The new smoking scene
What does it mean for you?
Whoever said “life is measured by the moments that take your breath away” probably wasn’t talking about cigarettes. Or about other features of the contemporary smoking scene, like hookah (shisha), e-cigarettes, and thirdhand smoke. As old-school as tobacco may seem, you’re probably encountering it in various forms and situations.
Most smokers want to quit. Take the quiz to find out more about the 21st-century smoking scene and what works in resisting tobacco.
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1. Could smoking ever make you sexier, or does it make people swipe left?
Hey, it worked for Don and Betty Draper.
In 1965, 50 percent of Canadians over the age of 15 smoked, according to Health Canada. By 2013, only 15 percent did. Many quit, many died, many didn’t start.
Smoking has been thought to cause over 40,000 deaths in Canada each year, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada. That’s like everyone in a packed Toronto Rogers Centre stadium getting wiped out each year. On average, smokers die 10 years earlier than non-smokers, Health Canada says.
There’s no aphrodisiac like a smoke-flavored mouth. JK. Next!
Smokers aren’t bad people, but in a competitive dating scene it’s a strike against you. Smoking gives you bad breath, stains your teeth, and can increase impotence in men. It also ages your skin by a mere one to two decades. But you know this stuff. Keep reading for more about what helps smokers become non-smokers.
Smoking eases my dating nerves.
Understood. Social angst is a thing. There are ways to relieve social discomfort that have lifelong benefits, not lifelong harms. Check out this option:
Dialetical Behavioural Therapy (DBT) is a form of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT). The “dialetical” piece refers to two valid but opposing thoughts: e.g., “I want to quit smoking” and “I would feel calmer right now if I had a cigarette.” DBT helps us understand our own stress triggers and develop effective self-soothing techniques. Mindfulness techniques are a foundational skill of DBT. Follow our monthly Mind your mind series on our BetterU pages.
2. Not in the residence hall, not in the dining hall, not in the quad. What’s up with secondhand and thirdhand smoke?
Because other people don’t need to be in the cancer ward with me.
Caring about others is sometimes easier than caring about ourselves (we’ll work on that later). Over 1,000 nonsmokers die in Canada each year from health problems caused by secondhand smoke, according to a 2004 study in the Canadian Journal of Public Health.
Ask your health care provider about “motivational interviewing.” This is a counselling approach that helps you come up with your own solutions. In a 2015 Cochrane review of 28 studies, motivational interviewing with health professionals was more successful than brief or traditional health advice. Single sessions appeared effective for quitting.
Thirdhand smoke? What?
We’d all rather our hair smelled like peppermint than an ashtray, which is why ashtray shampoo won’t be coming to a salon near you. Particles from smoke linger in clothes and hair for hours or days, even if it’s not yours. Nicotine and other chemicals remaining from smoke can sink into carpet, furniture, cars, walls, and other surfaces and stay there long-term, according to a 2011 study in Environmental Health Perspectives. This contamination is known as thirdhand smoke. It is believed to be a health hazard, especially to children, according to a 2009 study in Pediatrics.
Because there’s no smoke without fire and no fire without campus security.
Or the fire department. Smoking caused an estimated 14,030 fires in Canada between 1995 and 1999, according to data collected by the Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs. Over 20 percent of fire deaths in Canadian homes were due to smoking, according to the Council of Canadian Fire Marshals and Fire Commissioners. Just saying. Non-trivial trivia.
3. What about vaping (using e-cigarettes) — is it safe?
I‘ve heard they’re safer than regular cigarettes.
E-cigarettes are devices that let you inhale vapour mixed with chemicals. Some e-cigarettes contain nioctine. Some people vape in the hope that it will help them quit traditional smoking.
“We know e-cigarettes are significantly less harmful than smoking. But we also know e-cigarettes aren’t going to be safe for long-term use. Inhaling any chemical, nicotine or otherwise, deeply into lungs there is going to be some risk. We have very little information about what’s in that liquid,” said David Hammond, Associate Professor of Public Health at the University of Waterloo, Ontario, to CBC News in 2014.
They sell “nicotine-free” e-cigs in most provinces, so they’re probably OK.
E-cigs are new, so we don’t know their long-term effects. Provincial governments are still figuring out what rules and regs might be helpful.
It is illegal in Canada to sell e-cigarettes that contain nicotine. “Even though e-cigarettes with nicotine are widely available, they have not been approved by Health Canada for sale in Canada,” says Rob Cunningham, Senior Policy Analyst at the Canadian Cancer Society, Ontario. E-cigarettes with nicotine contain varying amounts of the chemical, which may be at higher doses than their packaging acknowledges. Similarly, even e-cigarettes that are marked “nicotine free” often include nicotine, according to tests conducted by Health Canada in 2014.
Dude, I don’t even know what it does to my body and brain.
It can take years for scientists to figure out the health effects of a new product. We don’t yet have the data on e-cigarettes.
We do know that the nicotine in e-cigs has the potential to harm brain development in people in their early 20s, according to the World Health Organization. Again, it’s about weighing potential benefits and potential risks.
4. Some people buy a latte a day; you buy cigs. Same type of hit, financially?
It’s more affordable than a weekend trip.
Big tobacco corporations want you to see cigarettes as a cheap vacation, an escape to an exotic land. Remember: Cigarette ads are full of actors. The real smokers have their own TV clips in which they talk about why they can’t walk 30 paces from their front door without gasping for air.
A pack is pretty cheap, but over the year it adds up big.
As of May 2015, a carton of smokes (200 cigarettes) in Canada ranged from $85 in Quebec to $127 in Manitoba, according to the Smoking and Health Action Foundation, Ontario. If you went through a carton a month, you’d spend up to $1,525 a year. For that, you could lease a car or take a Caribbean vacation every year.
There’s a broader cost, too. Tobacco-related illnesses were to blame for an estimated $4.4 billion in health care per year and $17 billion in social costs, according to Health Canada.
It’s just a casual university habit. Not a major hit.
If your temporary habit turns into a lifetime habit, it will cost you $1–$2 million, according to a 2015 analysis by WalletHub. This is mostly about tobacco prices, and also allows for health costs and lost income. More trivia: The three priciest
provinces/territories to smoke in are Manitoba, Northwest Territories, and Nova Scotia.
Tobacco costs may be more of a quit-motivator if you get on top of your spending in general. Check out Spend smart in this issue.
5. Out with friends? Is it that bad to have a smoke now and then?
Totally bad, unless it’s hookah. That gives me less of a burn.
Hookah (shisha) is not a way to reduce the health risk of tobacco. An hour of hookah smoking could result in 100 times the smoke exposure than smoking one cigarette, according to the World Health Organization.
When they’re smoking, it’s difficult not to.
Sure. There is a natural tendency to be like our friends and do what they do. To gracefully decline, prep ways to say no. Act confident, even if you don’t feel it. Maybe say something like this:
- “No thanks, I’m getting in shape for lacrosse.”
- “Not for me; makes me queasy.”
- “Can’t risk harming my Olympic triathlon time tomorrow.”
- “My girlfriend/coach will dump me if I do that.”
If you feel socially anxious, check out Question 1.
Yah, Bae’s not a fan of smoking either.
It always helps to hang out with people who look out for their own health—and yours, if you’re lucky.
It’s also worth checking in with your future self (who is not really some elderly, abstract stranger). Your future self wants to be fit, feel good, and relish and explore life—just like your current self. It’s almost like you’re the same person (spooky).
6. Ready to quit? How are you going to do this?
Throw out my pack, tweet “That’s it, I’m over this,” and try not to think about it.
Trying to quit without a plan can leave you helpless when you get cravings. You’re more likely to succeed with a multi-pronged approach that includes support, says Quitnow.ca, a resource for all things tobacco-free by the Canadian Lung Association. Steps in your tobacco liberation movement include choosing the date you’re ridding yourself of tobacco, telling friends and family about it, and giving your environment a makeover.
+ Get more resources at quitnow.ca
+ Want an app for that? Try Crush the Crave
+ Free quitting support in every province
Say goodbye to my smoker friends and to going out on the weekends.
If you want quitting to be a permanent lifestyle change, your strategy has to be sustainable. Look for life changes that you can live with. Check out former smokers’ strategies. Make a list of things that are important to you and try to keep doing them after quitting.
+ Tips on quitting for post-secondary students: Leave the Pack Behind
Talk to a doctor or counsellor about what’s been shown to work best.
Various approaches to quitting have been evaluated to see how well they work. Effective approaches include:
- Nicotine replacement therapy (e.g., gum) or prescription medications (e.g., bupropion), according to the Cochrane Collaboration, which reviews medical studies. In studies, using one of these two substances helped 80 percent more people to quit compared to a placebo.
- Find stressbusting alternatives to “just one” cigarette when you have a bad craving. One cigarette leads to more, according to the Mayo Clinic.
- Sign up for a text-message, Twitter, or email program for regular quitting tips and support. Check with your provincial resources for text-message programs and daily “quitspiration.”
+ Free personalized quitting support is available in every province and territory. This typically includes phone and online counselling and free or reduced-cost medications, e.g., nicotine patches. Find free support in your area.
