Why is hookah tobacco never on sale in germany?

You may have already noticed, but you won't find hookah tobacco at a reduced price online or in your local store in Germany, and there's a reason for that. First of all, it's not because we as a retailer are particularly stingy when it comes to tobacco. In principle, discounts are always a good way for us to either boost sales or to get rid of products that are not as popular with our customers as we would have expected. We would therefore also be pleased if, for example, we could sell hookah tobacco flavors that are not so popular with all customers at a lower price.

Tip: To make sure you don't buy just any tobacco, we have included our customers' current favorite tobacco varieties in the blog post: Bester of Shisha Tobacco 2023.

But why is hookah tobacco the same price everywhere?

The "problem" with the discounting of tobacco products is the legislator. This is because tobacco is subject to fixed prices, similar to german books.

The price of a packet of tobacco is therefore set by the manufacturer at the time of production and is made up of the manufacturing costs, a margin for retailers and the current tobacco tax. The price set at the beginning cannot be changed, as the tobacco tax is calculated as a percentage of the sales price. If the price were to be increased retrospectively, too little tax would be levied and, conversely, a discounted price would mean that too much tax is levied per pack.

So if you find a different price somewhere in the German tobacco trade than the one on the tax stamp, regardless of whether it is lower or even higher, the seller is committing a criminal offense. This is because changing the price violates German law. However, the Tobacco Act also covers other things.

What else is prohibited with tobacco?

In addition to changes to the sales price (e.g. through discounts), other forms of discounts are also prohibited in this country.

For example, no items may be added to tobacco free of charge and it is also prohibited to add tobacco to other products free of charge or to give tobacco away free of charge in general. Furthermore, tobacco may not be the subject of gambling or advertising. However, the Tobacco Act is much more extensive. If you would like to find out more about what the legislator has stipulated on the subject of tobacco, take a look at the "Laws on the Internet" page.

Hookahs are also subject to a law that restricts the sale of portion sizes to a maximum of 25 g

We have tried to see the positives in the still relatively new law and present our thoughts on the subject in our article: Advantages of the new 25 g regulation - are there any?

We hope we've been able to answer your question to your satisfaction. If you are interested in more topics from the world of hookahs, take a look at our hookah information section, where we have collected a lot of information.