# Legal Age For Cigarette Purchase **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 2, 2007, 8:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-age-for-cigarette-purchase/421238 "2007-10-02T08:44:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2007, 8:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-age-for-cigarette-purchase/421238/1 "2007-10-02T08:44:06Z")
This has just been increased from age 16 to age 18 in the UK. All well and good if it keeps kids from becoming hooked on the evil weed. But what about the kids that have been smoking since they were mere sprogs ? How are they to feed their habit? Won’t somebody please think of the children 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2007, 8:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-age-for-cigarette-purchase/421238/2 "2007-10-02T08:52:59Z")
I would imagine they’ll just carry on using whatever arrangement worked for them previously - stealing, buying them via an adult proxy, accepting them in exchange for sex, etc. ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2007, 9:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-age-for-cigarette-purchase/421238/3 "2007-10-02T09:04:30Z")
They accept ciggies for sex near you? You got a price list at all 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2007, 9:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-age-for-cigarette-purchase/421238/4 "2007-10-02T09:08:59Z")
Just what I’ve heard, honest. ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2007, 9:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-age-for-cigarette-purchase/421238/5 "2007-10-02T09:11:13Z")
Cut the crap, just email me the price list ---
**Author:** ![Mindfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mindfield/32/19759_2.png) [@Mindfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mindfield)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2007, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-age-for-cigarette-purchase/421238/6 "2007-10-02T11:00:43Z")
Yeah, they’ll probably just try and get adults to buy them. Same thing happened here in Canada when they introduced a legal age (18) for buying smokes in the summer of 1988. (I remember this because I was 17 and had started smoking that year and my birthday was a couple of months away. I, however, never got carded because the people where I bought my smokes knew me and didn’t care.) They raised the age to 19 a number of years back. It still doesn’t seem to have a great deal of effect. ---
**Author:** ![cbawlmer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@cbawlmer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cbawlmer)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2007, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-age-for-cigarette-purchase/421238/7 "2007-10-02T15:10:56Z")
What’s the legal drinking age in the UK? 18? I was there when I was 19 and I remember we were all excited because we could drink legally (the age is 21 over here). ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2007, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-age-for-cigarette-purchase/421238/8 "2007-10-02T15:15:12Z")
Really, you just steal them from your dad or bum off your 18-year-old friends. I’d hope that a 16 year old doesn’t have a pack-a-day habit, but you never know. When I was 17 I was able to buy smokes (law is 18 here) because I looked older for my age, and they hadn’t started pushing the “if you look under 35 we’re going to card you” rules yet. But I doubt I bought more than one pack a week. I supplemented that one pack with one here, one there from dad’s stash, and my older brother. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2007, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-age-for-cigarette-purchase/421238/9 "2007-10-02T15:16:17Z")
[QUOTE=cbawlmer] What’s the legal drinking age in the UK? 18? I was there when I was 19 and I remember we were all excited because we could drink legally (the age is 21 over here). [/QUOTE] 18 to buy your own drinks at the bar 16 to drink alcohol (not spirits though) with a meal at table in a restaurant or pub 5 to drink alcohol at home with parental consent Younger than that and you have to get the doctor to sign something. ---
**Author:** ![cbawlmer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@cbawlmer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cbawlmer)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2007, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-age-for-cigarette-purchase/421238/10 "2007-10-02T16:33:19Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout] 18 to buy your own drinks at the bar 16 to drink alcohol (not spirits though) with a meal at table in a restaurant or pub [/QUOTE] They really make that distinction? That’s interesting. I think it shows a more sensible attitude toward alcohol myself. ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2007, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-age-for-cigarette-purchase/421238/11 "2007-10-02T16:49:43Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout] 18 to buy your own drinks at the bar 16 to drink alcohol (not spirits though) with a meal at table in a restaurant or pub 5 to drink alcohol at home with parental consent Younger than that and you have to get the doctor to sign something. [/QUOTE] Do you remember Gripe Water? It’s given to babies to pacify them and get rid of wind. It turns out that it used to contain nearly 5% alcohol. That’s why the little darlings used to fall asleep. I even heard of a woman who got hooked on the stuff and was drinking several bottles a day. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2007, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-age-for-cigarette-purchase/421238/12 "2007-10-02T22:10:51Z")
[QUOTE=cbawlmer] They really make that distinction? That’s interesting. I think it shows a more sensible attitude toward alcohol myself. [/QUOTE] Yes - it has to be bought by someone over 18 though, possibly a parent/guardian - I forget if that is a criterion. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2007, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-age-for-cigarette-purchase/421238/13 "2007-10-02T22:11:52Z")
[QUOTE=Rayne Man] Do you remember Gripe Water? It’s given to babies to pacify them and get rid of wind. It turns out that it used to contain nearly 5% alcohol. That’s why the little darlings used to fall asleep. I even heard of a woman who got hooked on the stuff and was drinking several bottles a day. [/QUOTE] You can still get gripe water, I think, but it doesn’t have any alcohol in it now - it’s just sweetened tincture of fennel or some such. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2007, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-age-for-cigarette-purchase/421238/14 "2007-10-02T22:41:52Z")
[QUOTE=chowder] This has just been increased from age 16 to age 18 in the UK… [/QUOTE] In the States it’s been 18 (19 in New Jersey, Alabama, & a few others) for years. In practice it doesn’t do a damn thing to stop kids from smoking.