# Cigarettes sold in plain green packs under new rules



## Northerner (May 20, 2017)

New rules have come into force which mean cigarettes and tobacco must be sold in plain green packets and carry graphic health warnings.

The rules, which also end the sale of packets of 10, are designed to deter young people from taking up the habit.

Health groups have welcomed the measure, as the number of smokers in the UK continues to decline.

But a smokers' group says the changes "infantilise" consumers and will make no difference to public health.

As part of efforts to "deglamorise" the image of smoking, the compulsory standardised green packaging must carry the new, larger, health warnings on two-thirds of the front and back of any packet.

The greenish-brown colour has been described by some experts as "the ugliest colour in the world".

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-39984887

 Hope it helps, at least for some


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## Matt Cycle (May 20, 2017)

Great.  Hopefully will stop young people taking it up in the first place.  The smokers group, FOREST is funded by the tobacco companies.  If as they say it won't make any difference why are they so up in arms about it.  They know it's a dying habit (pun intended).


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## Vicsetter (May 20, 2017)

I bet this will make it harder to spot those dodgy eastern european imports.


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## mikeyB (May 20, 2017)

Good point, Vic, but I remember how cool the those shiny black JPS boxes looked when I was at school, so I can see the point. Maybe the mucky green boxes will be cool. Who knows?


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## Copepod (May 20, 2017)

Khaki green packs more than half covered with pathological photos.


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## mikeyB (May 21, 2017)

Aye, I'm sure it will help, but the associated banning of cigs sold in ten packs will help even more. When I was at school, many shops near school sold individual cigs. In those days it was simply finance that limited smoking.


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## Northerner (May 21, 2017)

mikeyB said:


> Aye, I'm sure it will help, but the associated banning of cigs sold in ten packs will help even more. When I was at school, many shops near school sold individual cigs. In those days it was simply finance that limited smoking.


Me and a mate used to get 5 Park Drive for a shilling   The local newsagent near our school would sell you a cigarette and two matches!  Actually, I think it would have been better if they'd gone for an odd number per packet, like 13 or 17 - and made the contents random so you didn't know how many you were going to get


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## trophywench (May 21, 2017)

Forget the medical notes - the revolting thing is the pretty picture of cross sections of people's lung tissue on them - they are, quite honestly, GROSS.  However - it's quite ironic how much you can fool your brain to totally ignore - when you are determined to do so.

No I'm NOT fooling myself - I'm honestly not THAT stupid.  And I do know full well that smoking is stupid.  Just explain to me why I have no inclination to cease immediately and how I can make my inclination do a U turn.  I'd certainly pay you and so would other folk.  You really could be a millionaire by this time next year.


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## mikeyB (May 21, 2017)

Well, I'll kick off for the prize by saying why not try vaping? You can get the tobacco flavour, and nicotine that you need without the risks associated with all the toxins in fags. You can get, say, 3% strength liquid, then go down the strengths gradually to 1% and then 0% without losing the flavour. You won't notice the reductions, honest. I didn't. I smoked a pipe, and got a very realistic electronic pipe. The only reason I haven't stopped completely is that every time I stopped smoking the pipe, my Ulcerative Colitis flared up. That is the only medical condition known which gets worse, or appears after stopping smoking, and appears to improve with smoking. I haven't been troubled while vaping, so I assume it's the nicotine that has this effect.


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## trophywench (May 21, 2017)

Find me an e-cig that feels like a fag in my mouth, isn't bigger than a fag and definitely weigh the same.  THAT is the prob with vaping for me.

I have tried rolling a fag only using tips, no tobacco.  That's OK actually (with a nicotine patch) but they - the fag paper round it not the sponge tip itself - go so soggy so quickly, they don't even last a morning.  I imagine it's because I obviously don't pull warmed air through the thing which when actually smoking it, must keep it drier or something.  Vewwy odd.


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## mikeyB (May 22, 2017)

Well, yes, Jen, you can't hold an e-cig in your mouth, but doing that with a fag is unladylike anyway. 

I'll just get my coat....


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## Northerner (May 22, 2017)

trophywench said:


> Find me an e-cig that feels like a fag in my mouth, isn't bigger than a fag and definitely weigh the same. THAT is the prob with vaping for me.


I've never tried, but it sounds like why some people prefer a real book to an e-reader  I imagine that, if vaping had been around when I was a smoker, I would have tried it, it sounds more controllable than things like patches or gum  How do costs compare?


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## mikeyB (May 22, 2017)

Upfront costs for a basic kit, around £15. That'll get get you an e-cig, charging cable, two vaporisers ( the little things that do the business making the vapour). 20ml bottle of liquid, around £5. 

A vaporiser will last around 3-4 weeks. Replacements are around £5 for two, cheaper if you buy in bulk. A 20ml bottle of liquid is around £8, that's 10 fills, and depending on your usage, a fill should last a day or more.

So significantly cheaper.

The figures are based on Totally Wicked prices, but are similar to the Electronic Tobacconist.


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## Northerner (May 22, 2017)

Anyone remember the tobacco substitute from the late '70s? I had a holiday job in a newsagents and remember we had to fill the shelves with 'real' and 'substitute' packets alongside each other. They were supposed to be less harmful, but it didn't last long - must have had to destroy an awful lot of those within a year as no-one was buying them (don't think the price differential was great enough, and they did taste different).

Prior to that I remember them bringing out some cigarettes that had little perforation in the tips - the idea was that you would draw in more air with each puff. The problem was that people simply drew harder to get enough 'proper' smoke in, and this led to them drawing the smoke deeper and longer, which it was decided was more harmful!  I seem to remember the absolutely most pointless brand was Silk Cut Ultramild - tiny cigarettes with so many perforations you could smoke an entire one in one breath!  

Yup, I tried 'em all!


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## mikeyB (May 22, 2017)

Yes, I remember those substitutes. They didn't work because they produced smoke that was filled with the chemicals in fag smoke (tars, phenol, carbon momoxide etc.) but no nicotine, so people coughed just as much while going cold turkey. 

The perforations don't work either - people just smoke harder to get the same amount of nicotine, and even more of the grot.


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## Robin (May 22, 2017)

Coincidentally, I was just driving back from the supermarket run, and caught the news on the car radio, there's a new study out that suggests the perforations etc actually cause more lung cancer than the normal.


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## mikeyB (May 22, 2017)

That's right, Robin, due to the 'harder' smoking.


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## mikeyB (May 22, 2017)

I've never heard it put that way, David, but you're right. Definitely not the thing these days. Distinctly uncool.


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## trophywench (May 22, 2017)

David Garbutt said:


> Cigarettes, were so 20th century.



I am firmly of 1950s vintage, due purely to an accident of birth over which I had no control.  Therefore, what do you expect?  LOL


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## mikeyB (May 23, 2017)

Me too, Jenny. Half the country smoked.  You just had to get over the first one making you throw up.


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## Dollypolly (May 23, 2017)

If they want to stop the young ones smoking or anyone for that matter ban the fags outright oh I forgot the government doesn't want that because of the revenue they make on them. The dodgy imports will continue or folks will bulk buy them aboard. I have family that do this because of the price in the UK. 
Also it won't stop folks from smoking in the long term as another poster said they don't look at the graphic pics they ignore them and continue as normal. 
Plus I find it counterproductive with the ban in pubs because they all stand right at the door too have their fag. Pubs and other places are now banning the vapes and now the government have put sanctions on them too. 
I'm an ex smoker of 9 years. Could no longer afford them then and would freak at the prices now.


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## Northerner (May 23, 2017)

Dollypolly said:


> I find it counterproductive with the ban in pubs because they all stand right at the door too have their fag. Pubs and other places are now banning the vapes and now the government have put sanctions on them too.
> I'm an ex smoker of 9 years. Could no longer afford them then and would freak at the prices now.


I'm an ex-smoker of 21 years  I stopped when the price went above £2 for 20  I am astonished that anyone can afford them these days, contraband or otherwise 

I'm actually really pleased they banned smoking in pubs and on public transport etc. - everything is so much cleaner! Except, as you mention, the doorways of pubs!


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## mikeyB (May 23, 2017)

And the entrances to hospitals too, Northie


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## Robin (May 23, 2017)

mikeyB said:


> And the entrances to hospitals too, Northie


The John Radcliffe has a smoking ban anywhere in the grounds now. I remember 10 yrs ago, when you couldn't use a mobile inside a hospital, and there was no internet connection ( and I didn't have an iPad anyway) standing on a balding patch of grass outside the front door phoning OH to relay news of our son (who had just had his appendix out), surrounded by other mobile users and a load of smokers!


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## Amigo (May 23, 2017)

Smoking was the one thing I hated about Prague. They still smoke in bars and I'd forgotten just how thoroughly unpleasant it is. Trouble is, the Europeans who live in smoking ban countries were so pleased to be able to smoke that they seemed to go crazy with the cigs and you could cut the air in some places. Vile habit!


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## Lucy Honeychurch (May 23, 2017)

When my grandad was in hospital in the early 1980's he smoked in his bed on the ward. He smoked both cigarettes and a pipe


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## mikeyB (May 23, 2017)

I rather liked the smoking in bars and restaurants in Poland. As an ex smoker, I didn't mind the smell too much, but it was hilarious watching the look of abject horror on the faces of Americans

The ban on smoking in hospital grounds in Glasgow and Paisley is almost completely ignored. They try to limit exposure to others by painting red hatching on the ground near doors and windows where smoking is not allowed. They've lifted a ban on vaping, though that is still restricted to outside the red hatching.


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## Dollypolly (May 23, 2017)

Ayrshire and Arran are militant on the ban on fags at their hospitals. Even the vapes are banned and you get moved on by the security.


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## mikeyB (May 23, 2017)

They've clearly got more enthusiastic security in Burns country, which is a bit odd, maybe because fewer folk smoke. There are more smokers than security folk at the Queen Elizabeth.


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