"The smell disgusts me: young people are abandoning cigarettes, considered old-fashioned and expensive, for the puff

It's the start of No Smoking Month . For this 10th edition, more than 90,000 people have signed up to take on the challenge. Quitting smoking for 30 days increases the chances of long-term success fivefold.

This is achieved in particular through a smoking cessation kit including a 40-day program, a free telephone consultation with a tobacco specialist at 39 89, and personalized support via the Tabac info service application.

This event has now become a firmly established tradition, especially given that France has never had so few smokers: 4 million fewer daily smokers in ten years, according to the latest figures from Public Health France. Among young people, the decline is even more dramatic: there are ten times fewer teenage smokers than there were twenty years ago.

Seated at a fast-food restaurant terrace, these four 15-year-olds are enjoying their last few hours of vacation, without a cigarette in sight. "It doesn't appeal to me at all. It's expensive, and if I get addicted, I can quickly lose money. Besides, it's bad for your health, I won't touch it. I don't like the smell: my father smokes, and the smell disgusted me."

Having just turned 18, Eva and Lou Anne have noticed a change in mentality. "It's less of a fad, I think. It's no longer allowed in bars, our parents smoke less too. We're less used to the smell, and it disgusts me a little."

The puss, "it doesn't stay on your fingers or in your mouth"

Among younger people, electronic cigarettes are now all the rage. Margaux and Ilwenn, 18 and 17 years old, explain: "It doesn't stay on your fingers, or in your mouth... not at all. A pack of cigarettes costs 15 to 20 euros. A vape today costs the same but lasts much longer."

This trend is worrying the Alliance Against Tobacco. Its president, Loïc Josseran, warns: "It's no longer really the tobacco market, it's the market for nicotine and electronic cigarettes, like puffs for example. It's a need created by these manufacturers to attract younger people, who are no longer tobacco users but will become addicted to nicotine."

Today, the vaping market concerns 5 to 6% of young people, but anti-smoking groups are calling for measures to limit its expansion. Furthermore, according to a customs study, on average 17.7% of the tobacco consumed in 2023 was not purchased from a French tobacconist, representing 8,081 tons out of a total of 45,755 tons. The primary motivation for buying tobacco abroad remains price, cited by 74% of respondents: a pack of cigarettes costs between 12 and 13 euros in France.