Why giving up smoking and choosing vaping can save you money
Do you remember when we were stuck at home baking banana bread during the pandemic?
We’d all laugh on Zoom quizzes with our families and friends and say, ‘soon we’ll be free, and everything will be so much better than it is now…’
Hah! Oh, how wrong we were.
Let’s be honest, 2022 has been a bit pants so far. Inflation is at an all-time high, it costs five figures to top up our fuel tanks and let’s not get started on the state of our energy bills.
If you’re looking at your bank statements and wincing, it might be time to start cutting back on certain things.One way you can make savings is by stopping smoking. Yep, we know there’s a reason why you haven’t quit yet. However, it can be one of the easiest ways to save money, as well as improve your health.
But you may also be feeling quite anxious about quitting smoking too. That’s fine and totally normal. Your best chances of success lie in your planning and preparation, so read on to find out how maximise your chances of success!
If you’re on the fence about stopping smoking, here’s how it can save you cash in the months ahead, as well as why vaping is a good alternative.
- Cigarettes are expensive: pass it on
- It’s not just the cigarettes that will cost you either
- Smoking: making people less houseproud for centuries
- Stopping smoking will help your health
- Best to quit while you’re ahead
- Hang on… when are you going to plug vaping as an alternative to smoking?
- So, why vape over smoking?
- It’s a cheaper alternative
- It tastes nicer
- You can cut down on your nicotine intake as you vape
- It can help reduce the amount of plastic in landfill
- It can help you pick up better habits
- You won’t smell
- In summary: Pick up the vape and save some money
Cigarettes are expensive: pass it on
At the time of publication, 20 cigarettes cost anything from £9.75 to £14.45. That’s between 49p and 72p per individual cigarette.
(To put it into context, a single Freddo costs about 30p. Do you remember when they were 10p? It’s absolutely scandalous.)
So, let’s say you smoke 20 cigarettes a day. This means you could be spending between £3,558 and £5,274 a year!
Let that sink in. That’s a lot of cash.
That money could pay your energy bill and keep your car running. You could even have a little bit of wonga left over to buy something nice like a holiday or Christmas pressies for the family.
Alternatively, £5,274 could buy over 17,500 Freddos.
Be right back, just going to the corner shop. For… reasons.
(Want to see how much money you can save by switching to vaping? Keep reading to find out!)
It’s not just the cigarettes that will cost you either
Smokers typically pay more for life insurance than non-smokers. This is because they’re more susceptible to illness than people that don’t and therefore, more likely to need a pay-out.
Depending on your insurance provider, you can expect to pay between 30% to 200% more for cover if you’re a smoker. And don’t even think of lying on your application, as they will check your medical records if you make a claim.
This means by quitting, you can not only save cash on cigarettes, but on your insurance too.
To qualify as a ‘non-smoker’ by insurance companies, you typically need to have not smoked for about twelve months. This can vary from policy to policy though, so be sure to check.
Important note: Bear in mind that some insurance companies treat vaping the same way as smoking, so if you switch to vaping, you might still need to pay a premium. Check the terms of your policy to see if you might be affected.
Smoking: making people less houseproud for centuries
Another indirect cost of smoking can be seen around the home. If you like to light up in the house, you can soon find yellow stains on the ceilings, walls and paintwork, as well as marks on your soft furnishings. Plus, everything you own smells like damp cigarettes. Bleugh.
This means you have to spend money on redecorating and can even see the resale value of your home drop. According to Yopa, smoking can devalue your property by up to 29%.
After all, who wants to sleep, cook and watch TV In a giant ashtray? Pretty much no one.
By stubbing out those cigarettes, you can unlock the value of your home and even save some money to buy a new TV or a cool piece of art for the wall. Everyone’s a winner.
Stopping smoking will help your health
Even though we do it, we all know that smoking damages our health. If you’re one of those people that can’t bear to look at the disgusting photos they put on cigarette packets these days, we feel your pain.
However, it has to be said – smoking is the leading cause of preventable disease and death in the UK.
Heart attack? Yep. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease? Yep. Cancer? Pretty much every kind you can imagine. According to the NHS, around 78,000 people a year die from smoking, with many more living with serious health conditions.
Even if you’ve smoked for decades, stopping is still one of the best things you can do for your health. Days after stopping, you’ll experience a drop in heart rate, and your sense of smell will improve. Within a year, your risk of coronary heart disease falls to half of what it was before.
Stopping smoking not only improves your health but the health of those around you. It’s estimated that passive (second-hand) smoking causes nearly 10,000 deaths in the UK a year.
If that doesn’t urge you to stub out the cigs, we don’t know what will.
Best to quit while you’re ahead
The UK Government is looking at ways to make smoking ‘obsolete’. By 2030, it wants only 5% of the population to still smoke.
Is 5% of the population technically obsolete? Not really. Still, it’s good that the Government is taking action and not hanging gold wallpaper or stuff like that.
What does this mean? It’s best to stop smoking now and quit in your own time rather than being forced to. After all, you don’t want to wander to the local shops only to find the smoking shelves behind the till have been cordoned off like a scene in CSI Miami.
Hang on… when are you going to plug vaping as an alternative to smoking?
Riiiiiiight about now! (The funk soul brother.) Sorry, couldn’t resist.
Some people quit smoking cold turkey. They have one last drag, throw those cigarettes in the bin, and never think about smoking ever again.
Sounds nice in theory but doesn’t really work in practice. In reality, it takes most people a while to reduce how much they smoke to the point that they don’t need to do it anymore.
There’s also the risk you could stop smoking and start up again. In 2019, nearly 1 in 3 smokers said they had quit but picked up the habit again. Yikes.
One of the things people miss the most is the physical sensation and social aspect of smoking. If this is the case for you, vaping could be a good alternative.
So what is vaping? We’re so glad you asked!
Vaping is when you use an electronic device like an e-cigarette or vape pen to inhale vapour into your lungs. This replicates the physical sensation that smoking provides, as you’re putting the device to your mouth and inhaling, but it’s safer and healthier.
Studies have shown that people who vape in order to quit smoking are twice as likely to succeed as people who try and quit in other ways.
Vaping for the win!
So, why vape over smoking?
If you’re looking for a way to quit smoking and save cash, vaping is the way to go. Not that we’re biased or anything.
Still not 100% convinced? Here are some of the reasons why vaping is better than smoking.
#1 - It’s a cheaper alternative
As far as hobbies go, smoking is one of the most expensive ones out there. As we saw above, a pack of twenty cigarettes can cost anything from a tenner to fifteen pounds. That’s the equivalent of a cinema ticket or a family-sized takeaway pizza. No anchovies please.
With vaping, while you still need to buy vaping equipment and e-liquid, it works out a heck of a lot cheaper than smoking cigarettes.
How much does vaping cost? Depending on the gear you buy and how often you buy it, it can cost between £520 and £900 a year. That’s up to 90% cheaper than cigarettes.
See for yourself – give our calculator a try and see how much money you could save by switching from cigarettes to vaping. We think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.
#2 - It tastes nicer
One of the reasons why people say they don’t want to quit smoking is that ‘it tastes so good!’
Nope, nope, and nope again. It tastes like sucking rainwater off a drainpipe. Come on people, let’s not lie to ourselves.
With vaping, you can choose from lots of delicious flavours, from fruit and sweets to menthol if you fancy something a little bit fresher. You can even opt for a tobacco-flavoured vape if you’re so inclined.
Looking for a tasty blend to get you through the great British summer? We’ve got you covered.
#3 - You can cut down on your nicotine intake as you vape
Nicotine is the addictive element of a cigarette, and the thing that compels you to keep on puffing.
The average cigarette contains between 8 to 20 milligrams of nicotine, depending on the brand.
However with vaping, you’re in complete control of how much nicotine you consume.
At Ohm Brew, we label all our vape liquids with how much nicotine they contain. For example, some vape liquids contain 12mg of nicotine, which is ideal for people who get through a pack a day and need something to ward off the cravings. Other vape liquids are completely nicotine free.
What’s the point of nicotine-free vape liquid, you might ask? If you’re no longer dependent on nicotine but still enjoy the sensation of vaping, nicotine-free vape liquid means you can vape away to your heart’s content.
We recommend you start with a higher strength if you smoke a lot and a lower strength if you’re more of a social smoker. You can then reduce the strength as you gradually wean yourself off nicotine.
Like the sound of a particular blend, but it’s not the right strength for your needs? We’ve got you. A Nic Shot will add extra nicotine so you can find the perfect concentration to get you through the day in one piece.
Extra bonus: vaping doesn’t produce tar or carbon monoxide like cigarettes do. Trust us; your lungs and heart will thank you.
Psst! Want to know more about vaping and why you should make the switch today? Check out our guide here.
#4 - It can help reduce the amount of plastic in landfill
Take a walk through town, and you’re sure to find tons of cigarette butts. Not only do cigarette butts look disgusting, but they don’t biodegrade. Instead, the plastics in them break down and run off into our water supply, causing harm to wildlife and even entering our bodies.
Ugh, gross.
The good news is that when you vape, you’re helping reduce the number of cigarette butts that pollute our world. Not only this, but as the vapour in vapes doesn’t contain the chemicals that cigarettes do, you’re playing your part in reducing air pollution.
Is vaping 100% green? We’re not going to lie; it isn’t. However, it’s shaping up to be better for the planet than smoking. Plus, with the technological advancements taking place, we’re confident that vaping will become much more environmentally friendly in the years ahead.
Remember that if you do vape, be green. Recycle the batteries in your vape device when you’re done with them, and don’t pour e-liquids down the drain.
Got a cat at home? Cat litter can be a purr-fect (see what we did there?) way to absorb excess e-liquid before sticking it in the bin.
#5 - It can help you pick up better habits
Here’s an interesting statistic for you to ruminate on. Studies in the US have shown that adult smokers that switch to vaping are more likely to pick up healthy habits and exercise more regularly.
Will making a move to vaping magically make you go to the gym three times a week and eat your veggies? Probably not.
But it looks like changing this one aspect of your life may encourage you to change others.
#6 - You won’t smell
The yellow fingers, the bad breath, the stinky clothes… we can all spot (and smell!) a smoker from a mile away.
If you’re frustrated about smelling like a massive pile of grubby ash, vaping is the future for you, friend. While cigarette smoke contains tobacco which lends its disgusting stench to everything around you, the vapour from vaping doesn’t.
After all, why smell like tobacco when you can smell like strawberries, bubblegum, or salted caramel? We know which option we’d prefer.
In summary: Pick up the vape and save some money
Whew, it’s been a long ride but we got there in the end.
We hope this article has convinced you of the reasons to quit smoking and why vaping can be a good substitute.
No matter how you quit smoking, whether by vaping, gum, patches or going cold turkey, just know this. We’re proud of you. No, seriously. We’re welling up a little bit here.
Quitting smoking can be a great way to save cash as well as add years to your life.
If you’re considering vaping to help you quit, we’re here to help. Check out our stockists to see where you can find Ohm Brew in your town. Alternatively, if you have any questions, please feel free to drop us a line.
We’re always here to offer advice or share our stash of Freddos. After all, we’ve now got over 17 and a half thousand of them…
SOURCES:
- https://ash.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/SecondhandSmoke.pdf
- https://moneytothemasses.com/quick-savings/insurance-2/life-insurance/which-is-the-cheapest-life-insurance-provider-if-i-smoke
- https://www.nhsinform.scot/healthy-living/stopping-smoking/reasons-to-stop/benefits-of-stopping
- https://www.nhs.uk/common-health-questions/lifestyle/what-are-the-health-risks-of-smoking
- https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/quit-smoking/using-e-cigarettes-to-stop-smoking/
- https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/healthandlifeexpectancies/bulletins/adultsmokinghabitsingreatbritain/2019
- https://www.washington.edu/news/2022/05/12/smokers-who-switch-to-e-cigarettes-may-adopt-other-healthy-routines/
- https://www.yopa.co.uk/blog/smoking-affect-value-home/
