Have you ever sat down and worked out just how much you spend on cigarettes, and what you could do with that money if you didn't smoke?

Try our cost calculator, and you might be surprised just how it adds up.

Make a list of the things you could do with that money - if you saved for a week, or a month, or a year.

Smoking is a very expensive habit, and it's never going to get any cheaper. Legislation makes sure that cigarettes keep increasing in price, so that they don't become more affordable.

You might think that cigarettes are taxed far too much. There are a number of reasons why governments tax cigarettes:

• it recoups money from smokers who make big demands on health services
• keeping the price high means that people smoke less cigarettes per day
• a higher price discourages some young people from taking up smoking, and means that others never smoke enough to get addicted
• every price rise makes more people think about quitting