Is Using a Vaporizer Less Expensive Than Cigarettes?
The last couple of years have seen vaping hit the mainstream. What was once a habit adopted by only a small fringe community has grown to become a phenomenon, with millions of American users and high profile attention, including the title of 2014’s Word of the Year.
As with any new fad, there’s plenty of talk swirling around vaping, some of it fact, some of it fiction. One topic that comes up frequently: cost. Cigarette smoking is famously expensive, and many vapers claim that their own nicotine-delivery method is a bit less pricey. Today, we’re mythbusting that – does vaping really cost less than a cigarette habit? And if so, how much?
How Much Do Cigarettes Cost?
Prices vary greatly by state. In New York, a single pack of duty-line cigarettes will run you as much as $14.50. Head to Kentucky, and you won’t even pay $5.00 for the same item. The average price seems to hover around $5.17, so we’ll use that as our theoretical cost.
As to how many cigarettes your average smoker goes through on a daily basis, well, that varies as well. The best estimates we’ve seen generally peg the number at just under one pack, with each pack containing 20 cigarettes.
So, all told, you’re looking at a rough daily cost of $4.91/day. Extend that out over a year, and you wind up with an average annual cost of $1,792.15.
How Much Does Vaping Cost?
We’re a little more reliant on guesswork here. Not as many studies have covered the usage of e-cigs as they have cigarettes. Still, we can draw some basic conclusions. First off, let’s get our basic cost, in this case dollar per mL. Bottles of e-liquid come in 5mL and up formats, with 10mL being a pretty standard size. These often come out to slightly more than 50 cents/mL, let’s say 60 cents with shipping and tax included.
Average use of e-liquid is, again, pretty hard to come by, but anecdotal evidence points to roughly 3mL per day being fairly standard for consistent users. We’ll go ahead and call costs $1.80/day accordingly. Over the course of a year, that winds up costing you…$657.00.
One more cost to factor in: the e-cig itself. These can get pricey. High-end options like the Pax 2 can run you a couple hundred dollars easily, while a simpler vape pen can be as little as $20. We’ll go ahead and assume you want a nicer unit, maybe a $200 option.
All told, that brings costs to $857.00 for the year.
Head to Head
This is why we’re alright with being a bit sketchy on the vape numbers. Even assuming that you’re using an expensive vape at a relatively high rate, you’ll still be spending vastly less money vaping than you would smoking cigarettes.
And here’s one more thing to think about: some of the greatest costs of cigarette smoking have nothing to do with retail. Hospitalization and treatment for one of the many, many diseases that are more likely to hit cigarette smokers can be incredibly expensive. While the jury’s still out on exactly how safe vaping is, there’s not much doubt that it beats traditional smoking. Vaping might do more than just put money back in your pocket – it might put years back on your life.
Category: Family Finances
