Europe's Lowest Smoking Rate?
 

Sweden, according to story in NYT yesterday. So if trying to avoid the ubiquitous haze in a Europe with generally much higher smoking rates than the U.S. head north!

Interesting. They also have the highest ice cream eating rate in Europe.

goes hand in hand

the rest of the story - the use of smokeless tobacco is very high (dip)

However, I wouldn't be surprised if they had the highest level of chewing tobacco consumption.

All the Swedes I know (5) chew it.
Incidentally "kohlrot" is Swedish for Swede (of the eating variety)

<<< So if trying to avoid the ubiquitous haze in a Europe with generally much higher smoking rates than the U.S. head north! >>>

Or go indoors where a number of European countries have a total ban on smoking in public buildings

yes alan - that's the irony - U.S. has dropped the ball on indoor smoking and you've made me realize it's harder to escape the haze in U.S. than in Europe.

yes indeedy

The low smoking rate is indeed attributed to smokeless tobacco products such as 'dip,' always used by great numbers of Scandinavians (even when more smoked)

but the current 'dip' in smoking rates in Sweden is being attributed to the new snus type of dip, where the tobacca come in small teabag-like pouches. And the key attraction, especially for young Swedes in this? Is doesn't make you spit for some reason.

Thus snus are marketed to young folk who realize tobacc-ah smoking is very harmful but still want their nicotime fix and won't have to spit, like in nightclubs they say.

But the flap is coming over the introduction of snus to other parts of the EU and the U.S.A.

As long ago as 1992 Sweden's entry into the EU was almost derailed when the EU conditioned that snus would be illegal in the EU because it was aimed at young people.

And the key selling point for snus, besides spitlessness is that it claims to be less dangerous than U.S. smokeless tobacco, which is 'fermented' rather than 'pasteurized' and thus more likely to cause oral cancer.

But there is a big push now to hawk snus in the U.S.

Snus has been popular in Sweden for some 200 years at least and enjoyed a come back in the past 20 years with younger folk.

And in 20 years Sweden smoking rate dropped from 43% to 14% while in the same period men's use of snus rose from 9% to 22% - an estimated 5% of Swedish men have quit smoking totally in favor of snus so it's also being billed as a smoking cessation product.

But tobacco companies that are hyping snus because of the above are being opposed by others who cast doubt on their claims

pointing out that Swedish women also declined greatly in smoking rate during the same 20 years and few of them use snus (5%)

others point to Sweden's strict smoking laws banning smoking in virtually all public and work places and high cigarette tax as other reasons for the decline.

Anyway - if going to Sweden and you are a dipper - the dip there to me was way different and stronger than that used here - and had a far different stronger taste - one Swede told me that the Copenhagen sold in the States was just perfumed tobacco and not worth dipping.