Imperial Tobacco Reports Increase in Revenue Due to Pandemic

Source from:  Vapingpost 12/15/2020

The maker of Gauloises and West cigarettes has readjusted its full-year revenue forecast accordingly, with a spokesman for the firm saying that consumers seem to be spending more on cigarettes.

Of course, these figures are not surprising and are precisely why countless public health experts had argued that closing vape shops whilst leaving regular cigarettes available for sale, would spell disaster. A UK paper published on BJGP Open had in fact warned that the outbreak of COVID-19 risked increasing smoking rates amongst current and former smokers.

The uncertaintly and stress brought about by the pandemic led to many relapses

Stresses brought about by the pandemic increase the odds of conditions such as anxiety and depression, which are well known predisposing factors for increased smoking (quantity and frequency) as well as relapse.Titled “COVID-19: Risk of increase in smoking rates among England’s 6 million smokers and relapse among England’s 11 million ex-smokers”, the paper voiced the concerns of a Sessional GP, Medical Director at the centre for Health Research and  member of the Royal College of General Practitioners, Pooja Patwardhan. “As the world goes into lockdown, social distancing and self-isolation are likely to make the society very lonely and life more stressful,” she said.

“With my experience of working in preventive medicine and smoking cessation, the uncertainty and the stress might push current smokers to smoke more cigarettes and ex-smokers to relapse back to smoking. A perfect (bad) storm for relapsing and smoking more,” added Patwardhan.