Why Christmas Is The Perfect Time To Switch To E-Cigarettes

Christmas is certainly the season to be jolly, and most of us like to indulge over the festive period. Whether it’s alcohol, chocolates, cheese or party food, we consume it in abundance during December, putting any thoughts of our health to one side while we enjoy the festive period.

However, if there’s one thing you can do to limit the amount of indulgence you enjoy over the next few weeks it’s quitting smoking and swapping your tobacco roll-ups for premium, quality e-liquid cigarettes instead.

Here are just a few reasons why Christmas is the ideal time do so.

• Baby, it’s cold outside!

As December rolls around, you can expect the temperature to plummet and icy, windy – and possibly even snowy – days to be the norm. Smokers really feel the brunt of it during winter, as they have to spend considerably more time outside than non-smokers or vapers.

Whether it’s a Christmas party, dining out at a restaurant or even while you’re at work, it is illegal to smoke indoors, which means you have to drag yourself, your woolly hat, gloves and scarf and face the chill outside. Even if you are at a friend or relative’s house, they are likely to ask smokers to keep their fumes out of the house, which means you could spend a lot of your holiday shivering in the bitter cold – particularly if you are staying with a loved one for a few days.

Brits who don’t think being cold is worth giving up their vice for might think differently after the Met Office revealed this winter could be an especially chilly one. While we have experienced a relatively mild autumn so far, weather expects have predicted this is all set to change over the next few weeks.

Chief meteorologist for the Met Office Will Lang stated: “There is little signal for significant wintry conditions, with any snow most likely across higher ground in Scotland and northern England. Temperatures will fall close to or below freezing for many, with frosts increasingly likely through the week.”

He went on to predict this would continue for the beginning of December, with snowfall likely as well. Indeed, while most people, no doubt, look forward to the possibility of a white Christmas, the idea of this could fill smokers with dread.

Not only will being stood still in the icy wind make it feel significantly colder, but don’t forget, you will have to remove your gloves, leaving your fingers exposed to the elements. Remember the feeling of trying to spark your lighter with frozen fingers or shivering outside while everyone looks warm and cosy indoors?

For some people, the thought of avoiding finger frostbite is enough to help them break their smoking habit and swap to vaping instead. Not only will many public places allow you to enjoy your e-cigarettes indoors, as they do not release any smell or toxins from tobacco, but you will certainly be able to vape freely in the comfort of an armchair, whether you are at your own house or someone else’s.

• Save money

Everyone knows Christmas is a ridiculously expensive time of the year. The cost of presents, food, drink, nights out, taxi rides, children activities and party outfits alone can creep into the hundreds, if not thousands, so many people will be tempted to save some cash wherever they can!

According to Bank Of England, Brits are likely to spend a whopping £60 billion this season, shelling out £1,206 each on Christmas goodies.

Spending seems to have gotten out of hand, with gifts amounting to £295, festive getaways costing up to £237, decorations totalling £44 and Yuletide experiences, such as visiting Santa’s Grotto, coming in at £84. This doesn’t even include the expense of hosting Christmas dinner, buying food and drink for parties, travelling to visit loved ones, or treating yourself to new clothes, such as the increasingly popular Christmas jumper or a glitzy outfit for the work party.

Despite this huge expense, the credit card firm revealed this is less than Brits spent in 2017, when the total cost of Christmas reached a huge £76 billion across the nation.

Clearly, most households are trying to reign their spending in, with 23 per cent taking advantage of promotions and sales, and a quarter using cashback, rewards or points to reduce their expenditure. Another thing they could consider doing to cut their festive bill is to swap their cigarettes for electronic ones.

The average number of cigarettes smoked per day in the UK, according to the latest data from the Office for National Statistics, was just over 11 in 2015. While this was found to be lowest level since 1974 – and it could be even less now – smoking this much would still cost between £35 to £40 per week.

Instead, vapers only need to top up their e-liquid, which costs from £2.49 for 10ml. Even if you get through a bottle this size every couple of days, you will still only spend less than £10, saving yourself up to £30 a week.

Over December alone, this will amount to £120, which would significantly help with Christmas costs, and take the pressure off your finances during this expensive time of the year.

• Get a head start on New Year’s Resolutions

Giving up tobacco cigarettes has been on many smokers’ list of New Year’s Resolutions for decades. In fact, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than two-thirds (68 per cent) of American adults who smoked in 2015 wanted to quit for good.

And it is certainly true that e-cigarettes have made it much easier to stick to, as it still provides the nicotine release they want.

So why wait until January to kick the habit of a lifetime? If you are serious about giving up smoking for good, whether you are in your late teens or 70s, make today the last day you puff on tobacco.

Everyone has seen the off-putting pictures of tarred-damaged lungs, with many cigarette companies even plastering disturbing images on their packets to warn people of the dangers of smoking.

According to the NHS, 50 per cent of smokers will get a smoking-related disease that will prove fatal. Damaging your heart, blood circulation, stomach muscles, bones, reproduction, gums, teeth, brain, and, of course, lungs, it is responsible for more than 80,000 deaths per year in the UK alone.

We might all know that smoking is bad, but this figure could be enough for many tobacco smokers to really understand the impact of their actions – particularly if they don’t want to leave family behind.

That’s why many people put quitting smoking on their New Year’s Resolutions, but let’s face it, January is a big enough shock to the system as it is. The parties are over, the decorations come down leaving houses plain and boring, lots of people give up alcohol, and no-one wants to go out as they are desperately trying to make it to pay day without going into the red. Giving up one of your biggest vices at the same time could be too difficult to stick to.

Instead, why don’t you try and quit before Christmas? That way, you can still indulge in chocolate, cakes and treats when you have an urge to smoke; enjoy a few boozy beverages; and might even be too distracted by the carolling, shopping and present opening to notice you haven’t puffed on a tobacco cigarette in a few hours.

And by the time January arrives, hopefully you will be much more accustomed to your flavoursome e-cigarettes, you won’t be tempted to slip back into your old ways before New Year’s Day is even over.