Can you easily purchase flavored cigarettes in your country? If not, we understand how you’re feeling. It is frustrating not to have these beloved products at your disposal. Don’t worry, there’s still a way to possibly get your flavored cigarette fix depending on where you are in the world.
Of course, to make your purchase a reality, we have to get to know the different policies and regulations countries have released for them. We have to specifically understand each policy and regulation so as to know what we will have to deal with.
We will not break the law but just work our way around it. We find gaps in these policies and find unique products that were spared from their scope. Lucky you, we already did the nitty-gritty, and all you have to do is read this article as a guide.
How did this flavored cigarette ban start in the first place? Well, the guys from the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) were set to reduce tobacco product appeal. From their research, they found out that the flavors are what is attracting the younger age groups to try and keep on smoking.
What they did was implement different national and subnational commands to reduce the availability of said products. In turn, a lot of countries have passed sales restrictions and product standards to follow suit. This is a picture showing the timeline for enactment of flavor policies by country and the EU.
The table below shows individual countries and their banned products. Basically, it is a summary of the products that you can’t buy from retail and online stores if you are in that country.
Read closely and you’ll be surprised that some are very specific even when it comes to the packaging. The table is a nice reference to look back to every time you need a refresher or are trying to be cautious during your stay abroad.
| USA and Nigeria | All flavored cigarettes and flavored cigars products except for tobacco |
| Canada | All flavored cigarettes, flavored cigars (less than 6 g), little flavored cigars (less than 1.4 g), flavored blunt wraps, and all tobacco and e-cigarette packaging with flavour descriptors and imagery |
| Turkey | All flavored and scented tobacco products, tobacco products that contain distinguishing marks that refer to flavor, scent, and taste additives, flavored cigarette capsules |
| EU | Flavored cigarettes and flavored RYO tobacco, cigarette liquids that suggest a health benefit, tobacco products that characterize flavor elements through text, symbol, or signs in the packaging, flavored cigarette capsules |
| Singapore | water pipe tobacco with fruit flavours |
| Ethiopia, Uganda, Senegal, Brazil | All flavored tobacco products |
| Moldova | All flavored cigarettes and RYO products, tobacco products with text or image illustrations of flavors, flavored cigarette capsules |
| Thailand, South Korea | Tobacco products with flavoring terms and images on packaging |
If you want to be more thorough and specific, we have something more. The table below are links to official and or certified websites that show concrete laws from individual countries. This is where you will find technical details about their statutes.
Take, for example, a particular brand only changed the wrapper for their clove cigarettes in order to change and qualify them to cigars from originally being cigarettes.
Another example is the prevalence of non-tobacco, flavored cigarettes, usually of the herbal kind, being offered because they are not covered by laws mentioning only tobacco leaf-based products.
As a rule of thumb when buying your tobacco products online, the brand should specify how they are going to get the products to you. Ideally, they should mention the special precautions and steps they take in order not to get the products on hold somewhere.
We suggest keeping your guard up because these various policies and conditions change from time to time. They also keep adding more to the list of banned flavored smoking products.
There’s nothing the industry can do about it but innovate and work around the limitations. It’s sad how they are imposing on us however I believe the manufacturers and cigarette companies will rise to the challenge every time. There will always be a way for you to enjoy your favorite tobacco products.