Smoking is an age-old issue that has followed countless generations, but the Tobacco and Vapes Act will mean that anyone born on or after January 1, 2009, can never legally be sold tobacco.

This Act will not change anything for the adults who smoke today. In Wiltshire, 500 people die every year from smoking and 15,000 suffer from serious smoking-related diseases.

To coincide with the act, Wiltshire Council has launched a regional campaign to ask those who still smoke in Wiltshire, “What will you miss?”, to encourage those who still smoke to seek access support from the council to quit.

Director of Public Health at Wiltshire Council said: “Smoking is still the leading cause of preventable illness and early death in Wiltshire and has a and continues to have a disproportionate impact on some of our communities.

“The good news is that people are up to three times more likely to quit successfully with the right support, and that support is free, local and available right now through Wiltshire Health Improvement Hub.”

In light of the new campaign and Tobacco and Vapes Act, Journal headed into Salisbury city centre to see what the people think.

Robert Nicholls, 70, from Salisbury said: “I have never smoked. I think it is a filthy habit, kids shouldn’t smoke, and they need to be made aware of the dangers of smoking”

Robert Nicholls (Image: Orla McAndrew)

When asked about the new campaign, Jo Broom, 61 from Amesbury, said: “I think it is an excellent idea; the risks and problems associated with smoking are very well documented and well proven. Not only for the people who smoke but for the people around them who are passive smokers.

Broom added: “I think it is long overdue”

Jo Broom (Image: Orla McAndrew)

However, some people are dubious about how successful the Tobacco and Vapes Act will be, as David Mossman, 24 from Salisbury, said: “I do feel like we have gone from a smoking generation to a non-smoking one, but the caveat is, will it work.

“It is probably going to be people buying European ones and bringing them back to sell. It is a noble effort that will reduce smoking a lot, but it is not going to make a completely smoke-free group of young people”

David Mossman (Image: Orla McAndrew)

For some people, smoking is not the main concern anymore; with the rise of vaping, they believe stopping that habit should be focused on more.

Twin sisters Gemma Almeida and Katie Gray, 43, said: “Vapes are the new thing. It doesn’t help that there are different flavours; they are designed for younger people.

Young people look at smoking and think it’s disgusting, but when we were young, smoking was the cool thing to do because everyone did it”.

Katie said: “The vapes are the bigger problem. My step-daughter never smoked but went straight on the vape and only stopped when she got pregnant.

Gemma Almeida (left) – Katie Gray (right) (Image: Orla McAndrew)

“There needs to be more campaigns about stopping vaping because we don’t know what’s in them, and people think it is better for them, but you don’t know what damage it is doing to your lungs. They have done campaigns with smoking, which is why people think it’s disgusting, so they need to do the same for vaping”

Almeida added: “At my daughter’s school a 12-year-old girl brought a vape into school and started using it; I don’t think you would have got that with a cigarette in school”.

For some young people, though, smoking has become cool again, as Mossman said: “These days every kid and their nan has a vape, but I do see more kids than people my age with vapes.

My generation thinks smoking is cool and vaping isn’t because we associate it with younger people”

Married couple George, 73, and Bernadette Watt, 74, from Salisbury still think that smoking is a big issue.

George said: “The greater the number of people who stop smoking, the better we will be. Medically, it costs us a lot of money; we still have bins that people put their cigarettes out on, and then it blows everywhere”

George and Bernadette Watt (Image: Orla McAndrew)

George, a former smoker, gave up the habit when he ran out of cigarettes one day and kept on telling himself he would buy more the next day until he had broken the habit, saying quitting was “the best thing” he had ever done.

Although Bernadette did sympathise with those struggling to quit: “When a bad habit forms, it is not easy to break it, but it’s a marvel that people still do it, given how expensive it is.

This is just a snapshot of what the people in Salisbury think, but contact newsdesk@salisburyjournal.co.uk to let us know what you think.