For a long time, that cigarette, with the wine on Friday night, was part of life. But then, and only then. Maria is one of many Swedes who only use nicotine on festive occasions, a party smoker. And for the past few years she has been using a heat-not-burn system to get her fix instead.
"The big difference is the smell. There's no smoke coming out and getting stuck in everything. If I think about it, that's probably the main reason why I switched," she told Vejpkollen.
- In the spring of 2023, Vejpkollen collaborated with Convenience Stores Sweden News to portray Swedish nicotine consumption, beyond the statistics. This is a report in a slightly modified version against the original published in CSS News. -
About 5 percent of all Swedes do it. They have a cigarette with their beer or wine, at the weekend or when the mood strikes. Then they're fine with it, and the packet remains in the drawer waiting for the next party. It's called "occasional use" in the statistics. Party smoking in the vernacular. One of the people who does it is Maria, who has been party smoking since she was eighteen. She grew up in the 1960s, she says. And smoking was not really a pleasant memory.
"I hated cigarettes as a child. Everyone smoked everywhere. Mom and dad too. I really hated the smell of smoke. It got into my clothes, never really went away," she says, when we meet on a hot summer morning in central Gothenburg.
"Most fun in the smoke stacks"
Despite a strong aversion to the smell of smoke, she still tried smoking. That was in her late teens. And only at parties.
"There was a lot of partying, and after all, it was a bit cool to smoke at the time. Then there was something about the people who hung out in the smoke windows and under the fan at the parties. It was always the most fun to hang out there," she says when Vejppkollen meets her behind Lorensbergsteatern in central Gothenburg.
Healthcare workers who use nicotine
She grew up in Graninge, a small community outside Sollefteå. She moved to Sundsvall to study and graduated as a nurse in the mid-1980s. Then it was off to the west coast and Gothenburg. Here she stayed, in healthcare, then at a major pharmaceutical company.
"I did my internship at the Eastern Hospital and started working there first. At that time, there were a lot of nurses who smoked. Today, nobody smokes there anymore. But a lot of people use snus instead. It's mainly the new white snuff that has gone down well with the nurses," she says.
Dizzy from the snuff
"For her, her interest in snus ended as suddenly as it began," she says. She tried a loose snus in her teens, then never again.
"It was the worst thing I've ever experienced, I think. I accidentally swallowed a little, got extremely dizzy and vomited. Never again. It's still there, I can't even imagine a nicotine pouch. But my brother, on the other hand, who could never imagine smoking, snuffed for a long time. He only stopped when the children were small." she says.
A way to enjoy
Although she's been partying for almost 40 years, she's never considered herself a habitual smoker. Or a nicotine addict, for that matter.
"No, I've stayed up many times, when I was expecting a baby for example, and it's never been a problem. I just think it's really nice to have a drink with a glass of wine in the evening sometimes. There aren't many parties these days, and it's a way to enjoy myself."
Six years smoke-free
We talk about the fact that very few Swedes smoke today, and that other products are more and more visible, both on the streets and on the shelves in stores. She smoked her last party cigarette almost 6 years ago. A relative asked her to try an IQOS instead.
"It was just when they arrived and I thought, why not? It couldn't be worse than a cigarette. I didn't really read up on it, I just tried it. And since then I haven't actually bought cigarettes." she says.
A vejp - with tobacco
IQOS, the tobacco company Philip Morris' tobacco heating system, was launched in 2015. The product has slowly become more and more popular, especially in Japan where IQOS accounts for 35% of tobacco sales. Like a traditional e-cigarette, IQOS does not produce smoke, but a vapor. However, unlike an e-cig, it is tobacco and not e-liquid that is heated. Instead, the tobacco is mixed with glycerine, the base of all e-liquid, a liquid that evaporates easily at low temperatures and forms an inhalable aerosol with the tobacco.
Lower risk of injury
For a smoker who switches from cigarettes to an IQOS, this means that the amount of toxic substances inhaled is drastically reduced. According to British Public Health Agency, which regularly compiles research on harm reduction products, the use of heat-not-burn products is likely to have a significantly lower risk of harm than smoking. At the same time, the risk of harm is considered to be slightly higher compared to regular e-cigarettes.
"Escaping the smell of smoke"
Now, it was not primarily harm reduction that prompted Maria to switch cigarettes. Rather, it was more practical matters.
"The big difference is the smell. No smoke comes out and gets stuck in everything. Every night after a party, you had to throw everything in the washing machine. It was hardly even that the smell of smoke disappeared. It's not like that anymore. I think that's the most important thing actually." she tells Vejpkollen.
Flavor ban in the pipeline
The actual tobacco stick used in an IQOS, until recently called "heets" but now replaced by so-called "terea", can be bought with different flavors. These are mostly different varieties of tobacco, but are also available with menthol. Classic menthol cigarettes were banned a few years ago and it is likely that menthol will also disappear from IQOS. This spring, the government has begun to investigate how this should be done, in accordance with EU directives. But for Maria, the taste itself is less important.
"If I did a blind test, I wouldn't notice the difference between the flavors. Menthol I probably would have noticed, but I've never used it. If IQOS goes away for some reason, I will probably stop vaping altogether. I know I'll never smoke again, and regular e-cigarettes have never appealed to me." she says.
"Many people opt out of cigarettes"
Before we part ways, we get stuck on the topic of harm reduction - the idea that smokers can quit smoking without quitting nicotine - and thus reduce the risks associated with nicotine use. Although she does not consider herself a nicotine user, she is positive about this development.
"Yes, it's actually a good thing. I don't think people will stop using nicotine, or that cigarettes will disappear completely from the shelves either. But I've seen through my work that a lot of people are opting out of cigarettes today. Especially women who work in healthcare. It's a marked difference from how it used to be, when the smoking rooms were full during breaks"
Sensitive issue for pharmaceutical companies
But it is a sensitive subject, we note. Especially in the industry she works in, the pharmaceutical industry. After all, the market for nicotine products is competitive and hotly debated. And when it comes to smoking cessation, the pharmaceutical companies have a very different philosophy to, for example, vejp entrepreneurs and tobacco companies. Harm reduction (as opposed to medicalized smoking cessation) is a dirty word and the idea of the pharmaceutical industry launching a vejp or any similar tool is very unlikely, she believes.
"Companies in the pharmaceutical world could never launch a product that poses a risk of adversely affecting the lungs. Even if the risk is small. That's just the way it is," says Maria as we part ways on this summer day in Gothenburg.
"Many don't want to quit - even though they should"
She prefers not to be pictured or seen as a kind of 'ambassador' for nicotine use, even if it is smoke-free. At work, in the pharmaceutical sector, there is zero tolerance for nicotine during working hours. And she respects that.
"I don't have to take my device to work, and I didn't smoke during working hours before. Nor do I usually nag the few friends who still smoke to change their cigarettes. Not many people smoke anymore, but some don't want to quit, even though they should. For me, I'm done smoking, but that doesn't mean everyone can take that step as easily. I think it's important to understand that."
