Nowadays there seems to be a growing perception that vaping is expensive. It is easy to understand why, with the sleek e-cigarette designs, wide range of flavoured e-liquids and nicotine salts on the market, as well as high-end mods making this seem like a luxury habit.

However, when you break it down, how much does vaping cost compared to a regular cigarette habit?

First, let’s look at the cost of smoking cigarettes.

Within the US, the cost of cigarettes is subject to state taxes, so the cost can vary greatly from state to state. The cheapest you will be able to pick up a pack of cigarettes is around $5.50, with this ballooning up to a whopping $14 in some states such as New York.

Now, imagine you smoke a pack a day. At the cheapest rate of $5.50 a day this would translate to $38.50 or just over $2000 a year. In the most expensive states you’ll be smoking through around $100 a week and an incredible $5000 a year, enough to cover a rather nice overseas holiday. Some reports say these figures are actually much higher, for example smokers in Connecticut are said to spend nearly $56,000 a year on costs related to smoking!

Now let’s compare that to the cost of vaping.

On average, vapours spend around $15 to $18 dollars on a 30mL bottle of e-liquid. You may even be able to get quality e-liquids for less than this – you can find Cali Steam X e-liquids, for example, on sale from $13.95. To get the equivalent hit to smoking a pack of cigarettes a day, you would consume around 2.5 of these 30mL bottles per month.

So 2.5 bottles a month at $15 to $18 each works out to $37.50 to $45 a month, or $450 to $540 per year.

Of course you will also need to purchase an e-cigarette and a few accessories. There is a wide range available when it comes to vaping kit, and these vary greatly in terms of cost, but you will be able to buy a good quality e-cigarette, tanks, coils and batteries for around $60.

Now if we spread this cost over two years, your total costs associated with vaping will come to around $480 to $570 per year. This is a lot cheaper than the $2,000 to $5,000 you would spend on tobacco cigarettes!

To make an international comparison, UK vaping companies 30mL of e-liquid for around £10 ($13), which works to a projected annual cost of around £300 ($392), compared to an annual cost of smoking of  £3796 (just under $5,000).

Of course, all of this is in addition to the health benefits of vaping compared to smoking, which means that vaping is not only better for your wallet, it could also literally save your life.