If you’ve never bought cigarettes in Australia before, the price can be a bit of a shock.
As of September 2026, current Australian retail listings put a standard pack of 20 at roughly A$39 to A$67, depending on the brand and retailer.
Someone online joked that after smoking for 14 years, one day in Australia was enough to “cure” the habit. It was obviously a joke, but the reaction makes sense once you see the prices.
Australia is expensive for cigarettes even by international standards. In Deutsche Bank’s 2026 comparison of major cities, Melbourne and Sydney came in first and second for cigarette prices.
The confusing part is how different the numbers can look. One pack might be around A$40, another over A$60. Then you go online and see a 200-cigarette carton that works out much cheaper per pack.
That’s usually where the confusion starts.
Starting with standard packs of 20, here are some retail prices checked in September 2026:
| Brand / Product | Pack Size | Reference Price |
| Camel Connect | 20 | A$39.25 |
| Parker & Simpson Classic | 20 | A$39.50 |
| Classic | 20 | A$39.50 |
| Winston | 20 | A$40.50 |
| Lambert & Butler | 20 | A$41.99 |
| Winfield Titanium | 20 | A$43.99 |
| Winfield Signature | 20 | A$44.99 |
| Rothmans Signature | 20 | A$44.99 |
| JPS | 20 | A$46.50 |
| Rothmans Regular | 20 | A$47.99 |
| Winfield Original | 20 | A$48.99 |
| Benson & Hedges | 20 | A$66.99 |
You don’t need to know every brand on the list to get a feel for the market.
The list includes familiar Australian names such as Winfield, JPS and Rothmans, alongside international brands. If you’re unfamiliar with some of them, our overview of popular cigarette brands in Australia explains their place in the local market.
In this September 2026 sample, around A$40 is at the lower end, A$45–A$50 is pretty common, and prices above A$60 sit at the expensive end.
Prices do move around. Different shops won’t always charge exactly the same amount either, so think of these figures as a current snapshot rather than a fixed price list.
What Counts as a Cheap Cigarette Price in Australia?
For a pack of 20, anything around A$40 is already towards the cheaper end of the current market.
There isn’t one brand that stays the cheapest everywhere. Retailers change prices, different versions of the same brand can cost different amounts, and what looks cheapest today might not be a few months from now.
For a useful comparison, stick to the same pack size and prices from roughly the same time.
Why Can the Same Cigarettes Have Very Different Prices?
This is something you notice pretty quickly when comparing prices online. The same brand can be listed at quite different prices from one site to another.
A 200-cigarette carton, for example, might be around A$120 in one listing and much higher somewhere else.
That doesn’t always mean one seller is simply charging more. The version may be different, the quantity may not match exactly, delivery might be extra, or one of the listings may just be older.
Check the quantity first. Then check what you’d actually pay in total. That usually explains a fair bit of the difference.
Why Do Online Carton Prices Look So Much Lower?
Cartons are where the numbers can get especially confusing.
Since July 2025, the standard cigarette pack size in Australia has been 20 cigarettes, with 10 packs in a carton. That makes 200 cigarettes altogether.
So if a 200-cigarette carton is A$150:
A$150 ÷ 10 = A$15 per pack
That A$15 is simply the carton total divided by 10. It doesn’t mean a separately sold pack of 20 will also cost A$15.
Some websites show the full carton price. Others break it down into a per-pack figure. Put either of those next to a normal single-pack retail price and the difference can look huge.
Product version, seller pricing, delivery and the way the price is displayed can all change what you see.
Why Are Cigarettes So Expensive in Australia?
Tax is a big part of it.
In March 2025, Australian Health Minister Mark Butler said that around 70% of the price of cigarettes comes from tax or excise.
The Parliamentary Budget Office’s 2026–27 model uses a base price of about A$0.53 per factory-made cigarette, plus around A$1.76 in tax.
Across 20 cigarettes, those two figures alone come to roughly A$46.
So seeing packs priced in the A$40s and A$50s isn’t unusual in Australia.
It adds up quickly as well. At A$50 a pack, one pack a week works out to about A$2,600 a year.
Which makes that joke about arriving in Australia and losing a 14-year smoking habit in a day a little easier to understand.
If an online price looks completely different from the usual single-pack price, check what you’re actually looking at first. One pack or a carton? How many cigarettes? What’s the final price? A lot of the apparent difference comes down to those details.
FAQ
Do cigarette prices vary between stores in Australia?
Yes. A few dollars either way is pretty normal. Different retailers set their own prices, and delivery costs or an older listing can make the gap look bigger.
Do cigarette prices change over time in Australia?
They do. A pack that’s A$40 now might cost more a few months from now, so the prices here are best treated as a September 2026 snapshot.
Why do some online cigarette prices look much cheaper?
Usually because you’re looking at a carton price, or a carton price broken down per pack. A 20-pack and a 200-cigarette carton are very different things, even when both pages show a “per pack” number.
Is there one cigarette brand that is always the cheapest in Australia?
Not really. It moves around. What’s cheapest in one store today might not be cheapest somewhere else next month.
