The impact of TPD on consumer choice
Tuesday, August 2, 2016 at 22:43 As a non-smoker I may have been a little blasé about the TPD regulation that says cigarette packs must contain at least 20 cigarettes and roll your own (hand rolled) tobacco packs must weigh at least 30 grams.
I've made all the right noises – stressing the impact on low paid smokers who don't have enough money in their pocket for a packet of 20, or the effect it will have on those who are trying to reduce their consumption.
But I hadn't really grasped the size of the problem (no pun intended). Until yesterday.
Our village shop offers a choice of twelve packs of cigarettes. There are a number of brands in various pack sizes.
There's also a choice of rolling tobacco in three sizes (seven pouches in total).
Each pack and pouch is listed, with the price, on the sliding door behind the counter.
What struck me, when I looked at the list yesterday, is that only one of the packs contained 20 cigarettes. The rest had 10, 14, 18 or 19.
Only one of the seven pouches of rolling tobacco was in excess of 30 grams.
In other words, after the new regulation has been fully implemented by May 20 next year all but two of those 19 packs and pouches will be outlawed.
Cigarettes and hand rolled tobacco will still be on sale but consumer choice, based (I assume) on customer demand, will have taken a hell of a beating.
Reader Comments (3)
Morning Simon,
It was the simplest way for government to dictate (yet again) to those who wish to smoke. It matters not a jot whether fags be in packs of 10, 12, 29, 33 or even 50, it is simply another case of exerting a control over tobacco users.
Is it any wonder that people bring back whatever they want from abroad - I certainly would! The problem is that ASH have gained a vital foothold and because they always use the 'cheeeldren' we have multiple MPs (my own idiot included) who simply back everything ASH want to do or say - freedom of choice has no meaning in the anti-tobacco world anymore!
Interestingly, N Zealand has stopped funding its own anti-tobacco mob (http://handymanphil.blogspot.co.uk/2016/08/the-money-is-running-out.html) after 20 years of 'saving the people' yet they still have a 17% smoker rate! They have probably realised that they are NEVER going to get a 0% rate - no matter how many restrictions they impose.
My cigarettes of choice, Tor Turkish , are vanishing as it is no longer viable for the manufacturer to pay for the new packs required for small volumes. Many brands such as Sobranie will vanish under TPD2. Thank you Deborah Arnott et al.
It's a spiteful attack on the poor. It's possible to make a few shreds of tobacco last a long while used in roll-ups. And people manage with that. I don't know what cigarette tobacco costs now but if it's like my pipe tobacco, 50 grams - about two ounces in old money, costs nearly £14. Tobacco gives sad people comfort: gives law-abiding people, public spirited citizens, some warmth and rest in their day. I gulp but pay my £14 every ten days or so. What about people who are not as financially privileged as I am to do? I hesitate to use emotional language but they're grinding their heel into decent, vulnerable people, these prohibitionists.