Is Vaping Cheaper Than Smoking?

How Much Money Can You Save From Switching to Vapes?

Choosing to smoke cigarettes is an expensive habit that costs the average smoker upwards of £4,000 a year. And with the recent NHS studies advising that vaping is the best quit-smoking aid on the market, you might be wondering if vaping is cheaper than smoking?

A study by University College London has reported that those who use e-cigarettes instead, save around £780 a year. 

So vaping is ridiculously cheaper than paying for the cost of cigarettes regularly, but exactly how cheap is it to switch to vaping instead?

The Cost of Smoking vs Disposable Vapes

A heavy smoker who smokes 20 cigarettes a day will be approximately spending £4,182 per year – the cost of a designer handbag, half the cost of a year at University, or the price of a used vehicle. 

Now, disposables aren’t the most cost-effective vaping kits, but they are highly popular with ex-smokers and vapers wanting a convenient vape. 

The average 600-puff disposable costs around £5 and lasts approximately 1-2 days*, so if you switched to 600-puff disposable vapes, you’d be spending between £900 to £1800 a year. 

But if you want your vape to last longer, a 3500 puff vape costs around £10 and lasts around one to two weeks*, so you’d be approximately spending anywhere between £400 to £800.

From switching from cigarettes to disposable vapes, you’re already saving over £3000 a year! 

*These depend on the device’s internal battery, how often you vape, and how long your inhale is.

The Cost of Smoking vs Refillable Vapes

So, with the average heavy smoker spending over 4 grand a year, how much would they spend if they switched to refillable pod devices?

Pod systems are the next step up from disposables, instead of throwing away the device after the vape juice has run out or the battery has died, you simply need to refill the removable pod and recharge it!

And being an ex-smoker, utilising pod devices with nicotine salt e-liquids will give you the same MTL smoking style, throat hit, and satisfy those nicotine cravings. 

You can pick up a pod kit for as little as £7.99 and as high as £29.99, but the most popular pod kits cost around £15 to £20 and you will only need to buy 1 and keep it for as long as you want, until you want an upgrade. 

A pack of replacement pods cost around £10 for a pack of 4 (around £5 for a pack of 2/3), each lasting around a month, depending on how much you vape and if you’re using the correct e-liquid.

If you want 10ml nic salt vape juice, they usually cost 3 for £10 (we offer 4 for £10!) with one 10ml equals 5 disposable vapes! So if you were to buy 8 bottles a month, a full-year supply would be just £240

Or, if you’re looking for even cheaper options, one 120ml shortfill e-liquid will last you approximately 2 weeks for the price of £10.99.

So, let’s say you buy the Geek Vape Wenax Q for £14.99, you won’t need to buy replacement pods right away, but let’s be prepared and grab a pack of 3 for £6.99. But you would need them to last the full year, so let’s grab 3 more packs with a total value of £29.96.

Now, for shortfills to last the full year you would need to purchase 26 bottles, to save even more money, let’s buy the 10x Fantasi E Liquid Bundle 3 times, with nicotine salt shots, to own 30 bottles, costing £230.79.

Now, for the year, if you switch to a refillable pod with a year’s supply of shortfill e-liquids and 10ml bottles, your grand total will come to £515.74*!

If you were a heavy smoker of 20 cigarettes a day, you have just saved £3,666.26!

Now, this grand total will obviously vary with each vaper, it depends on the wattage of your device, if you want 10ml bottles or shortfills, how quickly you burn out the coil, and if you want to upgrade your kit every so often. 

*These depend on the device’s internal battery, how often you vape, and how long your inhale is. 

How Does Smoking Affect The UK?

The effects of smoking go far beyond how expensive the habit actually is.

According to studies, smoking has a negative impact on productivity and health costing the UK economy £17 billion annually, of which the NHS is responsible for paying £2.5 billion. 

Smoking-related issues consume a sizable amount of the NHS budget for everything from urgent care to long-term support.

Additionally, it is estimated that about 50% of smokers die prematurely as a direct result of their smoking habits, meaning that smoking costs the world 100 million years of life.

But, if 50% of smokers switched to vapes instead, hospital admissions in the UK would reduce by 13%, saving the NHS £518 million per year.

Does Vaping Save Money? 

So, is vaping cheaper than smoking? Most definitely. 

Switching from cigarettes to vaping can save you thousands of pounds every year, could save you from cancerous illnesses, and save the NHS millions. 

With a vape kit for everyone, we have made choosing a vape kit as easy as we possibly could.

For ex-smokers, we always recommend starting with a pod device, they’re beginner-friendly, hassle-free, and perfect for nicotine salts. 

We recommend nic salt e-liquids because, compared to freebase, they’re fast absorbing and quick relief, whereas freebase e-liquids can be more harsher on the throat, especially in high strengths. 

If you’re struggling to find a vape kit that suits your needs, don’t hesitate to get in touch and one of our friendly team members would be happy to assist.