Good and bad smoking news

SALES of products designed to help smokers kick the habit have soared in the past 12 months but cigarette sales have also gone up, according to new research.

A report in the Grocer magazine said sales of quitting aids such as Niquitin and Nicotinell increased by 10 per cent to hit 97 million a year.

However, neither surging sales of the products nor the outdoor smoking ban had shown any signs of slowing the "long-running slow and steady sales growth" of the tobacco category.

Official HMRC figures showed tobacco sales rose to 11.3 billion in 2009, up by 3.3 per cent