TPD19130 - Advice for Officers dealing with imported tobacco products: Cigars: examination and weighing

Subject to any delegated discretion you should follow the standard scales for opening packages as detailed in C2-3.

Cigars are either machine or hand-made. The weight of hand-made cigars will vary more than machine made cigars because of the manner of their production. The weight of machine made cigars will differ mainly because of variations in the single piece of natural tobacco leaf that forms the outer spiral wrapper of the cigar. More information can be found in section TPD8000.

Weighing

Guidance on the weighing of UK manufactured cigars is contained in section 8 of this book. The weighing of foreign manufactured (imported) cigars is, however, more difficult because the goods are usually already packaged. For ease and convenience boxes of imported cigars may be gross weighed and an average duty tare deducted. (Note: a ‘duty tare’ is the calculated average weight of the packing material in the packages in a particular mark or consignment which, when placed on the weight side of a beam scale or offset on a weighing machine, balances the weight of the packing material in the package. The effect of applying a duty tare is to enable the net weight of the package to be read directly.) You should agree average tares for packs and cases with the trader and these should be reviewed every 6 or 12 months.

Tare Weights

You should bear the following advice in mind, when agreeing tares and/or weighing procedures with your trader.

• 30 cigars (together with any bands, detachable mouthpieces and individual foil wrapping) from each selected package should be weighed to the 0.5 gm.
• Damp or damaged cases should be examined more carefully and the contents net weighed.
• The weight of any detachable filters or mouth-pieces (see Section TPD19110) should be deducted from the net weight for duty purposes (a suitable number of filters and/or foils, usually 30, should be weighed together to establish the average individual weight).
• Where packages contain 1,000 or more cigars tied in bundles and/or with paper bands round each cigar, you may allow a tare of 100 gms per 1000 cigars, subject to a maximum of 500 gms per package. This is known historically as the ‘ordinary allowance’.
• You may also, in addition to the ‘ordinary allowance’, allow a ‘special allowance’ of 1 kg per 10,000 cigars for cigars with plain bands and 1 kg per 8,000 cigars for cigars with bands bearing devices in metal (eg gilt lettering). The trader must specifically claim the ‘special allowance’ and you must be satisfied that it is appropriate. This ‘special allowance’ does not apply to packages containing less than 1000 cigars.

Changes in Manufacturer’s Tare Weights

Please note that manufacturers may, over time, change the intended or target net weight (ie weight less all packaging, bands and detachable filters) of cigars of any particular brand. Cigars will obviously weigh less if the manufacturer reduces the length or circumference. Not so obvious is the fact that cigar manufacturers are using more expanded tobacco in the filler. Expanded tobacco (think of ‘puffed wheat’ or ‘pop corn’) allows manufacturers to produce a lighter cigar of the same dimensions as before but attracting a lesser specific duty burden. This is perfectly acceptable but may be worth bearing in mind as a possible source of discrepancy between audits.