How do you think smoking culture has changed in your countries?

20 comments

1. When there were only ordinary cigarettes only a small fraction of people smoked. Now, after the boom on e-cigarettes and vapes, smoking has become very popular or even something trendy.

2. Unsurprisingly, Scotland is similar to Ireland with a noticeable growth in the number of people vaping. Concerning though, is that some of these people never smoked in the first place and there appears to be a growing trend for vaping no longer used as a smoking cessation tool.

3. Same change is occuring in wealthier parts of the country.

   However since the government actively increasing the price of cigarettes, people started to use unfiltered cheaper tobacco which is even worse for health.

4. I don’t hang around people who smoke that much but I don’t think the move to vaping has been as visible here. I very rarely see people vaping. A lot of people are “social smokers” who only smoke when there’s alcohol involved. I assume it makes more sense to go buy a pack of cigarettes for a night out than invest in a vape when you only smoke irregularly.

5. It’s sad that around 10 years ago there was a noticeable decline in smoking, but then zoomers and their vapes came, and besides the actual vape usage increasing, it also increased tobacco usage (with excuses like: at least i’m smoking the real stuff, not that chemical shit for kids).

6. Among teenagrers:

   Immigrants and wannabe “gangsters” use more vapes and white girls use more ciggarettes. The rest you can place somewhere in between.

   Among adults:

   Few vapes, mostly ciggarettes altough young white trash specifically is starting to transition to vapes as well

7. Smoking has declined a lot in the last few decades, and it’s not common to see young people with a cigarette in day-to-day life. It’s a bit more common at parties, where it’s often in combination with alcohol.

   As a teacher in high school (students aged 16-19), out of almost a thousand students I only see the same 5 people (trying to hide that they’re) smoking during breaks. And I have yet to see anyone vaping, so that doesn’t seem to have caught on here at all.

   [Snus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snus), on the other hand, is the dominant tobacco product here, and is seen as the main replacement for smoking. The decline of smoking seems to correlate with the increase of snus-usage. I don’t think it’d be an exaggeration to say that practically every class in my high school has several students who use it.

8. I think around 10 years ago they stopped allowing smoking in bars, restaurants, etc. It’s also *technically* not allowed in bus stops, playgrounds, in front of schools. Realistically the second part is not really taken seriously.

   Otherwise, I know about as many smokers as I did 10 years ago. Most of the people I know smoke, And most of them smoke inside their house (as in, not out a window). Vapes are definitely more popular now, but people still prefer cigarettes or at least stuff like Glo or Iquos. Almost everyone I know sees smoking as totally normal and you tend to get eyerolls if you don’t want to sit in cigarette smoke…

9. Yeah, vaping is on the rise. It’s easier to get into than cigarettes. It doesn’t taste like shit, doesn’t smell up your clothes and is easier to hide.

   That being said, smoking is as popular as ever. A lot of my younger friends still smoke, because it’s cheaper. Buying pipe tobacco and rolling your own cigs is the way to go. I also know people who fuel their addiction by just asking random people for a cig. You can’t really do that with a vape.

10. It didn’t change really. Every third adult Croat still smoke.

    And ban of smoking in bars that was introduced in 2009 was after great resistance from the public partly reversed (it’s still in effect in restaurants), there is some ventilation and size requirements and if you’re a small bar you can choose to be a smoking bar – greatly diminishing success of anti smoking campaign.

    Anecdotally adolescents smoke less. Still a lot in comparison to other European countries. The poll recently made in Dubrovnik high schools show 33,77% smoke, 58% of the number are girls and 42% boys. Of the smokers less than half a pack per day smokes 45%, pack per day – 44% and more than a pack – 11%.

11. Probably yes. It’s mostly teenagers who use vape. The older generation who smoked before vapes didn’t switch to puff bars when they became popular. However you see a lot of teenage aged people in Budapest blowing strawberry jolly rancher scented smoke in your face, but my peers who are college students or just college aged are all smoking regular cigarettes, if theyre smoking at all, which my group of friends doesnt really do.

    If theres alcohol involved social smokers will mostly smoke cigarettes instead of hitting the vape.

12. Recent research reveals that despite government campaigns, more and more people especially in the younger generations are smoking which is blamed on vaping making it easier to get addicted to nicotine (no smell = easier to hide from parents, no bad taste, relatively cheap). It seems however that people feel more strongly about people who smoke every year, speaking out about people smoking. Smoking isn’t as normal as it used to be in general

13. Much more vaping – even amongst people who had never smoked in the first place. Much less smoking.

    There is less smoking because it has become so expensive now! It gets taxed a lot. Also, the introduction of vaping, but I wonder if vaping is just a fad or if it is now here to remain for decades to come. If it is just a fad, then that means there will be a much larger black market where the cigarettes are imported and sold at a cheaper price than they are legally.

    I would also like to add; I believe it is wrong to 100% rely on statistics in the UK around smoking because I know so many people who claim to be complete non-smokers, but they actually smoke “when stressed” or “when drinking with mates”. The statistics can be used as guidance. And, r/AskUK has actually verified this with me on multiple occasions. I don’t know if this is the same everywhere else?

14. I think the ‘edgy,’ ‘cool’ and ‘trendy’ vibe smoking definitely once had (and I’m probably talking more like how it seemed in the 20th century) has largely vanished. It’s sort of seen as a bit more ‘scummy’ to smoke actual cigarettes – sort of image I usually associate with a certain cohort standing outside hospitals desperately dragging on their cigarettes, while connected to a drip … or some gritty 80s soap character with one hanging out of their mouth.

    Vaping’s a lot more common and can be annoying, but I’m not really encountering people doing it indoors very much – I have one or two friends who rather annoyingly vape clouds of marshmallow flavoured air freshener or whatever the hell it is all over my lunch though. You might as well be just misting Fabreeze at people outside restaurants. It’s very off-putting.

    I’ve seen someone thrown out of a cafe for vaping here though too. She was asked to stop or find a table outside, refused and was then just asked to leave.

15. I don’t think there has been much swap to e-versions. Maybe in college-age population, but not in younger or older. And I don’t think there has been a large decline in youngest age group. It is still seen as cool in underage kids.

16. I’m in Ireland and it’s all gone to vaping and weed.

    To be honest, I can’t stand the smell of both and now avoid busy bars because all I can smell is fake strawberry vanilla, people stinking of weed and sweat. I honestly preferred it when it was normal tobacco

17. During the times of communism in Poland, it was associated with intelligence, doctors smoking was very typical. Nowadays it’s common (I would say a bit more common amongst people with lower social status but not by a lot), and it’s dropping, many young people prefer vaping but ones way below 18 use them which is kinda ironic.

18. Vapes are more common than cigarettes with the youth. I’m part of that youth, so I see it a lot. I don’t have an issue with people vaping if they were doing it outside with legally purchased vapes, but neither one is true for a good bit of people I see vaping. There’s a bit of an issue with the gray market being flooded with imported disposable vapes being sold to kids as young as 12. It’s a lucrative business to sell them, as apparently you can make quite a bit of money.

    I see these vapes literally everywhere. It’s even worse when you’re sitting inside somewhere and have to smell some 15 year olds cum sock flavored vape, because they think that it’s ok to vape indoors. Usually if I’m at school and see someone vaping inside I tell them to go outside or cut it out. Usually followed by “why should I listen to you” or “fuck off”. I really don’t understand how these fucks have the audacity to just sit there vaping indoors when the door leading outside is a few steps away. It is always fun to see them panic when I walk off to snitch or their asses though. I should also mention that most of the younger students I tell to go outside do actually listen. And after a fire alarm went off last year due to someone vaping inside, a lot of them actually leave the building now.

    To also shine a light on why vaping has become so popular lately, is because of the aforementioned gray market making them easily available and the fact that parents don’t smell cigarettes on their kids. A lot of kids are afraid of their parents catching them with cigarettes or smelling like cigarettes, so they resort to something that doesn’t smell as much or as badly. So to parents with teenage kids who may read this: if your kid comes home smelling extra fruity, they’re more than likely vaping. Same goes for if their room smells like artificial fruit.

19. I’ve been in Switzerland since 2012, vaping became a thing and then it seems to have died off for a while, I think because there was some special regulations put on them. I welcomed them because I use public transportation and I noticed an immediate difference between a group of people vaping versus even just one person smoking, I didn’t get my weird asthma symptoms of immediate heavy mucus accumulating and causing difficulty in breathing with the vaping. I see people just light a cigarette and burn it like incense as they are walking from one place to another and never even take a drag off of it, it’s weird. I would like vaping to become 100% the thing and smoking cigarettes go away. I do think that people shouldn’t vape in the grocery stores or other indoor public places.

20. Not much. Almost 40% of population smokes, including lots of teenagers and other young people. I’m 22, I smoke a lot and most of my friends smoke as well. Also, smoking is allowed inside in majority of coffee bars and all night clubs. There are lot of people who vape, but not nearly as much as cigarette smokers and I noticed that there are people who both vape and smoke.