ATTENTION: This article is no longer up-to-date because the Federal Ministry of Finance has passed a law change, allowing Shisha tobacco to be sold in packaging sizes over 25g again from 01.07.2024. You can find all the information about the law change in our article on the topic 200g Shisha Tobacco Comeback.

Advantages of the new 25 gram hookah tobacco law in Germany

Yes, hookah tobacco is getting expensive and we as retailers don't like that either. The hookah tobacco in the new 25g packaging is expected to cost between €3.50 and €5.00. As of March 2023, the final prices have not yet been set for all brands. However, we currently know the price of Holster Tobacco, Nameless, Blackburn and Darkside for example. While the first two brands will be priced at €4.00, the price of the two well-known Darkblend brands Darkside Tobacco and Blackburn Tobacco will be €4.99. However, even before the price increase, these were slightly higher than the standard Virginia tobacco brands.

Why don't we as retailers like the price increase? We are not earning more from tobacco as a result of the price increase, even if some customers think we are. On the contrary: retailers are also suffering from this new regulation, as the contribution margin continues to shrink, even though it is already very low for tobacco.

Which hookah tobacco is your favorite?

Hookah tobacco flavors A-Z

The new 25g regulation has one decisive advantage!

In addition to all the disadvantages that we have already discussed in our 1st article on the 25g regulation (e.g. higher price, environmental impact due to more packaging material), there is also an advantage to the 25g regulation. Of course, we don't want to withhold this from you.

You're probably familiar with the situation where you buy a new hookah tobacco that you want to try because the flavor sounds interesting or because it was recommended to you by your store. As soon as you have the tobacco at home, you build yourself a hookah bowl with the new tobacco and realize when smoking that the hookah tobacco doesn't suit your taste at all. The following often happens: You either don't touch the tobacco at all or only touch it when you don't have any other tobacco left. So the tin just sits around until you clean it out at some point and either throw it away or give it away. So almost 20 euros go into the trash.

The problem is that new brands and flavors of hookah tobacco are very often available on the market, which many customers would like to try and often fall into this trap.

The advantage of the 25g packs is that you can test a new hookah tobacco first with a small pack, which only costs €3.50 to €5.00. This way, you won't end up in the stupid situation of throwing around €20 out of the window if the tobacco doesn't taste good. And if you like the hookah tobacco, you can build up a larger stock of this flavor by simply ordering several packs directly!

If you would like to try out a few new flavors, you should definitely take a look at our Hookah tobacco tasting packs. Check out which ones include multiple 25g packs so you can find your favorites!

Overall, the 25g rule will therefore lead to higher costs for the hobby, but we are convinced that this advantage will also mean that the effective additional costs are not that much higher than before. However, this only applies if you regularly try out new flavors and have not been buying the same flavors for years anyway. In this case, the new regulation unfortunately has no advantages whatsoever.