Illicit tobacco

“Illicit white” cigarettes have no legal market in the UK. These are cigarettes which are legally massed manufactured in factories outside of the UK and imported illegally to the UK to be sold. Duty has not been paid and the appropriate health warnings and images might not be present.

These will not conform to UK safety standards. For example. they could have reduced ignition propensity. This means that they will not self-extinguish if not ‘puffed’ on by the smoker, which causes a risk of fire.

Counterfeit cigarettes are illegally manufactured and sold by a party other than the original trademark or copyright holder. These are completely unregulated and may contain hazardous materials as a cheap filler instead of tobacco.

Genuine Non Duty Paid cigarettes are smuggled into the UK without duty paid. As well as cigarettes made for the UK, this may include cigarettes intended for sale in another country that have been smuggled into the UK or duty-free cigarettes being illegally sold, rather than kept for personal use. The health warnings will be in the language of the country where they were intended for sale.

Non-UK hand-rolling tobacco brands are not intended for sale in the UK.

Counterfeit hand-rolling tobacco is, like cigarettes, illegally manufactured and sold by a party other than the original trademark or copyright owner. It can also include the counterfeiting of non-UK products.

This can also include genuine Non Duty Paid hand-rolling tobacco brands which are sold in the UK but are products intended for non-UK markets.