International Cigarette Brands in Canada

Canada’s cigarette market is narrower than most people expect. Three manufacturers — Imperial Tobacco Canada, Rothmans Benson & Hedges, and JTI-Macdonald — account for almost all mainstream sales, and plain packaging has made every pack on the shelf look identical.

Some international brands are still sold here. Many aren’t. And where they are, a carton runs $130 to $165 because most of the price is tax.

This page covers twenty brands: what each one is, whether you can buy it in Canada, and which native brand comes closest at $42 a carton.

Still sold in Canada

These are available through mainstream retail, in plain packaging, at mainstream prices.

We carry Marlboro at $75 a carton — the only international brand currently in our range.

Limited or unavailable in Canada

These have little or no Canadian distribution. Where they appear it’s specialist import stock at import pricing.

Why international brands cost so much here

Canadian cigarette pricing is mostly tax, and it applies the same whether a brand is domestic or imported.

Federal excise duty is $38.92 per carton of 200, identical in every province, adjusted each 1 April against inflation.

Provincial tobacco tax ranges from $36.95 in Ontario — the lowest in Canada — to $80.00 in Nunavut.

Sales tax is then applied to the price after both tobacco taxes are included.

Between $76 and $119 of any Canadian carton is tobacco tax before anyone has paid for tobacco, packaging, shipping or a retailer’s margin.

Full breakdown by province in our guide to cigarette prices in Canada.

Why “light” and “mild” disappeared

If you remember Player’s Light, Belmont Milds or du Maurier Light and wonder where they went, the answer isn’t the tobacco.

In November 2006 the Competition Bureau reached agreements with Canada’s three largest cigarette manufacturers to stop using “light” and “mild” on packaging. The terms implied a safer product, which wasn’t true. The changeover finished in July 2007 and affected 79 cigarette brands plus 18 fine-cut tobaccos.

Nothing inside the packs changed. The words were replaced with descriptors like smooth, rich and bold, along with numbers and pack colours. Plain packaging in 2019 removed the colours and logos too.

What we carry instead

We’re a Mohawk family-run business shipping native cigarettes across Canada, usually within one to three days.

Fifteen native brands. Our guide to native cigarette brands compares every one by strength, from Rolled Gold Full Flavour at the heavy end to Putter’s Light at the mild end.

Or browse all cigarettes and menthol.

Matching by character

Frequently asked questions

Health warning: Smoking is addictive and harmful to health. These products contain nicotine and are for adult smokers of legal smoking age only — 19+ in most of Canada, 18+ in Alberta, Manitoba and Quebec.