Helsinki bar reports sharp rise in cigarette sales

Cigarette pack sales at Bar Loose, a Helsinki bar, have risen by nearly a quarter this year compared with the same period last year, Yle reports. The increase follows a decline of almost 45 per cent between 2023 and 2025.

Restaurant manager Joni Bitter said the change was visible in customers’ buying habits. Cigarettes are often bought as impulse purchases at the bar, with customers ranging from young people to older adults.

Bar Loose’s smoking area is full at weekends, and customers smoke there at levels Bitter compares with those of the previous decade. He believes nostalgia and a spirit of rebellion are behind the renewed interest.

“Smoking has always been, in a way, counterculture. It has always involved a bit of rebellion and, above all, nostalgia,” Bitter said. “A real cigarette is also somehow more tangible than vapes or nicotine pouches.”

Bitter and the bar’s programme manager, Tomi “Hyena” Honkasalo, said young people’s smoking role models and bleak views of the future could also encourage smoking.

“If you look around, the world is dying at the moment. Maybe people want to die before the world does,” Honkasalo said.

Smoking continues to decline nationally

Despite the increase at Bar Loose, smoking in Finland is still declining, according to the latest statistics from the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, known as THL. The most recent figures are from 2025.

“Smoking has generally continued to decline. So far, population and school surveys have not shown an increase, although the current level is still too high,” said Otto Ruokolainen, a senior specialist at THL.

Ruokolainen warned that social media marketing could change the situation quickly. Influencer-style marketing on social media platforms is difficult to address, he said, and smoking is also appearing more frequently in television series, films and popular culture.

Smoking remains a significant public health problem in Finland. About 4,000 to 6,000 people die from smoking-related causes each year, Ruokolainen said, adding that all of these deaths could have been prevented.

According to Ruokolainen, raising tobacco prices is one of the most effective ways to reduce consumption. He also proposed increasing the legal age for buying tobacco from 18 to 20 to prevent young people from starting to smoke.

He said newer nicotine products, including nicotine pouches and e-cigarettes, are also a concern because their use has increased among young people and adults in recent years. Removing flavours such as mint and menthol from nicotine pouches could help, he said, because they can make the products seem less harmful and make it easier to start using them.