Are electronic cigarettes cheaper than tobacco cigarettes?

Posted on October 1st, 2009 by Jack Stone

Electronic cigarettes are incredible little devices that pose a huge potential to get people off of tobacco cigarettes. One of the biggest questions I hear from people considering electronic cigarettes is whether or not they’re cheaper or more expensive than tobacco cigarettes. The short answer is that they’re significantly cheaper; the long answer, however, is that it depends on what brand you buy.

There are a number of brands of electronic cigarettes for sale that are, in my opinion, simply way overpriced. These brands are taking advantage of the fact that the product is so new and people know so little about them that they can get away with charging a lot more based on customers lack of knowledge. I’ve seen electronic cigarette starter kits for sale ranging anywhere from $30 always up to $200, and I can tell you from personal experience, that the best electronic cigarette brands cost around $40-$70. Anymore than that and you’re probably just hang and unnecessary premium.

Because electronic cigarettes work differently than tobacco cigarettes, it’s not so easy to figure out the cost difference. With a pack of tobacco cigarettes you might spend six dollars for a pack that will last you 20 cigarettes. When you buy electronic cigarettes, however, you usually have to buy a starter kit first, which is the biggest investment you’ll put into the devices and like I said above, should cost you anywhere from $40-$70.

My own personal favorite brand, Blu Cigs, costs $60 for a starter kit. That starter kit comes with 25 cartridges, which is a sample pack, including 5 non-nicotine cartridges. So, ignoring the five non-nicotine cartridges, you get 20 cartridges with the starter kit. Each of those cartridges last about the equivalent of six cigarettes, so you’re getting the equivalent of 120 cigarettes for $60. By comparison, you could get 200 tobacco cigarettes at six dollars per pack for about the same price. So, if all you ever bought was the starter kit, you get about 80 cigarettes more for the same price by sticking with tobacco cigarettes.

However, you only have to buy the starter kit once, and the savings really come in the first time you buy replacement cartridges without a new starter kit. You can buy 25 replacement cartridges and Blu Cigs for $25, which is the equivalent of 150 cigarettes. By comparison, you have to buy 7 1/2 pack of cigarettes at six dollars per pack, for a total of $45 for 150 tobacco cigarettes. So, your very first refill, you save $20 by going with the electronic cigarettes from Blu Cigs.

Your savings only go up from there; if you only ever buy 25 cartridges at a time at a cost of $25 total, you’ll be saving about $20 every time you buy a new electronic cigarette cartridges instead of buying tobacco cigarettes.

The savings increase even more if you buy your cartridges in bulk. Blu Cigs offers 100 cartridges for about $80, which is about 20% less than if you buy 25 cartridges, so you’ll save even more in this case.

Based on these numbers, you should be able to figure out how much you’ll save based on the amount you currently smoke, but I can tell you as a pack a day smoker I save a bare minimum of $600 every year by smoking electronic cigarettes. Not to mention the fact that I’m not inhaling tobacco smoke and all the dangerous chemicals found in.

I’ve found that my lungs feel a million times better smoking electronic cigarettes than they did with tobacco cigarettes. I no longer have my smokers cough, which was quite disgusting in the morning when I would cough up phlegm… that’s completely gone now. I’ve even started running and exercising more because the electronic cigarettes don’t seem to affect my lungs nearly as badly as tobacco cigarettes did.

So, this is one of the reasons I’m such a proponent of electronic cigarettes; because not only do I save $600 or more every year over tobacco cigarettes, but my lungs are healthier and I feel better as well.

Check out our review of Blu Cigs to find out if they’re right for you.

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