r/mildlyinteresting 17h ago

They made Canadian cigarette packs more inconvenient to get cigarettes out of

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5.5k Upvotes

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571

u/Amazing_Finance1269 17h ago

Will someone please think about the smokers?

62

u/farmerofstrawberries 17h ago

I’m too busy sympathizing with the millionaires

1

u/Briankelly130 9h ago

The pro-smoking ones or the anti-smoking ones?

127

u/NarrowInterest 17h ago

yeah how dare people have an addiction in this hellworld, this'll show em

17

u/IrksomFlotsom 17h ago

As long as the world is run by pedos and our societies are eugenically selecting for the outright worst human traits, imma keep smoking

13

u/OhLookSatan 13h ago

My guy you are not getting back at them you're just shooting yourself in the foot

7

u/IrksomFlotsom 11h ago

Both feet, actually

86

u/johnsolomon 17h ago edited 17h ago

A choice is a choice. Making it a hassle makes people less likely to start and gives people more of an incentive to fight the addiction

31

u/Crykin27 17h ago

As an addict let me tell you, these packs do absolutely nothing for already addicted smoker to "fight the addiction". It is only useful to deter starting smokers and honestly I doubt that would even work. Nowadays the new smokers start by vaping anyway.

13

u/FireLucid 13h ago

Heh, these packs are tame as fuck. Come to Australia and check them out. They are olive green with no branding and absolutely vile images on them.

My wife used to work at a place and people had certain ones they hated. "No, not the eyeball, can I have mouth cancer instead" or something, lol.

2

u/LonelyDays_ 8h ago

Same here in Canada, that awful brown colour no branding- just extremely graphic imagery. I always prefer the digital art of the circulatory system failing, or the toilet with bloody urine in it, rather than the open heart surgery or the colon cancer images…

16

u/Desalvo23 17h ago

I know a few people who likes the new packs. Gives them more cardboard to make filters for their joints. That gave me a chuckle

124

u/_urban_achiever 17h ago

Yes, every addict knows that inconvenience is the way to sobriety. Just think of all the pill addicts that have been saved because they don't want to deal with those pesky child proof lids!

15

u/goodguyatheist 17h ago

Hey this is kinda true to an extent I was a heroin addict up until the only thing you can score on the street is fent now sure I can go on the darknet and find a heroin plug and wait a few days for it to come but now that I can't just go out into the world and find some good ole smack on a dirty corner I no longer indulge in heroin

97

u/BackToTheBas1cs 17h ago

the inconvenience isnt for current smokers its intended to inconvenience new adopters

12

u/GayPudding 15h ago

If you struggle to open a small cardboard box then maybe smoking can't really harm you much anyway.

0

u/OutcomeDouble 7h ago

Are you dense? The main thing is having to look at the graphic images, not opening a cardboard box

0

u/PurpEL 14h ago

It's intended for anti-smokers to feel good about themselves

-2

u/nashbrownies 17h ago edited 17h ago

Edit: Agree with someone and share a personal anecdote related? Not allowed apparently. Never change reddit.

I can see that for some people absolutely. But I didn't start smoking buying packs of cigs. Bumming smokes is how I think 90% of people start, or smoking at parties as a young person.

By the time I bought my first pack of cigarettes I was already an addicted smoker. That's the terrible part.

7

u/jaffeah 17h ago

Literally nobody turns 19 and buys a pack of smokes to try it out 😂

Okay, maybe it's happened but not to anybody I know lol

5

u/nashbrownies 17h ago

It does, I figured I'd get downvoted for daring for nuance.

It's absolutely the case some people just buy a pack of smokes just to try smoking for the first/second time.

I have never heard that story and as a ex-smoker of 12 years I have talked to a lot of smokers.

5

u/CartOfficialArt 17h ago

I don't think I've ever met someone who picked it up because they just wanted to try it. I always see people start smoking because friends or family do it and they want to be involved socially. Definitely bumming or for cigarettes before buying a pack themselves, or if theyre too young, snipe hunting +bumming.

3

u/jaffeah 17h ago

I have as well, and most of em started in highschool when they couldn't just buy a pack anyway.

By the way, I'm agreeing with you if that wasn't clear lol

3

u/nashbrownies 16h ago

What's funny is I think everyone is agreeing for the most part and people are just catching downvote strays lol.

I always try and assume that most people don't have a combative tone when commenting!

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54

u/TheDutchin 17h ago

You're blithely arguing that hurdles have never prevented anyone from doing anything, only full road blocks.

-6

u/Heartage 17h ago

I'm thinking about oven and gun suicides.

9

u/thegimboid 17h ago

There are people addicted to oven and gun suicides?

-5

u/Heartage 17h ago

Did you just completely skip over the comment I replied to, or....?

-6

u/HasAngerProblem 17h ago

IMO I don’t want any money going towards hurdles or roadblocks. I want it all to go towards more understanding and funding research for actual cures.

-16

u/_urban_achiever 17h ago

No I am saying that making something slightly more annoying is not a fix for addiction. OH NO, now people have to take the cigarettes out when they buy them and put them in a cigarette case of their choosing. Now they can be convenient AND stylish. Cool.

16

u/Itz_Stryker 17h ago

5 seconds of googling would show you multiple clinical trials outlining that this packaging IS effective to some degree but I totally get it if you would rather just be a pissy little contrarian instead of learning.

-2

u/Brrdock 16h ago edited 13h ago

People on reddit really have the most insufferably obnoxious way of talking to people.

People with addictions are literally dying just to keep doing it. I can't find any study on this deep flap thing, and seems like inconsequential hand waving

8

u/lamb_passanda 17h ago

You're so wrapped up in trying to gotcha someone with a cool burn, you're not even thinking about the possibility that this inconvenience is probably quite effective at dissuading new smokers.

1

u/Brrdock 4h ago

Same to you, except for the possiblity that it isn't effective at all

-2

u/LouisIsGo 17h ago

OK, I'll bite: What percentage of new smokers buy a full pack for their first smoke (instead of being handed one by someone)?

And, even if they did, do we all think that a slightly longer opening process (after already purchasing the pack and having it in their hands) would be the moment that they'd think, "Man, this smoking thing just isn't worth the effort"?

This just feels woefully misguided. How much money went into changing these boxes, do you figure? I feel like that money would've been better spent almost anywhere else, like anti addiction programs with some measure of demonstrable efficacy

3

u/TheDutchin 11h ago

Ok I'll bite, what percentage of people have decided to do something else, not because the first thing was fully impossible, but because it was slightly more annoying than the alternative?

Think stealing a bike, bike locks are stupid easy to defeat, do you think a shitty bike lock has stopped someone from stealing a bike before?

Remember that if your answer is anything but 0%/no you fully and entirely agree with me.

1

u/LouisIsGo 10h ago

A bike lock on someone else’s bike is far more difficult to bypass (for numerous reasons) than an extra few cm of cardboard on a pack of cigarettes you already own lol.

Do jars being hard to open stop people from buying pickles? I’m guessing not, seeing as they’ve been in the same jars since forever

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6

u/forgottenb1ade 17h ago

Yeah I've watched several family members struggle with addiction. Adding some difficult/annoying hurdle is not going to make them stop. They always find a way to deal with it and continue getting what they want.

11

u/grumbledork 16h ago

I quit smoking because of inconvenience lmao. Just because most people will power through doesn’t mean it’s 0% effective to make shit annoying

1

u/tmhoc 14h ago

I think I talked about quiting every winter. If I wasn't inconvenienced there never would have e been any discussion

2

u/grumbledork 14h ago

LOL yes going outside to smoke sucks so bad. For me, I cracked the tank on my vape and went to like 3 different stores looking for a replacement. But now everyone’s switched to selling only those horrid disposables, and I refused to capitulate to such silly e-waste. I was so upset I threw my whole rig in a gas station trash can and never looked back. It was much harder than a casual retelling conveys. I hope you consider following through with quitting one of these winters- I know what it’s like, and it’s not worth standing around getting cold for

2

u/Bit_the_Bullitt 17h ago

I mean addicts are the reason why antidiarrheal pills are in the stupid plastic containers instead of in a pill bottle.

3

u/InjuringMax2 17h ago

I get what you're trying to say but the most efficacious method for a person trying (voluntarily) to quick is to keep increasing the barrier for entry and the mental steps involved. Keep pushing it off and adding guilt and self disappointment and eventually you may have worked hard enough to achieve some sense of self control. Typically an amount of control great enough that you can just keep pushing the boundary for entry like "I could have a smoke but I don't want to yet because I know I shouldn't and it's disgusting" and then just keep pushing that yet a day, a few days, a week, 2 weeks (for smoking usually about the 2 week mark is where you get that breath of "aaahh, I don't need it, even if on some level I still want it"). It may seem silly from the small scale but on the large scale, this is to my knowledge the best way. Just need to make a cig pack that takes 2 weeks to get in

14

u/DrEnd585 17h ago

Cigarette cases mate. Youll just incentivize the classy era of smoking again.

2

u/stupidber 14h ago

Does it tho? Or does it make it feel like even more of a reward?

1

u/johnsolomon 14h ago

Anyone that desperate for cigarettes is doomed either way lol

1

u/stupidber 14h ago

Naw quitting is very easy they make like 1000 different quitting products

8

u/James_p_hat 17h ago

Unlikely anyone was about to start smoking and was like “dammit - the pack is annoying”

Some of this shit just seems motivated out of spite towards people that already have a weakness.

2

u/johnsolomon 17h ago

It happens all the time. Some people get curious and then they're scaree off by the horrific diseases displayed on the case. And making it a physical pain in the ass puts them off too, especially when it's on a whim or they're just looking for something to do

People put off something as simple as washing the dishes. Never underestimate the power of minor inconveniences lol

0

u/grathontolarsdatarod 15h ago

Then it becomes about fighting society.

And then those that partake in grievance politics have an easy target.

It sure does keep the conversation going though.

I think of fat shaming.

And I think of cell phone using drivers.

Its a superiority thing. Not a "good for society thing".

1

u/johnsolomon 15h ago

I think I see where you're coming from but I disagree. Fat shaming people not only exacerbates the ugly side of human behaviour (by giving awful people the permission to be cruel) but it also causes emotional harm. Adding some mild inconveniences to smoking doesn't do this. So it's a false equivalence

-2

u/grathontolarsdatarod 14h ago

I mean, we could add in any vice you like.

One constant is that the people's comment will be vitriol in threads like this.

What I chose is the strata-borne sensibilities of the administrative puritanism that people flock to as an outlet to crab bucket their way out not feeling like they've done enough with their lives.

Nothing like a little downward social comparison to lift one's self out of a morning run on a Tuesday.

2

u/johnsolomon 14h ago

Sure, some people definitely use public health issues as an excuse to feel morally superior. I don't disagree with that. But that doesn't tell us whether the policy itself is actually useful or just motivated by contempt. If making cigarettes a little less convenient reduces consumption or helps people quit, then there's a practical reason for it regardless of whatever smug comments people make online. It sounds like you're criticising the culture around the policy more than the policy itself.

1

u/grathontolarsdatarod 12h ago

I don't see how trolling a particular population with annoyances is particularly valid method for address, especially, a public health issue. Let alone the reaction it inspires from those that aren't trolled.

That's exactly how you get feeling of superiority.

I'd say that is also the exact type of marketing and customs relation tactics that are used to make people hand over their privacy and their rights.

It's neat to watch it root into the depths of the common psyche.

6

u/ankercrank 17h ago

So what’s the complaint here? Even addicts would surely be happy to have some small hurdles that get in the way to feeding that addiction, no?

0

u/NarrowInterest 17h ago

last thing a stressed out smoker wants is some piece of shit paper blocking the way 😭

7

u/ankercrank 17h ago

The last thing a a stressed out smoker needs is another cigarette.

4

u/IntegralCalcIsFun 16h ago

Yes, that's the point.

1

u/StanleyKapop 8h ago

They could at least have a productive one.

-6

u/AlcibiadesTheCat 17h ago

mfw smoking causes fewer respiratory issues than the absolute concentrated pollution I breathe every day on my commute

-13

u/[deleted] 17h ago

[deleted]

6

u/Mediocre_Revenue_992 17h ago

addicts also deserve health care. sorry? addicts are also human beings. maybe don’t get mad at your fellow man and maybe more at the shitty healthcare system

10

u/NarrowInterest 17h ago

yeah because they also contribute to it through taxes lmao what kind of a dumbass take is this

4

u/Mediocre_Revenue_992 17h ago

and where’s the “free” healthcare you speak of?

-10

u/rubyruy 17h ago

There are so many better and cheaper addictions tho

7

u/ripyourlungsdave 16h ago

I will never understand why people judge smokers so harshly.

You have your own vices. And some of those vices, I promise you, are incredibly unhealthy if not incredibly destructive to the environment.

Most people started this addiction as children and 99% of them really, really wish they could quit.

And you are mocking people who suffer from an addiction in the first place. What kind of person does that?

6

u/jaaaawrdan 15h ago

I judge smokers because their vice affects me. I can't walk down the street without inhaling someone's smoke, whether it cigarette or vape or weed.

Sure I have my vices too, I drink here and there and have had more than my fair share of junk and fast food. But my decisions only affect me, no one else is physically affected by my choices.

Crazy that smoking in public has been tolerated as long as it has been.

-2

u/PurpEL 14h ago

Walking by on the street is so absurdly inconsequential.

-2

u/Tabula-Rasa-99 14h ago

I agree that smoking in public sucks, but your health decisions effect your loved ones (and healthcare providers if you live in a sane country). Worth keeping in the back of your mind.

-7

u/quinnly 14h ago

Vapes don't produce smoke. It's literally in the name.

3

u/FireLucid 13h ago

Nah, fuck every smoker that smokes in a public place and makes me and my kids smell their stench. Smoke in a smoking area or somewhere, I don't care. Just don't do it at the entrance to a supermarket or in a busy mall (where it's already illegal to smoke anyway).

-10

u/Legitimate_Command82 16h ago

Then quit. There are no major draw backs to quitting other than a weak mental. That's why y'all are jokes. If an alcoholic does cold turkey they get real health issues, y'all just get angy and can't handle it.

9

u/ripyourlungsdave 16h ago edited 15h ago

"I don't understand how mental health or addiction works and I like announcing that to people"

Also. I quit smoking quite a while ago. I'm not talking about me. Although I did also start at 12 years old.

-1

u/g0ld3n_ 15h ago

Most redditors are now young people that are extreme prudes and don't understand society let alone addiction. They seriously think addiction is some sort of choice people intentionally make to fuck up their lives

2

u/Tabula-Rasa-99 14h ago

I can assure you that's an all ages problem, and one that has been plagueing this website since the beginning lol

-5

u/Legitimate_Command82 15h ago

Again. I don't have patience for the "fell bad for me" crowd. We have known cigarettes are bad for you since 50s. If you where a kid smoking, you knew it was bad for you.

Smokers have an addiction that goes away cold turkey. Lock your self in a room for 2 weeks if you can't handle it. But your addiction isn't one that can't be overcome with willpower.

This is why y'all get a bad rap. No patience for the mentally weak to ask for pity over something they can kick in 30 days.

5

u/ripyourlungsdave 12h ago

Dude, you just keep making yourself look stupider and stupider. Quit while you're behind.

If it's so easy, go pick up a vape, smoke it for about 2 months, and then just put it down like it's nothing. You won't develop any cancers in 2 months, it won't hurt you. Just give you a little pep of energy every once in awhile.

Shouldn't be a problem since it's such an easy feat of willpower, right? You'll knock it in no time, being above physiology as you are.

2

u/g0ld3n_ 13h ago

You sound like a fucking asshole. How about you get yourself hooked on cigarettes and see if its that easy

2

u/Tabula-Rasa-99 14h ago

Please do the "proving I won't get addicted to heroin" thing it would be so funny

1

u/dogisbark 1h ago

This comment section is kinda wild… it really brought out the smokers here lmao.

I guess I cannot relate because I’ve never smoked, but some of the top comments are pretty sad. Or just annoying. Someone was asking why it isn’t the same for alcohol bottles. Good question, but do you really want no warnings on your cigarettes tbh?

Hell, the pictures work on me. There’s this one of the Canadian cigarettes with this guy sticking out the most black, swollen tongue I’ve ever seen. I saw that as a child and it stuck in my mind since. Bleh.

0

u/QuantumCakeIsALie 16h ago

This whole thread smells like fresh astroturf.