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Greeks are abandoning cigarettes in record numbers

theguardian.com

101–110 of 151 posts

Re: Greeks are abandoning cigarettes in record numbers

#101
post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Australia is pretty high, in Sydney they go for more than $25 a pack. Still, smuggling would require long boats rides and stuff, while Australia is a pretty rule of law place.

cigarette snuggling sounds like an RJ Reynolds plan to get more kids smoking

Oops, fixed!

Re: Greeks are abandoning cigarettes in record numbers

#102
post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nicotine, while highly addictive, would still cause far less damage to its users if consumed through a patch, gum or e-cigarette. I’m disrupting a suboptimal consumption method.

Indeed. The last time that I quit tobacco, I kept chewing nicotine gum for several months. To get the attention-focusing effect. But I really don't like chewing gum, and so gave it up. And modafinil is better, anyway.

[deleted]

Re: Greeks are abandoning cigarettes in record numbers

#103
post #86
post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could you list some examples of those legitimate reasons? I fail to see any, and I've lived with smokers my whole life. I'm genuinely interested.

Feels good, relieves stress, is social, is an excuse to step outside, and also with the social aspect there's a selection effect for a certain type of person. Also someone mentioned the antipsychotic treatment, irrelevant to most but pretty interesting: http://slatestarcodex.com/2016/01/11/schizophrenia-no-smokin... edit: good list of nootropic-style benefits of nicotine from gwern ( https://www.gwern.net/Nicotine )…

Yes, nicotine at low dose has a stimulant effect who explains most of that. But its tolerance builds up very quickly and most habitual smokers don't really feel this effect anymore and have to smoke more. At high dosage its effect turns from stimulant to sedative and reduce neuronal activity.

On the anecdata side, I have a few smoker friends who explained to me they only really feel the first cigarette in the morning. All the others cigarettes they smoke are due to habit/withdrawal.

In the end, there are a lot of stimulant drugs who do not have as much side effects as nicotine, especially when it comes in the form of tobacco, so it does not appear like smoking is a possible rational choice.

Re: Greeks are abandoning cigarettes in record numbers

#104

I would like to see one country go all in vaping(and snus) and completely ban cigarettes.

I'm honestly surprised that vaping hasn't naturally killed off cigarettes already. I suspect it will eventually. You get to consume nicotine while eliminating maybe 95% of the downsides of smoking tobacco. Plus it's usually a lot cheaper.

Re: Greeks are abandoning cigarettes in record numbers

#105
post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nicotine, while highly addictive, would still cause far less damage to its users if consumed through a patch, gum or e-cigarette. I’m disrupting a suboptimal consumption method.

Indeed. The last time that I quit tobacco, I kept chewing nicotine gum for several months. To get the attention-focusing effect. But I really don't like chewing gum, and so gave it up. And modafinil is better, anyway.

Congratulations on quitting!

Re: Greeks are abandoning cigarettes in record numbers

#107
post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many countries now have rules where the packets of cigarette show people suffering serious health concerns. This is also said to work well. I'm also sure no smoking indoors or on public streets laws works to reduce smoking well too.

It doesn't. A packet cover (yes, they make cigarette packets covers) costs 2 Euros, and smokers don't seem to be concerned about the disgusting images they put on the packets. With all the added benefits that everybody at the table with a smoker gets to enjoy the view of a gangrenous foot with a missing finger or a black lung destroyed by tar and nicotine whenever the smoker pulls out the packet and places it on the…

Those that are sufficiently concerned tend to stop being, or avoid becoming smokers, so the unconcerned are what remain. Same goes for prices.

I think we can both agree that taxation is the better ‘value’ policy [negative costs are hard to beat], but studies such as the described at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4396458/ suggest that generic packaging has positive effects too.

Re: Greeks are abandoning cigarettes in record numbers

#108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Only works for countries that don't have a large "black" economy and HMRC spends a lot of effort tracking down smuggled tobacco - normally sold in the back bar of the less salubrious pubs.

Her Majesty's Revenue Collector ?

Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs. Roughly speaking, revenue being taxes on what you earn, and customs being taxes on what you buy.

There used to be separate departments for each, but they were merged years ago. This was a slightly odd move, as the revenue were people who were good at doing very detailed analysis of paper trails, whereas customs were people who were good at kicking down smugglers' doors.

Re: Greeks are abandoning cigarettes in record numbers

#109
post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Indeed. The last time that I quit tobacco, I kept chewing nicotine gum for several months. To get the attention-focusing effect. But I really don't like chewing gum, and so gave it up. And modafinil is better, anyway.

Congratulations on quitting!

Hey, thanks :) I went 20 years using, 10 years off, one year using, and now over 10 years off. It's a damn hard drug to kick.

Re: Greeks are abandoning cigarettes in record numbers

#110
post #32

I would never want to become a business partner with someone who is smoking cigarettes. Why? For me it indicates a lack of intelligence, not being good at dealing with stress and bad long-term thinking. When smoking cigarettes you are paying twice - first when spending money in order to ruin your health, and many years later when you are spending money on health-care in order to fix your ruined health. The Greeks hav…

I find your arguments a bit shallow. I know extraordinary people who like to smoke. How can you say a smoker has a "lack of intelligence" and what makes you think people smoke from stress? I smoke from 16 to 35 and I never did it because of stress (yes I smoked when stressed too) - for me it was that calmness it gave. I could concentrate more than I can now as a non-smoker - I could go deeper and stay there for bigge…

Quite a lot of these arguments against smoking are silly. In moderation, smoking is fine and studies have shown that it increases cognitive ability and lowers stress. Some of the best engineer's I've ever known in my career smoked cigarettes. I don't personally smoke them, but I used to. I use nasal snuff and smoke a pipe now, which is significantly different than cigarettes. However; the social stigma against cigarettes is crazy. It doesn't bother me as long as I'm not trapped in a room with no ventilation with a cig smoker. Sugar is probably worse for you than cigarettes, but like anything it should be moderated. Cigarettes are specifically engineered to get you hooked.
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