Whilst it may be cheaper than legal tobacco, it comes at a cost. The ingredients of illicit tobacco aren't known or regulated. Whilst no tobacco is safe, illicit tobacco could contain higher levels of harmful chemicals. If you've used illicit tobacco before you can save even more money, without risking your health, by stopping smoking completely. Try our cost calculator to find out how much you could save by stopping smoking. Contact Quit Your Way Scotland to find out how safe forms of nicotine can be used to help you stop smoking.
Home Healthy living Stopping smoking Reasons to stop Tobacco. Tobacco smoke contains: nicotine carbon monoxide tar toxic chemicals such as benzene, arsenic and formaldehyde Nicotine Although nicotine is a very addictive substance it's relatively harmless. Carbon monoxide Carbon monoxide is a poisonous gas which takes the place of oxygen in your blood. Tar Tar is the sticky brown substance that stains smokers' teeth and fingers yellow-brown.
Using tobacco Tobacco comes in many forms including: cigarettes rolling tobacco illicit tobacco Cigarettes Cigarettes are the most common type of tobacco product in Scotland. Cigarette tobacco products contain: two main tobacco leaf varieties fillers including stems and other waste products water flavourings additives The additives are used to make the cigarette more palatable to the user. To understand some of the variances in the different types of tobacco, it is helpful to sample a few for yourself.
Its flavor profile is slightly grassy and sweet, with a toasty mouthfeel. It is very mild and pleasant, making it well suited to both smokers new and old.
A potent blend, Kentucky tobacco has an above-average nicotine content. It burns wells and provides a steady flow, and is well-cut for packing. It comes in a small variety of flavors. Each blend is lauded for being a smooth, easy smoke, making them all good entry points for new smokers.
It is smooth, easy-to-light smoke. Its full, rich flavor stands up to some of the best, and more expensive, blends on the market. Perfectly cut and reliably moist, Largo is an excellent smoke.
It is a slow-burning tobacco, perfect for a relaxing, leisurely smoke. It is smooth and easy on the throat. It comes in a couple of different varieties, each accounting for differences in taste.
It has a modest amount of added flavor and smokes smoothly. It is an excellent all-around blend. Fortunately, this blend is a winning hand. It is a pleasurable, refined smoke at a lower price point than similarly excellent tobaccos.
Produced in America, it is a smooth, mellow tobacco available in a variety of flavors. Categoric and thematic data analysis was used to generate the findings. We identified two broad themes, incentivising and disincentivising factors. The lower cost of RYO products compared to pre-manufactured cigarettes was the most important incentive for users. However, other product characteristics, such as the artisanal factors associated with RYO products were also found.
Social and environmental influences were apparent, in which certain groups and environments facilitated and normalised RYO practices. Amenities and facilities often provided smokers with normalised spaces which could be dedicated to the enactment of rolling practices and to the creation and maintenance of social bonds with other users.
Disincentives included negative features related to the product itself, adverse health effects, and the effects of tobacco denormalisation. While the lower cost of RYO products is very important for young smokers, other product characteristics and influences also incentivise and disincentivise use.
A more comprehensive understanding of the multi-dimensional appeal of these products will assist policymakers to target strategies to reduce the attractiveness to young smokers of these products. Peer Review reports. Ireland has a wide range of legislative measures and health promotion policies [ 1 ] to reduce the numbers of people smoking Additional file 1. Despite this decrease, levels of roll-your-own RYO tobacco use, which have been found to be at least as harmful [ 4 ] as pre-manufactured cigarettes, are on the rise among smokers in Ireland [ 5 ].
RYO cigarettes are made using loose tobacco and cigarette papers and can be smoked with or without a filter. In the general population, these products have seen a rise in use from 2. Recent findings show that, for the first time among adolescent and young adult smokers in Ireland, the use of RYO tobacco Cross-sectional population surveys examining the rise of RYO use among smokers are limited but growing.
The lower cost, taste preferences, perceived lower health risks, greater satisfaction compared to pre-manufactured cigarettes, and the belief that RYO products allow users to reduce the amount smoked have all been identified as motivators for use among adult smokers [ 8 , 9 ]. Demographic characteristics have also been identified, with studies highlighting that RYO users are most likely to be young, male and from lower socio-economic groups [ 5 , 6 , 7 , 10 ].
Qualitative studies exploring RYO practices among adolescent and young adult users are rare. However, a recent New Zealand study [ 12 ] focusing on 18—30 year olds found similar reasons for RYO use as those outlined above for adults aged 18 and over [ 9 ]. No research, to our knowledge, has considered negative aspects associated with RYO products.
A comprehensive understanding of how these products incentivise and disincentivise use is important so that strategies can be developed to reduce their use. In this study, we report our findings from a qualitative study of RYO use among adolescent and young adult smokers in Dublin, Ireland. This study was undertaken following a survey which found a high prevalence of RYO use among 16—17 years old students in Ireland [ 6 ].
In particular, it was hoped that a qualitative study would provide richer data in relation to price as an incentivising factor and additionally to generate other data about why young people use RYO, and what they like and dislike about RYO. While some attitudinal factors were captured in the survey, the qualitative individual and focus group interviews generated more in-depth and organic data that were not possible to capture within the limits of a quantitative survey.
A qualitative approach was adopted in this study in order to explore the reasons behind the growing levels of RYO use in Ireland. The idea for this study was conceived by the third author LC and KB after their previous survey research found high levels of RYO use among Irish adolescents [ 6 ]. The survey, which used a cross-sectional design, to survey adolescents found increasing levels of RYO use among adolescent Irish smokers. While growing levels of RYO levels were found among this group, uncertainty remained as to the reasons behind RYO use in adolescent users.
As qualitative research prioritises process rather than outcome and allows for an emphasis on meaning [ 13 ], it was deemed an appropriate approach for this study as it allowed for the generation of understanding about a specific life experience, namely how young people deal with, and make sense of, being a RYO smoker. Participants in the study were aged between 16 and 22 years and comprised two groups. One group three centres- 34 students was recruited through a youth organisation which works with early-school-leavers from disadvantaged areas.
The other group two centres- 28 students comprised students attending a higher education institution in Dublin City Centre. The age range 16—22 years was chosen as this study was a follow-on from a previous Irish survey [ 6 ] which found a high prevalence of RYO use among students 16—17 years old. This study sought a more in-depth account of RYO use from a young age group that accesses tobacco products.
None of the higher education students was under 18 years and only a small number of the early school leavers was and we did not wish to exclude these, particularly as the early school leaving group is an important group to reach in terms of RYO use, as almost all are from lower socio-economic groups.
Gender and age data were available to the researchers although the proliferation of themes and sub-themes from the inductive analysis below was such that they did not emerge as notable distinguishing features. All of the participants had smoked a RYO cigarette within the previous 30 days. Eight focus group 40 participants and 22 individual interviews were conducted.
The individual and focus group interviews with the higher education students were conducted in classrooms within these institutions two sites. The interviews and focus groups with the early school leavers took place in youth organisations across Dublin three sites.
Table 1 provides an overview of the two groups and the data collection methods associated with each group. Participants were also questioned about smoking in general and about e-cigarette use but only the data about RYO use are presented in this paper. The questions contained within these guides focused on learning about the behaviours and opinions of young people towards RYO products. The individual and focus group interview guides were created to give flexibility to the participants so that their responses could be probed and explored fully.
On average, interviews lasted 20 min, with focus group interviews running up to 60 min. A copy of the individual and focus group interview guides can be found in Additional file 2.
Informed consent was given by all participants and participants were assured of confidentiality. In keeping with that, only pseudonyms were used. We used pseudonyms to allow the reader to track and differentiate the quotes across different participant responses.
A thematic analysis approach was employed to analyse the data [ 14 ]. The recordings from the individual and focus group interviews were transcribed verbatim. The analysis of each data set began with each transcript being printed and entered into a ring-binder folder. The transcripts were uploaded to NVivo 11 by the first author and preliminary codes generated.
All transcripts were read and annotated in print and digitally by each of the three authors. A meeting of all three authors was held to discuss points of interest from the coding and the annotation of the transcripts. Using an inductive analytic approach, the second author gathered together the low-level, descriptive codes that resulted from the NVivo coding and the annotations from the transcripts to form conceptual categories Categoric analysis.
From there, the second author generated a number of interpretive themes and sub-themes Theoretical analysis. These themes and sub-themes framed the overall analytic structure and shaped the presentation of findings. Regular meetings were held with the three authors to discuss and refine the themes; and in particular, the structuring of the sub-themes for the final analysis and drafting of the manuscript.
Two main themes emerged from the data, categorised as incentivising and disincentivising factors associated with RYO tobacco use. The sub-themes within incentivising factors included intrinsic features of RYO; peer and familial influences; and environmental factors.
Disincentivising factors related to product; health; and denormalisation. Table 2 provides an overview of the themes and sub-themes arising from the study.
The lower cost of RYO products compared with pre-manufactured cigarettes was the most strongly reported motivation for RYO use. Smoking initiation for nearly all of the participants was with pre-manufactured cigarettes.
Over time, the cost of pre-manufactured cigarettes was seen as too high, leading to RYO products becoming the favoured alternative:. Apart from lower cost, the main incentivising factors for RYO use related to characteristics intrinsic to the RYO tobacco product itself. Rituals and artisanal properties were associated with the RYO experience. You have to take it [tobacco] out, you have to start rolling it and so you go through the motions Derek, Male, HES.
Once mastered, the ability to roll cigarettes themselves provided users with a sense of accomplishment and pride. While pre-manufactured cigarettes offer a more convenient smoking experience, which was in many cases favoured by the early school leavers, pre-manufactured cigarettes fail to offer the perceived social benefits associated with RYO products which were especially important for the higher education students:. I was just rolling myself a cigarette and someone came over to me and asked if I had a spare cigarette, so he started rolling his and then we started talking, I associate smoking [RYO] with making new friends Derek, Male, HES.
With the rationale of the lower cost in mind, participants were able to justify the taste and strength differences, with many developing RYO preferences over time:. So something mild, kind of moist. Significantly, manufacturers do not disclose the same information for roll-your-own tobacco. When I questioned in why this monitoring had been stopped, I was advised government policy was that all cigarette smoking was very dangerous, regardless of the levels of additives and pesticide residue they contained.
Our view is that smoking in like being in health hell and the extra impact of additives is like turning the temperature up just another degree. In this paper I published in , internal industry documents made available after litigation in the USA, showed that tobacco used in Australian cigarettes contained alarming levels of pesticide residue, including organochlorines like DDT and dieldrin. A Philip Morris report noted:. Extremely high pesticide residue levels have been found in all samples submitted by PM-Australia, eg.
These levels are astronomical compared with the 7. We have no more recent public data on pesticide residue in cigarettes sold in Australia. But all cigarette and hand-rolling tobacco sold in Australia is grown overseas, often in less developed nations where agricultural practices can be poorly regulated.
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