Compare the cost of vaping to smoking
Have you ever wondered whether vaping is cheaper than smoking? It’s a question on a lot of smoker’s minds especially since the spring budget in March added 95p to the price of a packet of 20 cigarettes.
According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the cost of an average pack of a packet of 20 king size filter cigarettes is now £14.54. Since smoking traditional cigarettes is more expensive than ever before, it’s a great time to find out how much you’re spending and compare the costs of smoking and vaping.
Vaping vs Smoking
When it comes to vaping and smoking, there are, of course, several options – from the types of vaping devices to whether you smoke ready-rolled cigarettes or roll your own, and then there’s the amount you choose to smoke/vape and the average number of puffs you might take per day. So, while a comparison is never going to be an exact science, an estimation is still worthwhile and could be extremely revealing!
Every day is different but estimating how many cigarettes you smoke over the course of a typical day will give you a good starting point. For instance, if you smoke around 20 cigarettes per day, that’s 140 per week, bearing in mind there may be some nights out when you smoke more and other times when you smoke less.
Smoking 20 cigarettes a day now costs you over £5,000 per year (£5,307.10 to be exact), and if you have a partner who smokes a similar amount, together that’s over £10,600 every year just spent on cigarettes!
The Cost of Vaping in the UK
As far as vaping goes, the estimated equivalent of smoking 20 cigarettes per day is 600 puffs and the costs may be slightly different if you use a blue 2.0 device, you’ll have an initial outlay followed by the regular cost of refill liquidpods.
The average vaper takes around 600 puffs per day (based on one puff per second) which is the equivalent of two liquidpods or one single-use blu bar disposable vape device.
Using a rechargeable vaping device, to vape 600 puffs per day would cost a total of £6.99 for one pack of two liquidpods per day plus an initial cost of £4.99 for the blu 2.0 device, which comes to a total of £2,557 per year (or just £1,750 per year with a top-tier Gold subscription.)
Nicotine strength can alter the number of puffs you take each day and it’s worth bearing in mind that e-liquids don’t all offer the same amount of nicotine as cigarettes. blu 2.0 liquidpods come in a choice of 9 or 18ml/ml whereas the average cigarette provides 10-12 mg of nicotine.
Are Disposable Vapes Cheaper than Cigarettes?
The disposable blu bar contains 20mg/ml of nicotine, lasts for up to 600 puffs per day and costs £5.99 each or £4 each when buying ten devices with a subscription. That’s a total of £2,187 per year (or just £1,460 with a top-tier subscription).
If you vape using blu 2.0 and find the 18mg/ml nicotine strength of the blu 2.0 liquidpods means you vape half as much as you used to smoke, you could be spending a total of £1,279 per year or just or £875 per year with a top-tier subscription!
So, disposable vapes are substantially cheaper than cigarettes, especially if your 20 mg/ml disposable blu bar lasts you for two days rather than one.
Costs Comparison at a Glance
Here are the average costs per year based on smoking 20 cigarettes per day compared to the estimated equivalent in vaping.
Smoking vs Vaping | Cost per Year (without subscription)
20 king size filter cigarettes per day: £5,307
blu 2.0 vape + 2 liquidpods per day: £2,557
blu 2.0 vape + 1 liquidpod per day: £1,279
blu bar disposable vape x 1 per day: £2,187
If you’re a smoker, then you might be shocked at these costs but what is undeniably clear is that vaping works out much cheaper than smoking - fact.