Conventional Products
Cigarettes, cigarillos and cigars as well as pipe and fine cut tobacco are among the traditional smoking tobacco products in Germany, but smokeless products such as snuff and chewing tobacco also have a long tradition in this country.
Here are some important products from the portfolios of our members.
Cigarette
For over 100 years, tobacco in Germany has been primarily consumed in the form of industrially manufactured cigarettes. For a cigarette, the tobacco is rolled into paper. An additional filter increases consumer comfort and reduces tobacco smoke intake.
Tobacco is a natural product. In order to give each type of cigarette its specific character and to ensure consistent quality, the tobacco blend, cigarette paper, filter and smoke yields are perfectly matched and optimally balanced. Additional ingredients (in German) such as humectants and flavourings refine the specific taste of a tobacco blend.
The legal requirements for producing and marketing cigarettes are defined in the German Tobacco Products Act and the Tobacco Products Ordinance.
- In Germany, the use of flavours and additives is subject to strict regulations; all substances used are reported to the authorities (MORE ...).
- The maximum values for nicotine, condensate and carbon monoxide in tobacco smoke of cigarettes are defined by law (MORE ...). (information in German)
- Since 2016, a combined warning of text and graphic image has been printed on cigarette packets. (MORE ...). (information in German)
- Advertising for cigarettes is limited. (MORE ...).
Fine Cut
Individualists and price-conscious smokers rely on rolling or making their own cigarettes.
- Roll-Your-Own (RYO): loose tobacco and cigarette paper with or without rolled-in filter tips. Fine-cut tobacco for rolling your own cigarettes has a cutting width of under 1.4 mm. Due to its higher humidity it is ideal for rolling your own.
- MYO: Make-Your-Own: loose tobacco that is filled into a filter tube by using a stuffing machine or injector. This tubing tobacco is a coarser cut than the tobacco for rolling. A special manufacturing process increases its volume. This allows for more cigarettes to be filled with less tobacco.
Cigar
Cigars are among the oldest forms of tobacco consumption. Cigars consist entirely of natural tobacco and are often wrapped in a tobacco leaf. They come in different shapes and sizes. While caps of cigar heads are usually clipped before smoking, cheroots come without a head but are of uniform thickness and pressed in a round or square shape. Cigars can be further differentiated in dark Brazilian cigars and light Sumatra cigars.
Cigarillos
Cigarillos are short, thin cigars with an open head and foot. Some cigarillos have a filter or a mouthpiece. Traditional cigarillos are made from one tobacco leaf while filter cigarillos are wrapped in dark tobacco paper. Filter cigarillos are a particularly attractive offer for price-conscious smokers because they are taxed at a lower rate than the finished cigarette.
Hookah tobacco
Hookah tobacco - also called shisha tobacco - is consumed with a water pipe. Hookah smoking in a convivial round originated in Arabic countries and has become popular in Germany over the last ten years.
In the hookah bowl, the tobacco is heated using charcoal and then cooled through a water bath. The tobacco is technically not being burned but only heated. Hookah tobacco consists of tobacco, humectants as well as molasses, glycerine and flavours. By the way, one of the best varieties of tobacco for hookah pipes is grown in Germany - golden yellow Virginia tobacco with low nicotine content.
