Gràzie for Smoking

Italians smoke a ton of cigarettes.

Photo by Andres Siimon on Unsplash

Studying in Rome this semester, I have been struck by quite a few stark differences in consumer habits between Italy and the United States. Italian coffee is almost exclusively espresso and not flooded with sugar, cream, and ice. The larger, heavier meal of the day is in the afternoon, while dinner is typically a bit lighter. Tips are not customary. Fruits and vegetables are fresh and immensely more flavorful, but they do not preserve beyond a few days. 

Oh, and almost everyone smokes cigarettes. In both private and public spaces, from cafes to bus stops, it seems as though everyone in Rome is smoking a cigarette. Just finished eating? Smoke a cigarette. Your motorcycle is stopped at a red light? Time for a cigarette. Are bored of breathing clean air between your sips of red wine? Spark up another cigarette. Currently smoking a cigarette? Might as well save time by lighting the next one. Just turned 13? Time to get your matchbox.

Europe is certainly known to have a reputation for its high cigarette consumption, but I had anticipated that a growing number of younger Europeans would be turning to nicotine vaping as an alternative to smoking traditional cigarettes, following a similar trend as of the United States.

Although it is not uncommon to observe teenagers smoking cigarettes in the United States, the frequency of teenage smoking in Rome seems to be absurdly higher. Indeed, the frequency with which Italian adolescents take to smoking makes their American counterparts look like a bunch of nuns.

The data confirms the stark disparity. The data from 2015 reveals that a staggering 23 percent of Italian adolescents aged 13-15 had indulged in tobacco use, which further escalated to a distressing 37 percent for the 15-16-year-old age group. In sharp contrast, the smoking rate among American high school students was a mere 8.1 percent in 2018. 

This is not to indicate that American students are saints. Rather, they have found a substitute. According to a CDC study, 14.1 percent of American high school students and 3.3 percent of middle school students used vapes in 2022. 

Students growing up in Italy are less enticed by vapes, largely because of a European Union limit on nicotine at 20mg/mL, or 2 percent. 

A study by the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience at King’s College London found that vaping is substantially less harmful than smoking and leads to a substantial reduction in exposure to toxicants that promote cancer, lung disease, and cardiovascular disease. However, the report also acknowledged that there are still health risks associated with vaping, especially for people who have never smoked.

Many suggest that, despite the evident harms of vaping, regulations on vaping products—such as the EU's nicotine limit—could have unintended consequences and actually push consumers towards smoking cigarettes.

While that could potentially be a factor in the disparate data on student smoking rates of cigarettes and vapes between the US and Italy, there are numerous other factors at play as well, such as an entrenched cultural normalization of cigarettes in Italy.

But perhaps the EU nicotine limit is having an adverse effect than intended.