Smoking - Anatomy of an Addiction Industry | DW Documentary | Reupload

Dec 13, 2024 | Smoking has an image problem, because everyone knows: it can kill you. That’s why tobacco multinationals are increasingly focused on e-cigarettes, enticing consumers with bright colors and fruity flavors. The target group: young people.

The World Health Organization says smoking results in the death of eight million people every year. That’s one reason why you’ll now often hear tobacco companies promoting the switch to e-cigarettes, with claims that these are less harmful to our health. It’s first and foremost young people who believe the industry’s promises, thereby taking the first step on the road to addiction. After all, nicotine is an addictive substance. And although it may taste better than tobacco, puffing on a vape is still going to get you hooked in precisely the same way as smoking a regular cigarette. The film investigates the cynicism of an industry that not only accepts this, but also deliberately aims for it.

Big Nicotine - Anatomy of an Addiction Industry /TEMPS PRESENT / Laurent Burkhalter & Philippe Mach / 2024 / RTS Radio television Suisse

The Allure of Smoking Rises Again

THE ATLANTIC: The cool factor of cigarettes has proved hard to shake.

The allure of smoking has proved hard to stamp out. Despite the fact that cigarette use is at an 80-year-low in America, smoking has, unfortunately, become cool again. At the New York Fashion Week show in February, some models accessorized their runway outfits with a cigarette. A clip of the TikTok influencer Addison Rae smoking two cigarettes is cut into her latest music video, which has more than 4 million views. The pop star Charli XCX, who was recently gifted a bouquet of cigarettes for her birthday, sparked one during her performance in Manchester last month, and has said that her brat starter pack would include “a pack of cigs, a Bic lighter, and a strappy white top with no bra.”

All of this is despite the fact that anyone born after 1964, when the surgeon general pronounced that smoking causes cancer, should know the habit is just about the worst thing you can do if you want to live a long, healthy life. And many people grasped that much earlier: The Atlantic contributor James Parton wrote back in 1868 that “it does not pay to smoke.” When he quit tobacco, he had fewer headaches, enjoyed exercise more, and held a “better opinion of myself” (though I admit that his prescribed method for kicking the habit—drinking a “good stiff glass of whiskey and water” instead of reaching for a pipe—hasn’t held up very well). » | Nicholas Florko | Thursday, December 5, 2024

Related video – Tucker's take (and mine) here.

Tucker’s Impassioned Cigarette Rant

Feb 26, 2025

Tucker, this is a great video. What you say is all so true. I agree with you 💯. Smoking a cigarette is one of life's great pleasures. It looks sexy, it tastes great, and it makes a well-dressed man look elegant. I'm with you all the way. I used to smoke a pack-a-day until about three years ago. But then I quit. Since quitting, I have gained weight — smoking kept me on the slim side — and I have been denied one of life's great pleasures. These days, smoking is the root of all evil for so many people. But even though millions of people have given up smoking, they are no healthier at all. In fact, I would say that one of the main reasons why there is so much obesity about and so much type-2 diabetes is because people eat junk food now instead of smoking cigarettes. – © Mark Alexander

And If It’s Not a Kiss You Want, but a Smoke, Go for That, Too! Don’t Let the Killjoys or Puritans Spoil Yor Fun! Fight Them with All Your Might! Beat Them Down!

Jul 11, 2022

Hollyoaks Star Paul Danan Dies Aged 46

THE TELEGRAPH: Actor, who also appeared on Celebrity Love Island, collapsed last year after his vape addiction caused respiratory failure

Paul Danan, the Hollyoaks star, has died after a health battle from “obsessive vaping”.

The actor’s management confirmed the 46-year-old’s death on Thursday morning.

Danan, who featured in the Channel 4 soap from 1997 to 2001, last year revealed that he collapsed after his vape addiction caused respiratory failure.

He was rushed to hospital and eventually revived with CPR, where doctors told him he needed to quit.

Speaking at the time, he said vaping had “pushed him over the edge” as he wrongly thought it was a “safer way to smoke”. » | Tom McArdle | Thursday, January 16, 2025

Smoking conventional cigarettes is, in my opinion, far safer than vaping. Politicians and quacks have been very wrong and totally irresponsible to push vaping as a safer alternative to smoking cigarettes. They are pushing a product which we know far too little about.

It is clear to me, and it should be clear to you, that e-cigarettes are bound to be unhealthier than cigarettes, and for several reasons. Firstly, they are full of plastics – imagine inhaling all that gunge into your lungs! Secondly, people who vape do so incessantly! They hold their e-cigarettes constantly in their hands and puff on them forevermore. This is not how a normal smoker smokes. When you smoke a cigarette, you smoke it, enjoy it, inhale the smoke, get the pleasure, and then stub it out. Then, for a not too heavy smoker, time elapses before you light another one. The people I have observed vaping do so constantly.

This poor actor clearly bought into the lies that politicians and quacks have fed him. May the poor man rest in peace.

This war on conventional cigarette-smoking needs to stop. Of course it is better not to smoke in an ideal world. Unfortunately, we don’t live in an ideal world. People seek out their pleasures and their kicks. And when cigarettes are now so expensive and when it has become virtually impossible to smoke anywhere but in one’s own home, they turn to other sources of pleasure. And most of those sources of pleasure are even unhealthier than cigarette-smoking.

This social engineering must stop. The health of the nation is at stake. – © Mark Alexander

Biden Expected to Lower Nicotine Levels in Cigarettes

THE CAROLINA JOURNAL: During the final days of the Biden administration, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is expected to issue a mandate for Very Low-Nicotine (VLN) products. The proposed rule could come as soon as Monday.

As tobacco is such a large part of North Carolina’s agricultural industry, the ban would significantly impact one of the state’s top crops. VLN products would lower the nicotine content by 96% as compared to the majority of cigarette brands dominating the market, according to the FDA.

“The Biden administration’s proposed menthol cigarette ban is a direct attack on North Carolina’s hardworking families, farmers, and small businesses,” said freshman Congressman Pat Harrigan, NC-10. “This ban threatens over 27,000 jobs in our state, many of which have been the backbone of our communities for generations. By eliminating the menthol cigarette industry, the government risks devastating our local economies, pushing products into the black market, and undermining the livelihoods of thousands who rely on this industry to support their families.” » | Katherine Zehnder | Monday, January 13, 2025

Leer en español aquí.

THE WASHINGTON POST :

The war on smoking turns to cigarettes with ultralow nicotine: The Biden White House is expected to formally propose a plan ordering cigarette nicotine levels to be reduced dramatically. »

Biden FDA Moves Forward with Rule to Lower Nicotine in Cigarettes, a ‘Gift’ to Cartels, Critic Says

NEW YORK POST: WASHINGTON — The Biden administration is moving forward with plans to mandate lower nicotine levels in cigarettes in the final days of President Biden’s term, according to a new report, which critics say could cause Americans to smoke more and fuel organized crime cartels.

The plan, which is touted as a way to reduce the ability of cigarettes to hook casual users, cleared a regulatory review last week by the Food and Drug Administration, the agency told Fox News.

But opponents argue that the change could cause current smokers to use more cigarettes to compensate for the lower nicotine levels, negatively impacting their health, and that the plan could open an opportunity for black-market sales of standard-strength cigarettes.

“Biden’s ban is a gift with a bow and balloons to organized crime cartels with it, whether it’s cartels, Chinese organized crime, or Russian mafia,” Rich Marianos, a former assistant director of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, told Fox News.

It’s unclear if the FDA will issue a proposed rule outlining the looming regulation before Biden leaves office on Jan. 20. » | Steven Nelson | Tuesday, January 7, 2025

Why can’t politicians stop meddling? Whay can’t they leave things alone? Why do they always feel that they have to do something? They usually make things worse. – © Mark Alexander

Single Cigarette Takes 20 Minutes Off Life Expectancy, Study Finds

THE GUARDIAN: Figure is nearly double an estimate from 2000 and means a pack of 20 cigarettes costs a person seven hours on average

Smokers are being urged to kick the habit for 2025 after a fresh assessment of the harms of cigarettes found they shorten life expectancy even more than doctors thought.

Researchers at University College London found that on average a single cigarette takes about 20 minutes off a person’s life, meaning that a typical pack of 20 cigarettes can shorten a person’s life by nearly seven hours.

According to the analysis, if a smoker on 10 cigarettes a day quits on 1 January, they could prevent the loss of a full day of life by 8 January. They could boost their life expectancy by a week if they quit until 5 February and a whole month if they stop until 5 August. By the end of the year, they could have avoided losing 50 days of life, the assessment found.

“People generally know that smoking is harmful but tend to underestimate just how much,” said Dr Sarah Jackson, a principal research fellow at UCL’s alcohol and tobacco research group. “On average, smokers who don’t quit lose around a decade of life. That’s 10 years of precious time, life moments, and milestones with loved ones.” » | Ian Sample, Science editor | Monday, December 30, 2024

Such NONSENSE! Such TOSH! Were this to be true, with the number of cigarettes I smoked throughout my life (before I quit), I should have died probably before I was ever born! These people don’t know what cr** to come up with next in order to frighten people into giving up the very, very pleasurable habit — NOT ADDICTION! — of smoking.

Are these so-called scientists totally unaware that the obesity across the western world that we can observe today, and the horrendous rates of type-2 diabetes, are probably caused in no small part because people have been brainwashed into thinking that cigarette smoking is the cause of all ills, the Devil incarnate, the bête noire of our times. IT IS NOT!

I do not advocate cigarette smoking. Not at all! It is always generally better not to smoke than to do so. However, it is not the root cause of all health issues. I smoked for almost all of my adult life, yet I still have a full head of hair in its natural colour, a full mouthful of teeth, unwrinkled skin, excellent eyesight — I can read a book to this day WITHOUT the aid of spectacles when I want to — my gums are healthy, I do not suffer from type-2 diabetes, either. And my hearing is excellent!

I quit smoking nearly three years ago. And the ONE THING I have noticed since quitting is that I have gained weight. And this, despite NOT eating more. In fact, if anything, I eat less. Moreover, I have an excellent diet: I eat few carbohydrates and virtually no sugar, only perhaps as the odd treat.

Are these so-called “scientists” not aware that people who smoke, or people who have been smokers, are far less likely ever to be diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease? There is also some evidence — though it is kept very quiet for obvious reasons — that smokers are far less likely to contract Alzheimer’s disease!

Furthermore, are these “scientists” oblivious to the life-enhancing effect(s) of getting some pleasure in life? If you want to shorten a man's life, deprive him of all pleasures!

So please, Y’all! Quit the CRAP! – © Mark Alexander

Anatomy of an Addiction Industry | DW Documentary

Dec 13, 2024 | Smoking has an image problem, because everyone knows: it can kill you. That’s why tobacco multinationals are increasingly focused on e-cigarettes, enticing consumers with bright colors and fruity flavors. The target group: young people.

The World Health Organization says smoking results in the death of eight million people every year. That’s one reason why you’ll now often hear tobacco companies promoting the switch to e-cigarettes, with claims that these are less harmful to our health. It’s first and foremost young people who believe the industry’s promises, thereby taking the first step on the road to addiction. After all, nicotine is an addictive substance. And although it may taste better than tobacco, puffing on a vape is still going to get you hooked in precisely the same way as smoking a regular cigarette. The film investigates the cynicism of an industry that not only accepts this, but also deliberately aims for it.


The war on smoking and smokers continues unabated! – © Mark Alexander

England May Not Be ‘Smoke-free’ until 2039, Cancer Charity Warns

THE GUARDIAN: Government plan to reduce smoking rates in danger of falling a decade behind schedule

England will not be “smoke-free” until 2039, missing a key public health target by almost a decade, an analysis has found.

While smoking rates are in decline they are not falling fast enough to realise the government’s ambition of England being smoke-free” by 2030, according to Cancer Research UK (CRUK).

And stark socioeconomic inequalities in smoking – with poorer people much more likely to light up than the well-off – will continue for decades to come, its research shows. » | Denis Campbell, Health policy editor | Monday, November 4, 2024

England will never be, and should never be, smoke-free! Why? Because if it could ever be done, it would be replaced by something far, far worse. These politicians and do-gooders don’t understand ONE BASIC THING about human psychology. It is this: People WILL get their kicks from somehere! If these ill-informed people think that all people are just going to go to work each day, go home, and then go to bed without having any of the pleasures of life, then they are greatly mistaken.

As for cancer, it is a terrible disease. I have known several people who have died from it. They were NOT smokers! Whilst it is true that smoking can cause cancer, especially lung cancer, according to trustworthy sources on the Internet, it is only between 5 and 10% of HEAVY SMOKERS who contract it. Eliminating smoking will not eliminate cancer!

Further, taxing cigarettes to the hilt, thus making them too expensive for people to be able to afford to smoke government-controlled cigarettes only pushes people to buy them on the black market. I am told that the black market for cigarettes in the United Kingdom is thriving! It certainly is in Australia.

Just in case anyone thinks that my opinions are biased because I am myself a smoker, please think again! I quit smoking on April 10th 2022. That is almost two years and seven months ago. I haven’t smoked a cigarette since that day. But I am on the side of smokers because over the years, I have derived untold pleasure from smoking cigarettes. I always smoked out of choice, NOT out of addiction! I have bever been addicted to anything. Not even cigarettes.

I wish these joyless people would just give up their social engineering. They try and say that smoking is now predominantly a working-class habit. TOSH! How many people in the working class can afford to smoke these days? With current prices in the UK, it is only the super-privileged who can afford to smoke. For the less well-off, they must be rolling their own, or something.

By the way, when governments make cigarettes extremely expensive, they are doing something deleterious to the health of smokers. And for one simple reason: Governments have no control over the quality of the cigarettes being illegally imported from Asia and the Far East. In years to come, governments will be finding that the health of smokers will be worse than if they had been smoking legal, quality-controlled cigarettes. This, if anything, will place a burden on the health service in years to come.

Moreover, it is stupid to encourage vaping as a replacement of smoking. In the not-too-distant future, they will find that vaping is more injurious to health than smoking cigarettes. Governments need to meddle less in people’s lifestyle choices, they need to stop sweating the little things. Instead, they need to concentrate on the important things. That is what proper governments should do. – © Mark Alexander

Disposable vapes ban could push some users back to smoking, ministers told: Defra report warns there could be ‘health disbenefits’ with 29% of vapers reverting or relapsing to cigarettes »

'Pack of Cigs and a Bic Lighter': Why Are Celebs Glamorising Smoking Again? »

'Pack of Cigs and a Bic Lighter': Why Are Celebs Glamorising Smoking Again?

Christian Cowan's show at New York fashion week in February featured models smoking on the runway | GETTY IMAGES
BBC: rat summer might be over as we grapple with how dark it is at 4pm, but the concept of being a brat – “pack of cigs and a Bic lighter”, according to the singer Charli XCX – lives on.

There's Rosalia gifting Charli XCX a bouquet of cigarettes on her birthday, Addison Rae smoking not one but two at the same time in her music video Aquamarine, and the actor Paul Mescal saying he refused to give up smoking when getting into shape for Gladiator II.

…

Despite this, singers, actors and influencers seem to be bringing smoking back into vogue - quite literally, with cigarettes making a return as on the New York Fashion Week runways earlier this year as accessories.

So, why are cigarettes being glamorised again?

Lucy, a 20-year-old university student, says she took up smoking recently because "it's just what everyone does".

Almost all her friends also smoke and she says it's more than just a habit, it's an aesthetic.

"I definitely think everyone trying to be brat has influenced people to start smoking because Charli herself says you have to have a pack of cigs if you really want to embody the vibe." » | Yasmin Rufo, BBC News | Sunday, November 3, 2024

EAT your HEARTS OUT Keir Starmer and Chris Whitty! Smoking is making a comeback! None too soon, either! As unhealthy as smoking might be, it is infinitely healthier than the alternatives of drugs. And far healthier than those unhealthy and uncool vapes, too. And then there's all the rest of the poisons that people injest today — just for kicks. People will always look for kicks, especially the young.

Starmer, you haven't got a snowball's chance in hell of outlawing smoking. Especially for the young. Smoking is pleasurable, cool, sexy, and alluring. After all, who wants to watch a love story from Hollywood with the main characters sharing a vape? It doesn't quite cut it, does it?

In spite of any laws that might be passed in Parliement, smoking will not be killed off. Smoking cigarettes will live on long after our do-gooding politicians will be kicking up daisies! Long live pleasure! Long live freedom! Long live the right to choose! — © Mark Alexander

Related stuff here.

Price of Packet of Cigarettes to Rise to £16.78 from 6pm TONIGHT as Rachel Reeves Hikes Tobacco Tax in Budget

THE SUN: THE price of a pack of cigarettes will have risen by 90p after a hike was confirmed in the government's Autumn Statement.

On Wednesday in the House of Common, Chancellor Rachel Reeves revealed a range of plans relating to tax rises, benefits and pension payments.

The Chancellor said that tobacco duty would increase by the standard Retail Price Index (RPI) - a measure of inflation - plus 2%.

The government used the RPI rate of 3.65%, which is the Office for Budget Responsibility's forecast for the inflation rate in quarter two of 2025.

It means the cost of a 20 pack will rise by 5.65% - or 90p - at 6pm this evening.

The average price of a 20-pack of cigarettes in September was £15.88, according to the ONS - and it will rise to £16.78 tonight. » | Olivier Marshall, Senior Consumer Reporter | Wednesday, October 30, 2024

Chesterfield Cigarettes in World War II | Tobaccoland at War | Industrial Film

Jan 21, 2017 | Chesterfield Cigarettes presents “Tobaccoland USA at War,” a black-and-white circa 1943 “new kind of pictorial adventure” examining tobacco production in such states as Tennessee, Virginia, and the Carolinas — areas that have made “Chesterfield synonymous with American smoking pleasure.” We visit the offices of Liggett & Myers Tobacco, Inc. (Chesterfield’s parent company) in Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina starting at mark 01:04 and view production lines and tobacco fields, meeting some of the “fine families” who grow the product. We watch as families work together in the fields (mark 02:25) and later processed. There’s a look inside a farm’s curing barn starting at mark 03:21where the product is later sold at auction — a process shown starting at mark 04:40. The film continues as the plant undergoes a “new” and “scientific” process, shown starting at mark 06:37, which restores to the tobacco leaves the precise amount of moisture needed for a perfect flavor. Eventually, the final product — Chesterfield cigarettes — roll off an assembly line at mark 08:44.

Released during World War II, the promotional film makes note that Chesterfield cigarettes are enjoyed by “fighting men” around the world and is “one of the few comforts” of home as we see a filmed scene of soldiers in a bunker pausing for a smoke (mark 09:25). Starting at mark 09:55 the film visits “the fighting fronts” and a group of US Marines in combat at land and at sea, followed by scenes aboard a US Coast Guard vessel (mark 11:23) and US Navy ship (mark 12:27), as well as the Merchant Marines. Through various battle scenes, the narrator reminds the viewer that American servicemen gain its strength not only from its weaponry but also from support from the home front. As scenes from the Army Air Force fill the screen starting at mark 14:56, the narrator says that “with each pounding the enemy is weakened” And while fathers and sons are away from home, families at home continue to tend to the farms — and the tobacco crops — to continue to meet the demand for Chesterfied’s. …


Not so much an ad, more a propaganda film really! 😊 Don’t be a wussy! Smoke a Chesterfield! Light up! Inhale deeply! Wait a few seconds! Exhale! Oh, the pleasure! 😊 – © Mark Alexander

Biden Bans Menthol Cigarettes

Aug 12, 2024 | Brian from Windy City Cigars sits down, and talks about the upcoming Menthol Ban coming in 2024. The Biden Administration is pushing for the ban of menthol cigarettes and tobacco and flavored cigars if the ban goes through it may cause millions of job losses due to the menthol ban.

You can support smokers’ rights in the UK here.

WIKIPEDIA: List of smoking bans in the United States »

BEWARE! The do-gooding control freaks are trying to take over everywhere. Remember: Smokers have rights, too! – © Mark Alexander

How Tobacco Helped Soldiers in World War 2

Jun 1, 2023 | Brian from Windy City Cigars sits down and discusses how important cigarettes were in World War 2 and the brand names they smoked.

This is a very interesting and informative video on soldiers smoking in war zones. Führer Starmer should watch it to educate himself before he tries to pass that ridiculous, stupid generational smoking ban through Parliament. It is totally unreasonable to expect our young men to go to war to fight for us without allowing them a few pleasures on the battlefield. A smoke is the least we can offer a soldier in such a dangerous situation. And please don’t be so stupid as to talk of the health dangers of smoking! Possibly dying in fifty years’ time from the health dangers of smoking is totally and utterly irrelevant when a man is in a battlefield and can be killed at any moment. – © Mark Alexander

How Marlboro Became the #1 Cigarette Brand

Jun 30, 2022 | Marlboro cigarettes are the most smoked by far, but it wasn’t always like that; At one point, Marlboro owned less than 1% of the cigarette market. However, one famous marketing campaign that Marlboro ran skyrocketed their sales and made them the #1 cigarette brand in the world. This is the story of The Marlboro Man.

Make Smoking Cool Again! It Really Is Anyway

The pleasure of smoking is undeniable. Take that pleasure away from people and it will be replaced by other pleasures which will almost certainly, in the long-run, prove to be even more injurious to health. Smoking is one of life’s true pleasures. For Christ’s sake, stop this war on smoking! Say 'NO' to this Neo-puritanical nonsense! – © Mark Alexander
With thanks to Pinterest for this delightful image.

Smoking Pleasure / Rauchvergnügen / Plaisir de fumer

Der Hochgenuß des Qualmens / Le plaisir de fumer une cigarette / The pleasure of smoking a cigarette
Many thanks to Pinterest for this delightful photo.

ForestOnline : Mark Littlewood In Conversation With Simon Clark

May 28, 2019 | On 16th May 2019, to mark the 40th anniversary of the smokers' group FOREST (Freedom Organisation for the Right to Enjoy Smoking Tobacco), Mark Littlewood, director-general of the Institute of Economic Affairs, spoke to Forest director Simon Clark

Passive smoking is a load of nonsense! — © Mark Alexander

Make Smoking Cool Again! Especially with a Large Glass of Wine. | #shorts

The New Puritans are scraping fun from our lives! Katie Hopkins thinks these prudes should naff off (Katie’s vocabulary is rather more colourful!)
WARNING! Very strong language is used by Katie in this short!