyme nor Reason To Destroy. You know, when “Cruelty loves being-Cruel”, whatever The-Justification. Including The Moment when some Masochist loves being hurt, “jest like zat” ! You know, when Masochism is Running-Amok/Prowling-Around-for-Its-Sadist.

Like it or not, Cruelty happens when Destruction has NO Constructive Elements. This is because “Evil”, aka Devolution, exists.

Energy is The Highest at The-Energy-Creator’s Level. Evolution started at The Lowest [materialised] Energy Level before arriving at The Thoughfully-Processing Human Level. Thereafter, in order to Leap-Ahead-&-be-Beyond, The “First-Born” Human has to realise his “self” first. To Realising one’s reality or what Religion-Religiosity “secretly”/blind-blindedly calls, The Born-Again Human Level.

A Bird is Firstly-Born as An Egg before being “Born-Again”as A Bird. Symbolically, A Human is “Firstly-Born” as The Thoughtfully-Processing Human before being “Born-Again” as The Thoughtlessly-Aware Human. You know, when Serendipity is being able to perceive The ONLY Energy-Creator without having To “Think”/Judge About It or when Judgement is a Mental-Issue of Control-Freakism. That of Thought-Processing [TP] Running-Amok. And isn’t it grand that Control’s real aim to justify Its Moment of Abandonment. You know, when Control-Freakism is merely some form of Abandon-Nuttism.

Hands-up those who imagine that being Abandoned is to enable Chaos to Run-Amok. NOT when Control aims-to become Abandonment at The-End. The Human Universe predicates on Selfishness in order to "Sucessfully Spin”. If so, wouldn’t The Solution to The Problem of Selfishness be implementing The-Innocent to remaining Innocent. If so, why befool “Minors” with Frivolity & Nonsense like “Adulthood”/Ritualism-Licentiousness, “Santa”/becoming-Abandoned, and so forth? You know, promoting Illusion-Delusion as Reality.

It is said that, “If Thoughts are readable like A Book, The Vast Majority of “Adults” will be facing “Jail-Time”. But NOT when “Adulthood” means being able to “BeFriend Yore Wigged-Fellow”, thereby avoiding “Jail-Time”, in addition to recycling The Same Ole Junk All over Again. And Again, ad-infinitum.

There must be NO Outright-Control such that those who are able To-Awaken-To-Reality will be able to do so. In the meantime, Human Societies will be able to do as “they” please, which include being “Good”, “Bad” & InDifferent”. When The Truly Living are able To Breathe, Reality will become “accessible”. It does not matter whether The Relativised/Materialised do what “they” do best, so long as Reality is unemcumbered to continue, Reality will become so.

As such, let “Sleeping Dogs Lie”. Let The Control-Freaks be The Number-Oners/”Nazis”. So long as Reality is not constricted by Ascetism-Licentiousness/Duality-pretending-to-be-Singularity, there will be those who are able to become Real, thereby EnLightening those who are ready to Be EnLightened.

The Vast Majority may know ALL About The Tricks of The Trade of Evil, but so long as they are “Being-Compromised”, Nothing Will Change. So “Vape” away – or whatever Smoking will be calling “Smoking”. Remaining Thoughtfully-Processed is to be dulled by Frivolity & Nonsense – and self-certifying that state as being Real. No wonder another name for Devolution is The-Joker. Try not to Laugh too hard, though, if only because that could be The Last Laugh.

Be conscious and be aware that Addiction is The Moment when The Ability to See is not counterable by The Ability to Counter. Materialism's methodology to countering Addiction is via “Replacement-Therapy”. That of replacing an Addiction with A Higher Form of Addiction. For An Addiction to be really counterable, The-Victim needs to realise Its own reality/”truth” first. You know, when Reality is ONLY possible after realising one’s own reality. Without this essential/fundamental step on The Journey towards Reality, one may be on The Journey towards Turth forever & ever. No matter who says/said what.

vaping vs smoking

This made me think about the real ways of quit smoking. From my personal experience, I have one. That's vaping. It helped me and I think that It will help you to struggle tobacco addiction. Visit MigVapor website if you want to buy some awesome vaping equipment.

> Smoking has been in decline in recent years,

No. Wrong. In the UK, it has been a monotonic linear decline since ~1960. For non-researchers, put your ruler on the peak ~1960, tilt it down sharply, and draw a line. Your line will only be a fraction off the reality. It's that consistent.

Precisely NO anti-smoking "initiative" has had any influence on this progression.

.

Interestingly, tobacco PREVENTS lung cancer, not "causes" it.

It's HOW you smoke it that changes this risk.

.

Re "cause": based on actual DATA (not research estimates), smoking cigarettes increases your annual incidence of lung cancer by only 4.5 times.

To put that in perspective I: dyeing your hair every 6 weeks increases your chance of bladder cancer 32 times. Bladder cancer has ~ the same incidence as lung cancer. Yes, it's now more survivable. But you talk to most people who're "cured", and Quality of Life becomes such an issue that you start getting gungho about voluntary euthanasia.

To put that in perspective II: to put the ABSOLUTE risk of lung cancer in perspective (never wondered why you almost never see any hard figures thrown round? And why the only one which is, is expressed in strictly RELATIVE terms?), and again based on actual whole-population DATA not tiny-sample research proxies:

if you smoke a packet a day of cigarettes, from the day you can first buy them legally to the age of 80, in the UK (where you have a higher chance than average of contracting lung cancer anyway), you have a 1 in 19 chance of contracting lung cancer. Which, with the typical 5yr subsequent lifespan, means you'll die of lung cancer at or over the average life span in the UK.

.

So, not an automatic death sentence at all. In fact, quite a tiny chance of lung cancer considering that level of smoking for that level of time.

And... oh dear lord!... someone can do something they enjoy, all their life, and typically die at or over the average age.

.

To put it another way, the level of anti-smoking hysteria is literally irrational, is not based on fact but rather on virtue-display.

> Interestingly, tobacco PREVENTS lung cancer, not "causes" it.

> It's HOW you smoke it that changes this risk.

To be clear: if you're a non-smoker, you have a 25% HIGHER chance of lung cancer than a pipe smoker.

Likewise, cigar smokers have 6% lower chance of lung cancer than you.

Richard Doll discovered this. And did his damndest to hide it. The government had to force the data out of him. And then discovered he'd hidden a whole heap of stuff.

Richard Doll, to be clear, is the evangelist who kicked off the whole anti-smoking thing and drove it like a demon. His chance for FAME!. He was a doctor who noticed his lung cancer patients were more likely to be smokers than the population average of smokers. He took that ball and ran with it, banged the armageddon drum (standard tactic for status-/attention-needy people bereft of objective justification), and as a result got himself a serious career and serious attention. After the snowball had been rolling for a while he got some serious serious money to do some PROPER large-scale research. After which he declared his triumphant conclusions, then refused to show his data. Instant black flag, never mind red flag. (Not quite as bad as the chap who hijacked the Paris Accord then literally smashed his disk with a hammer to prevent anyone seeing his data, but it's still up there with the classics.)

He found that:

Pipe smokers have 20% lower chance of lung cancer than non-smokers, cigar smokers 6%.

Only cigarette smokers are the ones who have problems.

.

So it's clearly not tobacco which is the problem. It's how you smoke it.

.

An interesting observation: even drinking coffee/tea too hot regularly, sharply increases your chances of mouth&throat cancer. (Ban them!) Something every pipe smoker will tell you is that pipe smoke is not much hotter than ambient by the time it gets to the mouth. I personally strongly suspect cigarettes (which are only barely tobacco: many chemicals added so they burn: tobacco does not burn ; cigarette "tobacco" takes 1-2 weeks to make, pipe tobacco takes 1-2 years) cause problems due to the heat and the chemicals. A blast of scorching air straight into the lungs.

Even then, the risk is startlingly low compared to the hype. Per the NHS's & WHO's simple record keeping of actual incidence rates.

BTW, the WHO finds 25-30% of lung cancer patients are non-smokers. "Interestingly", the NHS declares 10% publicly, but their internal documents state 25-30%. The NHS also presents smoking vs lung cancer charts based on different years/data. The lung cancer data is nearly a decade older than the smoking rate data. Reason? Lung cancer rates in the UK are going UP, whilst smoking rate continues on its monotonic linear decline. "Whoops".

.

Tobacco also cures tuberculosis, interestingly. "Good for the phthisis", as the pipe-smoking 17C boys put it.