How many cigarettes are in a carton?
A carton holds 200 cigarettes. Most are packed as 10 packs of 20. Some premium brands instead come as 8 packs of 25 — same 200 cigarettes, packed differently.
Why some cartons have 8 packs and others 10
The number that matters is 200. That's the standard carton in Canada regardless of brand, and it's what you should compare on when you're pricing.
Value and mid-range brands almost always arrive as ten packs of twenty. Several premium lines — Oakdale, Putters Premium and DK's Premium among them — come as eight packs of twenty-five instead. A pack lasts longer; the carton doesn't.
This trips people up when comparing prices. A carton at $70 in 8×25 works out to $8.75 a pack, while a carton at $70 in 10×20 is $7.00 a pack. Same carton price, different pack price, identical cigarette count. Compare per carton or per cigarette and the confusion disappears.
What 200 cigarettes actually costs
Cartons from us start at $24.95 on their own and fall to $17.25 when you buy thirty in the same price group — that's $1.73 a pack, or 8.6¢ a cigarette.
At a shop off-reserve the same 200 cigarettes runs anywhere from $90 to $250 depending on the province, because provincial tobacco tax is charged per cigarette and varies enormously across the country.
Working out what you're really paying
Divide the carton price by 200 and you get the per-cigarette cost. It's the only number that compares fairly across brands, pack sizes and provinces.
A pack-a-day smoker gets through roughly 18 cartons a year — near enough 7,300 cigarettes. At the difference between a $17.25 carton and a $150 one, that's the kind of gap that adds up to thousands a year.
A pack by province, and what the same cigarettes cost on territory
| Province | A pack there | A carton there | Our pack |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ontario | $9.00–$16.00 | $90–$160 | $1.73 |
| Quebec | $10.00–$13.00 | $100–$130 | $1.73 |
| Alberta | $14.00–$17.00 | $140–$170 | $1.73 |
| Manitoba | $14.00–$17.00 | $140–$170 | $1.73 |
| Saskatchewan | $14.00–$17.00 | $140–$170 | $1.73 |
| British Columbia | $15.00–$18.00 | $150–$180 | $1.73 |
| Nova Scotia | $15.00–$18.00 | $150–$180 | $1.73 |
| New Brunswick | $15.00–$18.00 | $150–$180 | $1.73 |
| Prince Edward Island | $15.00–$18.00 | $150–$180 | $1.73 |
| Newfoundland and Labrador | $18.00–$20.00 | $180–$200 | $1.73 |
| Yukon | $19.00–$23.00 | $190–$230 | $1.73 |
| Northwest Territories | $19.00–$23.00 | $190–$230 | $1.73 |
| Nunavut | $20.00–$25.00 | $200–$250 | $1.73 |
Retail ranges are typical shop prices in each province once provincial tobacco tax is applied. Our column is the wholesale price at thirty cartons in the Budget group.