The Smoking and Vaping Cost Calculator shows you the true financial and health cost of your tobacco and nicotine habit. Enter your daily cigarette count or vaping frequency, the price you pay, and your currency — and the calculator instantly shows your monthly and yearly spend, the life expectancy impact based on peer-reviewed research, and what that money could grow to if invested instead.
The calculator covers two habit types: cigarette smoking and vaping. For cigarette smokers, it draws on the landmark study by Shaw et al. (BMJ, 2000) which found that each cigarette costs approximately 11 minutes of life expectancy. For vapers, it shows the financial cost only — long-term vaping mortality data is still emerging, and we do not fabricate statistics where the science is incomplete.
The investment projection shows what your weekly cigarette or vaping spend could grow to over 1, 3, 5 and 10 years if invested in a broad market index fund instead. The numbers are often startling — a 20-a-day smoker spending £15 per day is spending over £5,400 per year, which invested over 10 years at historical market returns grows to more than £95,000.
The life cost calculation for cigarette smoking is based on the study by Shaw, M., Mitchell, R., and Dorling, D. (2000), "Time for a smoke? One cigarette reduces your life by 11 minutes," BMJ, 320(7226): 53. This figure was derived from population-level mortality data comparing smokers and non-smokers across large longitudinal cohorts. It represents an average — individual outcomes vary based on genetics, smoking intensity, and other lifestyle factors.
For vaping, the calculator shows financial cost only. Public Health England's 2015 evidence review estimated that vaping is approximately 95% less harmful than smoking, though this specific figure has been subject to academic debate. A 2019 review in The Lancet noted that long-term vaping outcomes remain uncertain due to the relatively recent emergence of the product. The American Heart Association and the NHS both describe vaping as likely less harmful than smoking but not risk-free. We do not show a life cost figure for vaping because no peer-reviewed mortality data of sufficient quality exists to support one.
The investment projection uses the S&P 500 historical average annual return of approximately 10%, compounded monthly (Shiller, R.J., Yale University, econ.yale.edu/~shiller/data.htm). Past performance does not guarantee future results.
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