Part 1: Bogdan on his time in captivity: Part 1
Part 2: Bogdan on his time in captivity: Part 2
I: [in Ukrainian] Can I have one more stick, please? I… don’t smoke—
H: Khm…
I: [in English] Just one.
V: [laughs].
I: I love this. I quit smoking IQOS, well, quit smoking altogether… After Balakliia, by the way! [laughs] Right after I left here [back in 2022] – that was it. [takes a stick] Thanks. And I don’t remember the last time I smoked an IQOS. This is a new model, right?
B: Yeah, yeah.
I: Is it working yet, heating up?
B: It is now.
I: Should I start when it vibrates?
B: Yeah.
I: Is it a capsule one too?
B: Yeah. [laughs]
I: Lord, what are these innovations? [laughs] I’m back from the times when we had that skinny IQOS like a pen, and the sticks were just soaked with some chemicals and nothing else – those HEETS or whatever they were called – that was it. But now I see there’s so many kinds of sticks… just wow. I wouldn’t even know what’s what, honestly, if I were to pick up smoking now.
B: As far as that goes… better click the capsule, it’ll be nicer that way. As for smoking, I picked it up in 2022.
I: For the first time ever?
B: No, well, let’s say, since my life’s been pretty eventful, I smoked a bit, then in 2012 I quit when my daughter was born. And I didn’t smoke until 2022.
I: Then you started again.
B: Yeah.
I: Well, sure, makes sense. [Summarizing in English]. [in Ukrainian to Bogdan] But it really goes to your head!
V: [in English] The siren is going off.
I: Yeah. But we’re in a shelter! [laughs]
V: Yeah, yeah, yeah. [laughs] That’s for sure.
B: [in Ukrainian] But if anything, it’s not headed for us, I already checked.
I: Not for us?
B: No, it’s all good.
I: [in English] He already checked, it’s not coming here. Maybe you have some questions about your project?
V: Yeah. Also, I’ve just never seen this… [points to IQOS] Does it capture the smoke?
I: Yeah, it—
H: It heats the cigarette up—
V: Yeah, right.
X: And then burns it.
I: It doesn’t burn it—
V: But they’re like short—
I: They’re really short. The tobacco is only in here [points to the top of the stick]. So it heats up the tobacco. The filter itself is a lot longer than in cigarettes, so it’s a lot safer to use for your lungs. And because the tobacco doesn’t burn all those oils that it has, they don’t penetrate your lungs. They just stay in this filter.
V: Okay.
I: And the filter itself is different, it’s like plastic, so it also stops the oils and doesn’t soak them up.
V: [in Ukrainian to Bogdan] I’ve never seen these… [laughs]
B: [laughs] Best not to start, if you ask me.
I: [in English to Interviewer] You probably shouldn’t start. [laughs]
V: [laughs] No-no! I smoked a little bit when I was a teenager.
H: Didn’t we all? [laughs]
V: Yeah, yeah. You have to.
I: [in Ukrainian to Bogdan] She says she smoked a bit as a teenager, but that was the end of it.
B: That’s good. ‘Cause I remember smoking cigarettes. But now with IQOS – it’s really hard to quit.
I: [in English to Interviewer] It’s very hard to quit smoking IQOS. Because it’s not that bad. It’s very light, you don’t feel the taste of tobacco much. And it’s not as heavy on the lungs at all. [in Ukrainian to Respondent] But with the capsule – I heard there aren’t any cigarettes with capsules anymore, nothing, ‘cause they banned it in Ukraine. Where’d you find them?
B: Why, they’re in the shops, free for anyone.
I: How?
B: Just like that.
I: In Lviv there’s nothing with a capsule at all. Only menthol maybe.
B: IQOS sticks? There’s no ban on them.
I: No ban on IQOS? Ah, interesting. [in English to Interviewer] There’s a capsule inside.
V: Yeah, it’s the menthol clicky… we have them [in England].
I: But it is prohibited to manufacture cigarettes with capsules in Ukraine. So you won’t find capsule cigarettes in Ukraine at all, they’re banned. They were recently banned, probably in 2024. [in Ukrainian to Respondent] Did they ban them in 2024? Or 2025?
B: In 2024.
I: [in English] In 2024. But IQOS sticks are still sold with capsules. Which defeats the purpose of the ban, if you ask me.
V: In the UK we used to have menthol cigarettes, but they got banned. So everyone went to them [capsule cigarettes] for a bit, but then they got banned. And now it’s like this very heavily menthol scented card that you put in the box with the cigarettes. I don’t think it works, but it’s what people do.
I: Wow, very interesting. [Interpreting to Ukrainian].
V: [in Ukrainian] That’s very bad. [laughs]
B: We know how it is over there in Britain. We got plenty of folks we know from Balakliia who are in Britain right now, too.
I: [Interpreting to English].
B: In the “Civilian Prisoners of War” organization, even if you’re somewhere abroad, the boys can join the organization, become members. And, as it happens, there’s two in London.
I: So, there are members of your organization there?
B: Yeah.
I: [Interpreting to English].
V: Cool.
I: Wow, gosh, such nostalgia. [In English] It’s so nostalgic. I used to smoke this when I was in Balakliya. Somebody gave me an IQOS, but then I left it in Poland and I never bought another one. So I quit smoking for… till today. [laughs]
V: [laughs] We’ll go to ATB next and buy—
I: [laughs] This thing costs a couple thousand hryvnias, for sure. And the IQOS sticks themselves are more expensive than cigarettes. So if you want to smoke – just get a pack of cigarettes and call it a day.
H: It’s what the “cool” people smoke.
V: I’ve never seen it. I guess vapes are more fashionable now. [laughs]
H: Yeah, and that too—
I: [in Ukrainian to Respondent] Thank you. How do you get it out? Will you get it for me? Thanks… [long pause] Just like that? You don’t have to open anything, do this [shakes hand] anymore? [in English to Interviewer] So, the older version of IQOS (because I smoked the second or third version when they just came out) was like a stick, in a form of a pen. And when you finished smoking a stick, some tobacco would stay inside, and you had to open it up and shake it out. And then, every two or three days, you had to carry a little brush with you to open it and manually clean the inside. So it was a whole process. [laughs] Otherwise, it would start burning and would hurt your lungs a lot. This one is already a new model. [in Ukrainian] Which version is this now?
B: Don’t know.
I: [in English] It’s a very-very new version of IQOS.
B: Let’s just say, it’s one of the newest ones.
I: [Interpreting to English]. [in Ukrainian] Cool.
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