So far all the smokers I know seem resigned to the smoking ban coming up in June.

None of them have complained as such, most a talking about an opportunity to stop.

I'm sure there are smokers whinging about their "rights" but so far all the ones I know accept the ban and even view it in a (somewhat) positive light.

How long before the number of smokers drops so low that shops will begin to stop selling them?

Two opinions on this Zoo currently. (Three actually as it turns out.)

My local Mecca Express only stocks my brand in tens already and so I went to the larger shop and bought a large supply to avoid the expense.

I have 9 packets only, which will last until the smoking ban and then I promise to give up.

I`m not in the best of health due to this addiction and I am actually excited by the thought of losing it.

I suggest we all give up on the same day, I don`t like government legislations like this,but I do like to be annoying, and I suggest for every packet of cigarettes we don`t smoke every day the government refund us the money we would have spent as an incentive.

A serious note though, which I am worried about, when I gave up before, I lost my singing voice.
For some reason the smoke holds it together and makes the larynx less slippery , a bit like holding the oil together underneath the gear box.

Every little helps;)

Oh dear, Zoo, you've got me started on this subject now! If you knew me, you'd certainly have heard me complaining incessantly for months.

I'm a considerate smoker. I agree that I should't smoke in public transport, shops, restaurants, theatres, cinemas and most public places. Pubs were the last bastions where I could relax and have a fag in peace. What's wrong with a designated room for smokers? This is a form of fascism in my opinion, or at least bullying, now non-smokers are in a sufficient majority to throw their weight around. Now they're even complaining there'll be too much smoke as people congregate outside, and are trying to get this stopped too. What do they want? Me buying a ceremonial sword and throwing myself on it in front of them??

Oh, and the only bar where smoking will continue to be allowed? The House of Commons bar!

I expect I'm onto a loser with this argument, but I enjoyed the rant.

There are many thousands in both Ireland and Scotland who regret the ban - mainly those who have lost their jobs as hundreds of pubs etc have closed down !

btw - Where the the Chancellor "make up" the lost revenue?

I hate smoking. I think people who smoke are mad. But I also think, if they don't affect others, they must be allowed to make that choice.
Just like sex really. As long as both people (or more) want to do it, what's wrong with it?
Of course, sex is slightly different in that the British adoration of hypocrisy rules.
We tell everyone there's nothing wrong with it (there isn't) but deep down inside we feel it's wrong and NORTY and Nanny should spank us for enjoying it.
So we frame our laws along those lines whilst pretending to be tolerant.

I think the time I realised I was highly addicted to Sir Walter Raleighs dreadful legacy was when I started getting up in the middle of the night for one!

As a young person when I started smoking, as I`m sure most smokers were, it had to be sneaky, dangerous , illegal even, but anything that we were told not to do had to be tried.

The ban will tempt young people to be daring and naughty and start smoking.
And that is probably where the chancellor will make up the money ITK, pushing smoking half underground sells a perfect teenage product.
I don`t actually think it will hit fag sales that much, I believe it`s the breweries that will suffer most.

Mart wrote:
I don`t actually think it will hit fag sales that much, I believe it`s the breweries that will suffer most.

It's a big "black hole" though, Mart !

At present the Chancellor gets around 9.5billion from tobacoo related sales, and it costs the country around 1.5billion to treat tobacco related diseases etc. A net profit of 8billion a year (no wonder they have delayed any action for so long !).

If sales stopped then as well as the loss of revenue there would still be an ongoing (and getting worse before it gets better?) cost to the NHS for many years to come ... so a new back hole of around 11billion?

Indeed yes, but I do predict a certain chain that sells short dated ales in smoky rooms to old single men capsizing over this.

During the importing of tobacco from the EEC loophole via the internet, which must only have been six months back, the cost was 40p a packet delivered to the door.
As I have also mentioned before, the same packet on the M6 toll road was

Eventually there will be a tax deficit but so far it is a slow process - from memory a 10% increase in tax equates to 4% drop in smokers. So tax revenue doesn't diminish overall.

Smuggled ciggies... Mart I seem to remember you coining the phrase "Tribute fags" for some that had arrived. (If you didn't then I shall steal it and claim the wit as all mine )

Yes I`m not sure if the "tribute fags" phrase was mine or yours Zoo!

I do remember they hurt like hell though, and the postie delivered the packets with a grim look on his face, whilst handing over a brown parcel with the word "Polska" stamped all over it!

The then to be Mrs Mart asked me at the time "How do you know they are not shredded cardboard?"
There still is no answer to that query, only a question back.

Was it any worse?

(6.5 packets and counting down..)

I don't see the ban encouraging kids to smoke. It's only a ban on smoking in certain enclosed places, and most kids don't use those places to puff on their ciggies, so for them it'll be no different. From what I notice around my area, most kids are becoming anti-smoking anyway. It's no longer cool.

Once again, sadly, I fear it`s very regional.

They think it`s pretty cool down here Cat in our little area.

The Cat wrote:
I don't see the ban encouraging kids to smoke.

The children smoking is more tied into the smuggling thing - shops wouldn't sell them fags but the "friend" around the corner will.

Unfortunately I am a smoker and its a habit I am going to find difficult to break. My own view on this smoking ban is that it is a farce and signs of fascism.

I predict that visits to the pub will be traumatic because its a tradition to have a fag with your pint. Take away the ciggies, and not being able to have a ciggie is going to make people more short tempered and irritable so I reckon that pub violence will very likely increase.

I do think they should be allowed the option of having a smokers room in pubs. Restaurants? No. They should be smoke free and I like to think of myself as a respectful smoker. If I know my smoke is bothering somebody then I will move away from them. I do support the ban in enclosed public places but not pubs unless they're allowed to decide whether they opt for a smoking room or not.

I am sick to death of this nanny Blair government forever telling me what I can and cannot do. Is this ban going to be extended to the private rooms and bars in the House of Commons and House of Lords I wonder? From next year there will be warnings on Alcohol... this is ridiculous because if one can't have a ciggie in a pub then one is either going to stop going altogether or drink more so I think it will actually make the alcohol problem worse and indeed the smoking ban will be something else for kids to be "cool" in defying. It won't be a deterrent for them, more of a come on.

I too wish every smoker in the country could just stop on the same day. Then what would the Government do? They'd lose a colossal fortune in taxes so what would they slam the lost revenue onto? Then it would hit non smokers harder in the pockets and I don;t think they'd all be happy about it. Sadly of course thats not going to happen but the fact the Government make plenty from taxes from tobacco sales and then telling us we cannot smoke, making it out to be some kind of crime... hypocritical.

Just some of my thoughts on the matter.

Nice one Elliot.
I bet the smoking ban does not extend to the House of Commons!

I sit on both sides of the debate though, I do want to give up, but I do object to being made to do so. My doc did not force me to do this, he was very supportive at either side of the debate.

I think the House of Commons, along with the Lords, is included in the ban as it is a place of work.

I've listened to several arguments against the ban. What it comes down to, though, is the fact that smoking does kill people. This is why it is banned in enclosed places. This is not just for the protection of non smokers. If someone smokes a cigarette, their health is at risk, but this risk is multiplied by the number of other smokers in the room. They are not just taking in their own smoke but also everyone elses. Much safer to smoke in private or in the open.

Well i`ve just had my first of the day, of which I am limiting myself to only 5 in 24 hours now, and I tell you what I now feel bleeding awful!

We seem to have a prevalence of heavy smokers here... just like mental institutions... erm... is there something I should know

So far the anti-ban arguments seem to be an idea of "my rights", which I must say hasn't convinced me.

I'm one of the smokers mumbling about it being a good time to quit, but I've mumbled before and done nowt

Good luck to those who are stopping, I hope I'll have sense enough to join you and eradicate a foul addiction.

If it doesn`t make me feel well, I shall feel incredibly cheated!
I feel better already for cutting down, much more energy, and the sight of an unclean ashtray is already horrid.
I do have to smile already at my daft habit,one of our regular boarders once rang me up whilst I was having a fag in the middle of playing tennis.
That said, I still won!

I`m still unsure about nicotine addiction in myself personally, I have allways smoked to concentrate on writings or problem solving.

My Doc has already discussed the new drug coming out for giving up to me, but as soon as he mentioned the dreaded "possible nausea",phrase, I decided to do it my own way.

I do wonder if they will ever ban caffiene in high streets.
That would be an enormous black hole in the economy and some people would not have their new albums out!

Mart wrote:

I do wonder if they will ever ban caffiene in high streets.
That would be an enormous black hole in the economy and some people would not have their new albums out!

Please don't give this government another fatal idea!

They can never make up their minds because one week I read that Tea is not good for you, then the next they say properties within it are good for you and that you should drink more tea... I get the impression that these scientists haven't a clue what they're talking about half the time.