If you read our article in the recent issue on the implementation of the generational tobacco ban in the UK and other parts of the world, I mentioned a pattern that governments and decision-makers repeatedly use when trying to infringe on your rights. This could be a follow-up on that pattern recognition, or maybe a case of the proof of the pudding is in the eating.
GOV.UK published an open consultation on 10 July 2026, titled: “Tobacco and vapes: packaging, appearance and display”.
In summary, the UK government is currently consulting (until 2 October 2026) on extending standardised/plain packaging to cigars, cigarillos, pipe tobacco, heated tobacco, herbal products, cigarette papers and related devices. The new proposed rules would match the already existing cigarette rules:
- Drab dark brown (Pantone 448C) matte packaging.
- Minimal branding only (small Helvetica text, limited positions).
- No logos or promotional design.
- Picture health warnings and messaging to quit smoking.
The first talks of standardized cigarette packaging began in 2011 and were passed into law in March 2015. One of the core official arguments for introducing plain packaging on cigarettes in the UK was that branded packaging with colors, logos and fonts made them more attractive, cool or stylish to children and young people, and thus increased the likelihood that they would start smoking. The 2014 “independent” Chantler review concluded that branded packaging played an important role in encouraging young people to smoke and that standardized packaging was “highly likely” to reduce the rate at which children take up smoking. And now, 2016, the year of the cigar-smoking child… This is why we can’t have nice things.
If you want to make your voice heard, visit savecigars.co.uk.