Andrea Felsted, Columnist

Pandemic Stress Smoking Is Helping Out Big Tobacco

But an uptick in smoke breaks shouldn’t distract manufacturers from cigarettes’ longer-term decline.

April 23, 2021 at 5:00 AM UTC

Andrea Felsted is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering consumer goods and the retail industry. Previously, she was a reporter for the Financial Times.

Lighting up.
Photographer: Alex Pantling/Getty Images Europe

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So much for lockdowns making us more health-conscious. Last week we saw Brits endure arctic conditions for a pint. Now there’s data showing they’re smoking more too.

Market researcher Mintel found in a survey of 2,000 British adults last fall that more than half of cigarette users were stress smoking more than before the pandemic. Some 10% started smoking again after giving up. Overall, 30% of the smokers surveyed reported lighting up more regularly since the outbreak.