I flew to Milan to buy 800 cigarettes to prove it’s still cheaper than buying them in the UK

A fresher decided that rather than pay a tenner for a pack of cigarettes, he would fly to Milan and spend six hours there securing them at a cheaper price.

The student decided to challenge himself in proving the UK tax on cigarettes means it’s cheaper to fly abroad and buy fags in bulk, rather than buy 800 cigarettes on home soil.

And in case there was any doubt as to whether this endeavour was worth it, he produced a spreadsheet demonstrating his total savings of £204.

Genius

Armed with his spreadsheet keeping track of his costs to ensure he would always be in profit and a Greek textbook for some light holiday reading between flights, the fresher set off to Milan to prove all his mates that the “bizarre” trip as some had described it was worth it after all.

His journey of a lifetime started at 4am, where he headed for Stansted Airport for his 8am flight. The fresher told The Tab Edinburgh: “At 4am on Saturday morning I got up to get the night tube to Liverpool Street for 5:30. From there I caught the train to Stansted Airport, and subsequently the 0805 Ryanair flight to Bergamo airport.”

His flight from Stansted

Before he left for Italy, he had done his research into which shops in Milan would accept card payment, in case he came into trouble with customs.

“I found four separate newsagents which accepted card payments that I intended to buy the cigarettes from”, he said. “This meant that should customs have any concerns with regards to the legitimacy of the cigarettes, all the transactions would be recorded and easily traceable.”

After purchasing his packs of cigarettes with ease, the fresher had six hours to kill in Milan. In between reading his Greek textbook, he went on a cable car and then got “spangled”. He commented: “In the six hours I was there, the cigs were my main priority. But then I also went on a sick cable car, and I got spangled at the Citta Alta at 2pm. I think I definitely got my money’s worth out of the flight.”

The cable car he went in to take up some of the six hours spare

To any outsider, what the student did seems completely bizarre due to the time and effort put into buying 800 cigarettes, but to him this wasn’t the case. Instead he claims flying to Milan to buy cheaper cigs is no different from going to Tesco rather than Sainsbury’s to find the cheaper product. The student said: “People kept saying it was bizarre, but in actual fact it isn’t remotely bizarre. You would purchase an item you frequently used at a different supermarket if it was cheaper there – the same applies with cigarettes.

“If you buy a pack of 20 cigarettes in the UK over £8, 80 per cent of the price can constitute tax, and over £7 90 per cent can be tax, so I choose to purchase elsewhere.”

800 cigarettes, safely bought home

He added: “I suppose the whole thing was just an exercise to highlight the gross taxation of cigarettes in the UK. As a logistical planning enthusiast, it made perfect sense to me to exploit low air fares and secure my cigarettes at a cheaper price.

“Seeing Milan was a bonus, but not really a necessity, as I was there for the fags.”

When asked what his highlights of the trip were, the fresher told The Tab Edinburgh: “Seeing Italy’s atrocious lack of health and safety, and drinking a shit tonne of Birra Moretti.”

With his precious cargo intact, he was able to make the 1900 flight back to Stansted and was back at his halls in time for pres that evening.