Cigarettes, rolling tobacco, shisha… On the occasion of Tobacco Free Month, Santé Publique France deciphers the consumption habits of the French.
- 74% of smokers declare that they consume classic cigarettes (51.6% exclusively), and 35.7% roll-your-own tobacco (16.2% exclusively).
- 9.4% turn to shisha, even occasionally (4.1% exclusively).
According to the Public Health France barometer, 74% of occasional or daily smokers declare that they consume classic cigarettes (51.6% exclusively), 35.7% roll-your-own tobacco (16.2% exclusively), 6.6% cigarillos (1.3% exclusively), 6.1% of cigars (0.8% exclusively), 1.8% smoke a pipe (0.2% exclusively) and 9.4% turn to shisha, even only occasionally (4.1% exclusively).
Rolling tobacco
The proportion of smokers consuming manufactured cigarettes has been falling for the past ten years, from 88.2% in 2010 to 74% in 2018. At the same time, the proportion of roll-your-own tobacco smokers increased sharply between 2010 (24%) and 2014 (35.2%) and has since remained relatively stable. In 2018, cigarette smokers (daily and occasional) smoked an average of 6.9 manufactured cigarettes per day, and 3.9 rolled cigarettes per day, compared to 10.9 and 2.7 respectively in 2005.
Roll-your-own tobacco smokers are more often men (58% vs 49%) and young people (44% were under 35 vs 34%). In addition, the use of hand-rolling tobacco is more frequent among socio-economically disadvantaged people: 58% have a level of diploma below the baccalaureate or have no diploma, and 49% belong to the lowest bracket. income (vs respectively 48% and 29% of exclusive smokers of conventional cigarettes).
Rolling tobacco is generally cheaper than cigarettes manufactured in France. “Several studies highlight the fact that price is often put forward by smokers to justify the choice to smoke roll-your-own tobacco”, note the experts from Public Health France. “Thus, tax increases that have historically been greater for manufactured cigarettes may have prompted some smokers to turn to roll-your-own tobacco over the past decade in France,” they continue.
Recovering from bad habits
The year 2020 was that of the resumption of bad habits in terms of cigarette consumption, the fault mainly of confinement. About a quarter of smokers (27%) say they have increased their tobacco consumption. On average, the increase was five cigarettes per day among daily smokers.
Each year, tobacco kills around 75,000 people in France, due to various pathologies caused by this industry (cancers, heart attacks, etc.).
.
