Cigarette packaging

I like the "bump the elderly off with compulsory fags" idea!! Mind you an aunt died at 94 having smoked all her life, so it might not work all the time!

Boringly I have never ever smoked - two reasons mainly: my father was very anti-smoking having shared a bedroom with a smoking brother - he was quite eloquent on the subject of how unatractive and smelly they made you; and also I was a very sickly child and figured that my body was very good at going wrong all by itself and I did not want to offer it further encouragement.

None of my 3 children smoke/smoked - mainly I think because the house was full of British Medical Journals with revolting pics of rotting lungs, so maybe the Ozzie government has the right idea.

Yes, POGS, they've been required to hide them behind shutters for about a year now.

Ana

Are they behind shutters in Australia though?

Perhaps Faye will tell us.

Ana You are sp right they are hidden away now in all supermarkets and from all shop counters soon so I am told,my friend who is a smoker said at one of the stores they had a leaflet with all the brands on so she could see the prices they where charging.
What would the government do if everyone stopped smoking to-morrow though they would loose a vast amount of tax wouldn't they and where will they make that up from as the NHS would still be over run with pre smoking conditions,and will be for many years to come.

Aren't they already hidden behind shutters in supermarkets? Children aren't going to see the gruesome pictures unless their parents smoke.

Faye

Thanks for your post. It is certainly a radical decision and very interesting to see how it develops. I think I may be minded to do a u-turn on my original post and say I quite like the idea of those born after 2000 not being allowed to buy tobacco.

The graphic pictures on the boxes will probably only be seen on the shelves as there is already a product on the market which hides them. It is a box which you put your packet of fags in and they are obviously making the packet actually look good. The original company logo boxes look quite drab in comparrison to them. Can't win can you.

I remember when I was at school, if you wanted to find a male member of staff during one of the breaks and went to knock on the men's staffroom door, you were almost suffocated by the cloud of smoke when it opened. Not so the women's staffroom. A significant number of these men - almost all ex-service - died of smoking-related illnesses.

crimson for goodness sake, don't give them ideas!

Given the amount of money the nhs has to spend on smoking related illness something has to be done to stop people from smoking. Having said that, people are going to live longer and then suffer from other expensive illnesses. Maybe we'll all be made to start smoking when we reach retirement age 'ok you won't have to work till you're 68/69/70 or whatever as long as you start smoking 40 a day at 60'.

I worked in a civil service office in the 70s where the 'older women' (younger than I am now - sob!) kept their cig packets in a purse type thingy which had an outer pocket in which the lighter was kept. I think I see a gap in the market

I am inclined to think that they might dissuade young people from taking up smoking. It will be interesting to see if they do make a difference, but I doubt if they will have much effect on hardened smokers. Presumably, if the UK government wanted to introduce the same thing there would have to be EU-wide agreement.

I saw these new packets on the news last night. They are very graphic and ugly. I gave up smoking 15 years ago but if these packets had been the norm 40 years ago I doubt I'd have started in the first place.

There is very good evidence that children have more hospital admissions for respiratory infections when their parents smoke, so not surprised they asked this question. We had a family gathering with a dozen or so of us last week - only one smoker.
One of the government cuts in this country has been , um, I think they called it something like "publicity" - you may have noticed that there is very little public health education these days. But it is quite tricky to work out which ads work and why.
Congratulations to all you ex smokers. Well done.

When my daughter met with the respiratory nurse to discuss taking her son home from hospital she was asked if she had many friends who smoke - and daughter (aged 29) couldn't think of a single one. The only smoker in my social circle is a homeless man who lived here for a while (never smoked in the house) and when I met him and his wife for lunch a couple of weeks ago he proudly produced an electronic cigarette and informed me that he hasn't smoked for almost four months. His non-smoking wife is over the moon. I think, like drink driving, or not wearing a seatbelt, that these campaigns do eventually make a difference.

POGS the proposal was actually passed by the Upper House in Tasmania (we also have state governments in Oz). I don't know what happened then, it probably faded away like all silly ideas should. Imagine the black market problems and of course the youth would want to smoke if it was banned. There are only fifteen percent of Australians smoking now and they expect more to give up with plain packaging.

Heck; I've got an old pub ashtray in the garage...must bring it back into the house. Mind you, probably more chance of it being broken in here.

Granny23 , I believe that there is a bit of a market for smoking "memorabilia", I have seen pub ashtrays (with drinks logos) going for an increasing sum. Not sure about cigarette cases, might depend on the material.

Thanks to your OP Absent I was inspired to search out the completely unused cigarette case given to DH on his 21st Birthday. It is immaculate and very stylish. It is also, of course, designed to contain the standard sized cigarettes of its day. There is no way that today's 'superkings' will fit therein. Back to the drawing board. - nearest thing to a [smoking] icon.

absent

The packets were very graphic were they not. I would think they could have quite an influence on children, hopefully for the good.

I was a bit surprised that the Australian Government thought about banning anyone born after a certain date, can't remember which, from even being allowed to smoke. I hate smoking with a vengance but I defend the right for people to choose for themselves.

By coincidence – I promise I wasn't thinking about it when I started this thread – I've just done the 12 months. I stopped smoking on 1 December 2011. Interestingly I don't miss it at all when I am awake, but it pops up in my dreams sometimes; I inadvertently accept a cigarette offered to me and then get into a state because I have smoked it. (It's probably transferred guilt about something else all together.) I have to say that all the graphic images of diseased lungs and rotting teeth played absolutely no part in my decision to stop smoking.

I used to love rolling my own as well. Love the smell of Old Holborn. I chat on the phone once a week to a friend I used to smoke with and we just fantasise about lighting up. Used to have a pretend cigarette next to the computer but, blow me it's not here. It's bothering me now. But I'll never smoke again. I saw some friends last week that I hadn' seen for years and they looked younger than when I last saw them; when I thought about it I realised that they must have stopped smoking since we last met.

omg sometimes you just can't win.

I started chewing gum as it gave me the ritual of buying a packet, opening it etc but, after chewing gum for several weeks I dislocated my jaw. My dentist said that chewing gum was bad for you . Thought I was going to have to live on mashed potato forever.

I remember when the ban first came in reading a letter in the newspaper from a chap who used to go for a quick drink in his local after getting off the train from work, and before going home (a sort of "early doors" type). Although he was a non smoker, he found himself outside in the smoking shelter, because that where the other early evening regulars were, and he missed the conversation!

I miss the ritual. Taking the smooth, shiny box, flipping open the lid, slipping out the gold paper, feeling the cigarette as I pulled it gently out of the box, the feel of it between my lips, the feel of the lighter and click before the flame, the slight sizzling as it lit and I took the first draw, the holding it between two fingers and the first exhalation.

There is far more to smoking than just getting a nicotine fix and the manufactuers know that. Everything is geared to the total experience.