Smoking in the United Kingdom

Smoking in the United Kingdom involves the consumption of combustible cigarettes and other forms of tobacco in the United Kingdom, as well as the history of the tobacco industry, together with government regulation and medical issues.

Contents

• History
• 19th and early 20th centuries
• Imperial Tobacco Company
• British Empire and Commonwealth
• Since 1973
• British-American Tobacco
• Prevalence
• Health issues
• Age restrictions
• England and Wales
• Scotland
• Northern Ireland
• Smoking bans
• Further restrictions
• Electronic cigarettes (vapes)
• See also
• References
• Further reading
• British Empire and Commonwealth 2
• External links

Smoking is legally permitted, with certain conditions set from laws enacted separately in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. It is illegal to smoke tobacco in enclosed public places, such as restaurants, shops or pubs, under the Health Act 2006 for England and Wales, the Smoking (Northern Ireland) Order 2006 for Northern Ireland and the Smoking, Health and Social Care (Scotland) Act 2005 for Scotland. It is also illegal to smoke in a car if one is transporting people under 18 or if a vehicle is being used for work purposes. Smoking is prevalent among a sizeable, but continuously reducing minority of the population. It has been argued that smoking puts considerable strain upon the National Health Service (NHS) due to the health problems which can be directly linked with smoking, though early deaths from smoking relieve the NHS from caring for long-term debilities. Successive UK Governments have endeavoured to reduce the prevalence of smoking. As part of this commitment, the NHS currently offers free help to smokers who want to quit.

History

19th and early 20th centuries

House of Carreras

Further information: Carreras Tobacco Company

The House of Carreras began trading in 1788 under a Spanish nobleman, Don José Carreras Ferrer, who fought with the Wellington in the Peninsular War. Carreras began trading in London at a time when cigars were increasing in popularity and Don José became a pioneer in his field. However, although the business prospered it did not become a major concern until his son Don José Joaquin Carreras began to specialise in the blending of tobaccos and snuff. The company produced blends to suit the individual tastes of the highest members of society, with customers visiting his showrooms to select their own tobaccos. Some of Don José's tobacco brands became world-famous, including Guards' Mixture and Hankey's Mixture. Over one thousand brands of cigar could be bought from Carreras, together with snuffs, cigarettes, and pipes.

The business remained in the hands of the Carreras family until 1894, when Mr. W J Yapp, a well-known figure in the shoe leather industry, took control. The House of Carreras became a London landmark, and it was here that Prince Edward (later Edward VII) often came to select the finest cigars.

To enter the cigarette market Carreras need high speed machine like the Bonsack machine, on which Wills had a monopoly. The opportunity came from Bernhard Baron, who had rights to a rival American machine. In June 1903, Carreras became a public company with Barton in charge. Its cigarettes now competed with the Imperial Tobacco Group as well as American Tobacco Company. In 1904, an allied cigarette company was established, Carreras and Marcianus Ltd. It introduced three new brands including Black Cat, the first cigarette in Britain to contain coupons that were redeemable for gifts. In 1905 yet more brands were introduced such as Chick, Jetty, and Sweet Kiss. Sales were good and in 1906 it added new brands such as Carreras Ovals and Seven Up. ^[1]

Baron chose many novel schemes for the promotion of Carreras’ pipe tobacco and cigarette brands. In 1909, the company introduced the Baron automatic pipe filler in cartridges, which revolutionised pipe smoking and sold by the millions. Other brands were introduced before the First World War including Fireball, Golden Clipper, Red Route Mixture, and Life Ray. The 1914-18 war caused a rapid acceleration in cigarette smoking and Carreras was to the fore in supplying cigarettes to the armed forces. ^[2]

Wills company

Main article: W.D. & H.O. Wills

According to B.W.E. Alford, in the first century after its founding in Bristol in 1786, Wills was one of many small firms processing loose tobacco for the competitive British market. It bested the competition by maintaining the quality of the pipe tobaccos and reliance on effective salesmanship. Their well-paid salesmen provided valuable feedback about consumer preferences and promotional tactics, like using cards featuring famous English personalities. Wills gained market share by introducing branded tobaccos and began pre-packaging their products, which allowed for wider distribution through regular retail shops rather than just specialized outlets. In 1883, Wills acquired the exclusive British rights to the powerful Bonsack cigarette manufacturing machine. Cigarettes now became very cheap to make in large quantities. The less expensive Woodbine cigarette brand became a marketing sensation starting in 1888. Ignoring initial doubts about the market potential of cigarettes compared to pipe tobacco, Wills saw sales increase leaving the small competitors far behind in the new cigarette market. In 1901, Wills faced strong competition from Duke's American Tobacco Company. Duke entered the English market with an alliance with Ogden's and a heavily advertised brand, "Guinea Gold," the first Virginia cigarette made in England. Wills strategically merged with the other British rivals to secure its dominance in the British market. Wills contributed 58% of the £12 million pounds capital of Imperial Tobacco, with the rest coming from 12 competitors. Wills easily dominated the new company and by the strong leadership of William Wills, 1st Baron Winterstoke it successfully defended their market share from American threats. ^{[3] [4]}

John Player & Sons

Main article: John Player & Sons

In March 1820, William Wright set up a small tobacco factory in Craigshill, Livingston, West Lothian. This business expanded and earned Wright a comfortable fortune. John Player bought the business in 1877. He had the Castle Tobacco Factories built in Radford, Nottingham, just west of the city centre. They filled three large blocks. The business became a private limited company in 1895, with a share capital of £200,000. The business was later run by Player's sons John Dane Player and William Goodacre Player. In 1901, in response to competitive threats from the American Tobacco Company, Player's merged with the new Imperial Tobacco Company. ^{[5] [6]}

W.D. & H.O. Wills in 1887 was one of the first companies to include advertising cards with their cigarettes, but it was John Player & Sons in 1893 that produced one of the first general interest sets 'Castles and Abbeys'.

Imperial Tobacco Company

The Imperial Tobacco Company was created in 1901, through the amalgamation of 13 British tobacco and cigarette companies: W.D. & H.O. Wills of Bristol (the leading manufacturer of tobacco products at that time), John Player & Sons of Nottingham, and 11 other independent family businesses, which were in competition with companies from the United States by the American Tobacco Company. ^{[7] [8]} First W. D. & H. O. Wills of Bristol merged with Stephen Mitchell & Son of Glasgow. Subsequently, other smaller companies including Lambert & Butler, William Clarke & Son, Franklyn Davey, Edwards Ringer & Bigg, Hignett Brothers, Hignett's Tobacco, Adkins & Sons, Richmond Cavendish, D&J MacDoland and F&J Smith joined in the amalgamation. In 1904, James & Finlay Bell Ltd merged with Stephen Mitchell & Son. The Company's first chairman was William Henry Wills of the Wills Company. ^[8]

In 1902, the Imperial Tobacco Company and the American Tobacco Company agreed to form a joint venture: the British-American Tobacco Company Ltd. ^[8] The parent companies agreed not to trade in each other's domestic territory and to assign trademarks, export businesses, and overseas subsidiaries to the joint venture. It built the Imperial Tobacco Company Building at Mullins, South Carolina, US between 1908, and 1913. ^[9] It also established its own leaf-buying organisation in the United States through its building, the Imperial Tobacco Warehouse, in Durham, North Carolina.

American Tobacco sold its share of Imperial in 1911. Imperial maintained an interest in British American Tobacco until 1980. ^[8]

Prevalence

UK whole statistics regionally

Current smokers

Ex-smokers

Never smoked

In 1962, over 70% of British men and 40% of British women smoked. ^[17] As recently as 1974, 45% of the British population smoked. This was down to 30% by the early 1990s, 21% by 2010, and 19.3% by 2013, the lowest level recorded for eighty years. ^[18] An annual No Smoking Day has occurred in March since 1984. ^[19]

In 2015, it was reported smoking rates in England had fallen to just 16.9%, a record low. ^[20] In 2018, the UK smoking rate had fallen to 14.4%. ^[21] 25–34 year olds had the highest smoking rate, with approximately 1 in 5 people within this age range (around 1.4 million adults) being smokers.

In 2019, one in five Scottish people — 850,000 adults — identified as smokers. Approximately 28% of men and 25% of women in Scotland smoked regularly in 2018, a rate higher than that of the United Kingdom as a whole.^{[ citation needed ]}

Smoking prevalence varies with geography. In self-reported Annual Population Survey data, the local authorities of Kingston upon Hull and Blackpool had consistently high smoking prevalence rates of 22.2% and 23.4% respectively in 2019, while Ribble Valley and Rushcliffe had rates of 5.1% and 5.9%. ^[22] It is estimated that in some of the most deprived communities in Scotland, smoking rates may be as high as 47%. An estimated 40% of adults smoke in the constituency of Glasgow East, one of the most deprived seats in the entire United Kingdom. ^{[ citation needed ]}

• Smoking graphs
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Health issues

It has been estimated by Cancer Research UK that smoking is the single greatest cause of preventable illness and early death, with around 107,000 people dying in 2007 from smoking-related diseases, including cancers, in the UK. Around 86% of lung cancer deaths in the UK are caused by tobacco smoking; overall tobacco smoking is estimated to be responsible for more than a quarter of cancer deaths in the UK, around 43,000 deaths in 2007. ^[23]

The British Medical Journal states that due to the drive to help smokers quit smoking, Britain has the world's largest reduction in the number of deaths from lung cancer. In 1950, the UK had one of the highest rates in the world. The annual number of deaths from lung cancer in 2000 was half of what it was in 1965. ^[24]

Reducing the prevalence of smoking to 5% could avoid nearly 100,000 new cases of smoking-related disease including 35,900 cancers over twenty years and save £67,000,000 a year in health- and social-care costs, according to research commissioned by Cancer Research UK. ^[25]

Age restrictions

Smoking bans

Smoking in workplaces and enclosed public spaces has been illegal since 26 March 2006 in Scotland, 2 April 2007 in Wales, 30 April 2007 in Northern Ireland and 1 July 2007 in England. ^{[26] [27]}

On 1 October 2015, a law was passed which banned smoking in vehicles with anyone under eighteen years of age present. The law does not apply to e-cigarettes, if the driver is seventeen years of age and alone in the vehicle, or in a convertible with the roof completely down. ^[28]

Further restrictions

On 6 April 2012, the display of tobacco products was banned in retailers larger than 280 square metres (3000 sq. ft.) in England. The ban affected small retailers three years later on 6 April 2015. ^[29] In Scotland, a ban on the display of tobacco products for large retailers entered into force in April 2013. ^[30] The ban for display for small retailers entered into force in April 2015. ^[31]

In March 2011, the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government committed itself to holding a public consultation on the introduction of plain tobacco packaging. Influenced by the introduction of plain packaging in Australia, the House of Commons voted 367–113 in March 2015 to pass the Children and Families Act 2014, which gave the government the power to require plain packaging for tobacco products. ^[32] This came into force on 20 May 2016, but tobacco companies were given one year to sell off remaining stock, after which all tobacco products sold in the UK would have to follow plain packaging laws. ^[33]

Electronic cigarettes (vapes)

Despite the name "e-cigarette," these devices contain no tobacco and produce no smoke. They are used as an alternative to smoking, or as devices where it increasingly looks like they are helping young people avoid smoking. ^[34] Two hospitals run by Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust opened vape shops in 2019 in conjunction with a ban on smoking. Public Health England advises hospitals to let patients vape indoors and in bed. ^[35]

On 2 April 2014, the Welsh Government published a public health white paper in which it proposed a ban on the use of e-cigarettes in public spaces. ^[36] The Bill was subsequently defeated.

The annual Smokefree GB survey, published in May 2017, concluded that 52% of the 2.9 million British e-cigarette users are now ex-smokers. 26% of respondents thought e-cigarettes were as harmful as real cigarettes. ^[37] In March 2017, it was reported by The Telegraph that the UK's e-cigarette boom is in decline, with the number of people using e-cigarettes in Britain decreasing for the first time since their launch. ^[38]

In 2019, there were estimated to be 3 million e-cigarette users in Great Britain, with approximately half reporting using them as an aid to stop smoking. ^[22]

In October 2024, the British government announced a ban on single-use vapes, effective June 2025, to combat environmental issues and rising youth vaping rates. With nearly 10% of the population using vapes, health officials expressed concern about their appeal to children, highlighted by a 2024 ASH survey showing around 20% of 11-17-year-olds had tried vaping. The initiative, originally proposed by the Conservative government, aimed to enforce strict anti-smoking measures. ASH urged that regulations should still support the use of vapes for smoking cessation. ^[39]

• Vaping/e-cigarette statistics in Great Britain
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  Percentage of people who vape in Great Britain
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  Percentage of men who vape in Great Britain
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  Percentage of females who vape in Great Britain
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  Percentage of people who have never vaped in Great Britain
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  Percentage of men who have never vaped in Great Britain
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  Percentage of females who have never vaped in Great Britain

See also

• Imperial Brands, formerly Imperial Tobacco
• Health in the United Kingdom

Related Research Articles

Imperial Brands plc is a British multinational tobacco company headquartered in London and Bristol, England. It is the world's fourth-largest international cigarette company measured by market share after Philip Morris International, British American Tobacco and Japan Tobacco and the world's largest producer of fine-cut tobacco and tobacco papers.

Lambert & Butler is a former English tobacco manufacturing company, established in 1834 in Clerkenwell, Central London, that operated as a private business until 1901 when it merged with other UK manufacturers to form the Imperial Tobacco Company. Apart from tobacco products L&B also released several cigarette card sets from the 1910s to the 1930s. They consisted of various topics including motor cars, locomotives, horsemanship, aviation, and association football.

Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) is the name of a number of autonomous pressure groups (charities) in the anglosphere that seek to publicize the risks associated with tobacco smoking and campaign for greater restrictions on use and on cigarette and tobacco sales.

Regal is a British brand of cigarettes. It is currently owned and manufactured by Imperial Tobacco.

A smoking ban in England, making it illegal to smoke in all enclosed workplaces in England, came into force on 1 July 2007 as a consequence of the Health Act 2006. Similar bans had already been introduced by the rest of the United Kingdom: in Scotland on 26 March 2006, Wales on 2 April 2007 and Northern Ireland on 30 April 2007. Plain tobacco packaging and a smoking ban in cars with passengers under 18 were introduced under Children and Families Act 2014.

An electronic cigarette (e-cigarette), or vape, is a device that simulates tobacco smoking. It consists of an atomizer, a power source such as a battery, and a container such as a cartridge or tank. Instead of smoke, the user inhales vapor. As such, using an e-cigarette is often called "vaping". The atomizer is a heating element that vaporizes a liquid solution called e-liquid, which quickly cools into an aerosol of tiny droplets, vapor and air. The vapor mainly comprises propylene glycol and/or glycerin, usually with nicotine and flavoring. Its exact composition varies, and depends on several things including user behavior.

Kyriazi Freres was a cigarette manufacturing company established in 1873 in Egypt. The company was founded by Ioannis Kyriazis, together with his brothers Efstathios and Epaminondas, although his other two brothers, George and Dimitris also played an active role in the company.

Embassy is a British brand of cigarettes, currently owned and manufactured by Imperial Tobacco.

Tobacco politics refers to the politics surrounding the use and distribution of tobacco, likewise with regulations.

The Egyptian cigarette industry, during the period between the 1880s and the end of the First World War, was a major export industry that influenced global fashion. It was notable as a rare example of the global periphery setting trends in the global center in a period when the predominant direction of cultural influence was the reverse, and also as one of the earliest producers of globally traded manufactured finished goods outside the West.

Tobacco has a long cultural, economic, and social impact on the United States. Tobacco cultivation in Jamestown, Virginia, in 1610 led to the expansion of British colonialism in the Southern United States. As the demand for Tobacco grew in Europe, further colonization in British America and Tobacco production saw a parallel increase. Tobacco use became normalized in American society and was heavily consumed before and after American independence.

The use of tobacco products in Egypt is widespread. It is estimated that approximately twenty percent of the population uses tobacco products daily. Cigarettes are the most common form of tobacco consumption in Egypt, with an estimated twenty billion cigarettes smoked annually in the country. After cigarettes, shisha water-pipes are the most common form of tobacco consumption.

SmokinginCanada is banned in indoor public spaces, public transit facilities and workplaces, by all territories and provinces, and by the federal government. As of 2010, legislation banning smoking within each of these jurisdictions is mostly consistent, despite the separate development of legislation by each jurisdiction. Notable variations between the jurisdictions include: whether, and in what circumstances ventilated smoking rooms are permitted; whether, and up to what distance away from a building is smoking banned outside of a building; and, whether smoking is banned in private vehicles occupied by children.

Smoking in Ireland is banned fully in the general workplace, enclosed public places, restaurants, bars, education facilities, healthcare facilities and public transport. However, it is permitted in designated hotel rooms and there is no ban in residential care, prisons and in outdoor areas. Public opinion is in favour of the bans on smoking which are in place in Ireland.

Regulation of electronic cigarettes varies across countries and states, ranging from no regulation to banning them entirely. As of 2015, around two thirds of major nations have regulated e-cigarettes in some way. A 2023 report by the World Health Organization (WHO) found that 34 countries had banned the sale of e-cigarettes.

Blu is an electronic cigarette brand, produced by Fontem Ventures and owned by Imperial Brands. The brand Blu sells various types of rechargeable and disposable e-cigarettes with a wide selection of flavored and unflavored liquids. Its products are available in many countries and each market offers different types of products suited to public demand and opportunities. The global headquarters of Blu is located in Amsterdam. Local offices are active around the world to service all markets which sell the brand.

The scientific community in the United States and Europe are primarily concerned with the possible effect of electronic cigarette use on public health. There is concern among public health experts that e-cigarettes could renormalize smoking, weaken measures to control tobacco, and serve as a gateway for smoking among youth. The public health community is divided over whether to support e-cigarettes, because their safety and efficacy for quitting smoking is unclear. Many in the public health community acknowledge the potential for their quitting smoking and decreasing harm benefits, but there remains a concern over their long-term safety and potential for a new era of users to get addicted to nicotine and then tobacco. There is concern among tobacco control academics and advocates that prevalent universal vaping "will bring its own distinct but as yet unknown health risks in the same way tobacco smoking did, as a result of chronic exposure", among other things.

A vape shop is a retail outlet specializing in the selling of vaping products, though shops selling derived psychoactive cannabis products have increased in the United States since the passage of the 2018 Farm Bill. There are also online vape shops. A vape shop offers a range of vaping products. The majority of vape shops do not sell vaping products that are from "Big Tobacco" companies. In 2013, online search engine searches on vape shops surpassed searches on e-cigarettes. Around a third of all sales of vaping products in one US state took place in vape shops. Big Tobacco believes the independent vape market is a threat to their interests.

Pod mods are a type of electronic cigarette used to vape nicotine through a mouthpiece connected to the body of the device by magnets. These devices are a newer generation of e-cigarettes that are often marketed to a younger crowd that do not wish to attract attention gained through regular e-cigarettes or traditional tobacco-burning cigarettes. Pod mods contain a disposable cartridge and coils.

Electronic cigarettes are marketed to smoking and non-smoking men, women, and children as being safer than cigarettes. In the 2010s, large tobacco businesses accelerated their marketing spending on vape products, similar to the strategies traditional cigarette companies used in the 1950s and 1960s.

References

Further reading

• Alford, B.W.E. W.D. and H.O. Wills and the Development of the UK Tobacco Industry, 1786-1965 (London: Methuen and New York: Barnes and Noble, 1973) 500pp.
• Apperson, G.L. The Social History of Smoking: A Sweeping Chronicle of the World's Most Prevalent Addiction (1914, reprinted 2006), Covers English society 1580s-1910s online; also listen to audio recording
• Arnott, Deborah, et al. "Comprehensive smoke-free legislation in England: how advocacy won the day." Tobacco Control 16.6 (2007): 423-428.online
• Beer, George Louis. The Origins of the British Colonial System, 1578-1660 (1908). online, regarding Virginia
• Best, Joel. "Economic interests and the vindication of deviance: tobacco in seventeenth century Europe." Sociological Quarterly 20.2 (1979): 171-182.
• Butler, Todd. "Power in smoke: the language of tobacco and authority in Caroline England." Studies in Philology 106.1 (2009): 100-118. online
• Christopoulou, Rebekka. "Smoking in the United Kingdom." in Life-Course Smoking Behavior: Patterns and National Context in Ten Countries (Oxford University Press, 2015).
• Corina, Maurice. Trust In Tobacco: The Anglo-American Struggle for Power (St. Martin's Press, 1975), a standard scholarly history of tobacco in UK; online
• Corti, Count. A history of smoking (Bracken 1996 reprint; 1931) online
• Cox, Howard. The global cigarette : origins and evolution of British American Tobacco, 1880-1945 (2000) online, a major scholarly history
• Elliot. Rosemary. Women and Smoking since 1890 (2008).
• Goodman, Jordan. Tobacco in history: The cultures of dependence (Routledge, 2005).
• Gray, Stanley, and Vertrees Judson Wyckoff. "The international tobacco trade in the seventeenth century." Southern Economic Journal (1940): 1-26. online
• Harrald, Chris, and Fletcher Watkins. The cigarette book: the history and culture of smoking (2010) online.
• Hilton, Matthew. Smoking in British Popular Culture, 1800–2000 (2000), a major scholarly study.
• Jonsson, Fredrik Albritton. "Scottish tobacco and rhubarb: the natural order of civil cameralism in the Scottish Enlightenment." Eighteenth-Century Studies (2016): 129-147. online
• Nathanson, Constance A. Disease prevention as social change: The state, society, and public health in the United States, France, Great Britain, and Canada (Russell Sage Foundation, 2007), pp 109–159 on tobacco online
• Rive, Alfred. "A Brief History of Regulation and Taxation of Tobacco in England." William and Mary Quarterly 9.2 (1929): 73-87. online, covers 1600 to 1640.
• Shahab, Lion, and Robert West. "Public support in England for a total ban on the sale of tobacco products." Tobacco Control 19.2 (2010): 143-147. online
• "Smoking ban in the United Kingdom" (Centre for Public Impact, 2 Sept. 2019) online
• Springfield, Lincoln. "The Tobacco War in Great Britain." The North American Review 174.547 (1902): 820-832. online
• Tanner, Arthur Edmund, and E. Reginald Fairweather. Tobacco: From the Grower to the Smoker (4th ed, 1937), online, covers the manufacture of all forms of tobacco in United Kingdom, as well as government regulation.
• Taylor, Alexander G. "Tobacco retail licences and state formation in early modern England and Wales." Economic History Review 72.2 (2019): 433-458.
• Tinkler, Penny. Smoke Signals (2005) on women

External links

• Timeline of British tobacco companies, 1723 to 2007