Smokers in Gwynedd are estimated to spend more than £38 million a year on cigarettes following the latest rise in tobacco prices.

New analysis by vaping retailer Ecigone estimates the annual bill at £38.4 million, equivalent to around £387 for every adult living in the county. That is around 25 per cent higher than the estimated UK-wide figure of £309 per adult, with approximately 11,000 smokers thought to live in Gwynedd.

Across North Wales, smokers are estimated to spend £201.4 million each year, or £357 for every adult. Gwynedd had the highest spending figure relative to its adult population in the region.

Ecigone based its calculations on smoking rates published by the Office for National Statistics on 6 October.

The company distributed the UK's estimated 4.9 million smokers between council areas before calculating spending using an average consumption of 10 cigarettes a day and an estimated pack price of £19.18 following October's tobacco duty increase. That gives an estimated annual cost of around £3,500 for someone smoking 10 cigarettes each day.

Across the UK, cigarette spending was estimated at £17.2 billion annually.

Wales had the second-highest estimated spending of the four UK nations at £337 per adult, behind Scotland at £351. Northern Ireland stood at £328 and England at £303.

Shane Margereson, owner of Ecigone, said rising tobacco prices continued to leave a significant financial gap between smoking and vaping.

He said “The tobacco duty on twenty cigarettes a day is many times larger.”

The calculations are estimates rather than actual household spending. People who smoke fewer cigarettes, buy cheaper tobacco or roll their own may spend considerably less, while heavier smokers could spend more.

The local smoking figures also use five year ONS averages, adjusted by Ecigone to reflect the UK's overall 2025 smoking population.