| Forest April 2021 Newsletter
It has been reported today that 'The stress of Covid has fuelled Britain's nicotine habit with more than half of smokers “stress-smoking” more, and 10% lighting up again after quitting.'
The survey by the consumer research group Mintel has been reported by ITV News and the London Evening Standard among others. Forest and the anti-smoking group ASH are both quoted.
According to ASH, "A million smokers were galvanised to quit during the first lockdown but, as this research shows, some will have relapsed and those who didn’t stop may now be smoking more.”
Compare that with ASH's previous statements on the impact of Covid on smoking rates, among them the confident declaration that 'A million people have stopped smoking since the Covid pandemic hit Britain'.
Forest director Simon Clark has written more about the issue on his blog – 'ASH backtracks on claim that “one million smokers have quit” during Covid'
Given the Mintel report it might be worth revisiting Dan Donovan's photo project, 'Smokers At Home', which he launched during the first lockdown. Click here or on the image above.
Forest poll: menthol cigarettes and more
 IN THE next couple of weeks we'll be inviting you to complete our own survey on a number of smoking-related issues.
For example, if you smoked menthol cigarettes how did you adapt to the ban on menthol flavoured tobacco which is coming up for its first anniversary?
Did you quit smoking (as anti-smoking campaigners hoped you would) or did you switch to non-flavoured cigarettes or another menthol flavoured nicotine product?
We'll also be asking you about your Covid experience and how it affected your smoking habit. Watch this space.
The Smoking Room with Antony Worrall Thompson
THANKS to everyone who joined us for The Smoking Room webinar with celebrity chef Antony Worrall Thompson last week. Antony has been a supporter of Forest for 20 years and ahead of the reopening of his pub, The Greyhound near Henley-on-Thames, he was in great form.
We talked about smoking, vaping and veganism and he revealed that his favourite TV chefs include Rick Stein and the late Keith Floyd. He also talked about The Greyhound, and how he accommodates smokers and non-smokers in the pub garden, and divulged how he caught and cooked his first duck at the age of six. (“It was pretty gruesome but I’m still here to tell the tale.”)
Approaching his 70th birthday, he also explained the type of funeral he’d like to have. “I want to be celebrated. I don't want anyone wearing black ... I want people to have fun and realise that I had a good life. There have been ups and downs, we've all had ups and downs, but generally I enjoy my life and I want people to enjoy my death, as it were."
You can watch a video of the meeting HERE.
Why should smokers switch to vaping?
YOU may be aware that we are currently in the middle of VApril, aka 'vaping awareness month'.
Now in its fourth year VApril is organised by the UK Vaping Industry Association and to mark this year's event Forest is hosting a Talking Liberties webinar that will ask the question, 'Why should smokers switch to e-cigarettes?'
Our panel on Wednesday 28th April will feature three vaping advocates – John Dunne, CEO of the UKVIA; Daniel Pryor, head of programmes at the Adam Smith Institute; and vaping activist Judy Gibson – plus smoker Dan Donovan.
Our aim is to have an open and honest discussion about vaping that will also take into account the views of confirmed smokers who may have tried vaping and decided they don't want to switch.
Dan, for example, has tried using e-cigarettes, which he says are "more convenient in some places", but he prefers the "smell of burning tobacco".
We want to hear from all sides of the debate – enthusiastic vapers, confirmed smokers and dual users. Or perhaps you use another nicotine product or have quit nicotine completely.
To register click here.
Another date for your diary
 WE can also reveal that our next Smoking Room webinar (on Thursday 13th May) will feature Jacob Grier, author of 'The Rediscovery of Tobacco'.
Jacob has been writing about tobacco policy for more than a decade. A recent article, A Smoke-Filled Room of One’s Own: The liberal case against ever-expanding smoking bans, is well worth reading, as is 'We used terrible science to justify smoking bans'.
Jacob will join us next month to from his home in Portland, USA. We'll send you a reminder, and how to register, in due course.
From the archive
 THE late great Auberon Waugh was a good friend of Forest's and before his untimely death 20 years ago we 'sponsored' a series of soirees at The Academy Club that he established in a tiny, very Dickensian room in Soho next door to the offices of the Literary Review which he edited.
Guests included journalists and contributors to the magazine and that was where we met a wide range of writers and 'literary folk', some of whom still attend our events more than two decades later. Here he is at one of those events circa September 2000.
And finally ... more smokers at home during Covid!
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