Illegal tobacco

Overview

The sale of illegal tobacco is a criminal offence.

Illegal tobacco products are cigarettes or hand rolling tobacco (HRT) that have been either:

  • Smuggled: foreign brands illegally brought into the UK
  • Bootlegged (duty frees): foreign products brought into the UK in illegal quantities and / or resold in the UK
  • Counterfeit: fake packaging (cheap / low quality foreign cigarettes / HRT packed to look like premium UK brands)

How to spot illegal tobacco 

  • Low price: if you are paying less than £6 for 20 cigarettes or under £20 for 50gm HRT chances are it's illegal tobacco
  • If you purchase tobacco from non traditional suppliers, for example:
    • friends
    • colleagues at work or in pubs / clubs
    • car boot sales
    • tab houses
    • etc
  • Foreign language on packs
  • No warnings on packs or the warnings are in a foreign language
  • Unfamiliar brands
  • Printing errors or poor spelling on packs
  • Complaints about taste

If you are aware of the sale of illegal tobacco in your area, please report it.

Regulations for legitimate tobacco products

There are rules and regulations in place for selling of legitimate tobacco products. This is to help cut down smoking prevalence rates and prevent young people taking up smoking.

For infomation on regulations for legitimate tobacco products, see cigarette sales.

Why illegal tobacco is an issue

Illegal tobacco has serious consequences for health, crime and the local community.

It is important to raise awareness of the real dangers of illegal tobacco:

  • causes four times as many deaths as illegal drugs because it discourages smokers from quitting and encourages them to smoke more
  • is linked to low-level and large-scale organised crime, nationally and internationally illegal tobacco goes hand-in-hand with drugs and alcohol, child exploitation, money laundering and even terrorism
  • costs the taxpayer around £2 billion per year

The effects of illegal tobacco on local communities and children

Illegal tobacco brings criminals into local communities and into contact with children.

As well as being unregulated, illegal tobacco can often be bought at 'pocket money prices'.

This not only attracts young smokers but allows those who may not otherwise afford to smoke, to maintain their habit and prevent their attempts to quit.

Tab houses

The term 'tab houses' refers to properties where cut price smuggled, or even counterfeit, cigarettes and pouches or hand rolled tobacco are sold from.

Often tab houses sell illegal cigarettes to children, undermining efforts by legitimate shops to sell only to people over 18, and exposing them to all the health risks associated with smoking.

Tab houses also cause a detrimental effect on the quality of life in neighbourhoods and create a knock on effect of criminal activity.

Since illegal tobacco remains part of the range of smuggled and contraband goods traded by criminal gangs it is vital that steady, persistent pressure continues to be applied.

If you are aware of the sale of illegal tobacco in your area, please report it.

Report illegal tobacco

To report illegal tobacco: