Tobacco — South Africa
What travelers need to know about tobacco in South Africa. What is legal at home can be a serious crime here — each rule links to its official source.
Tobacco in South Africa: restricted — there are real limits travelers must follow.
If you are 18 or over you may bring 200 cigarettes, 20 cigars and 250 g of pipe or cigarette tobacco into South Africa duty-free, once per 30 days. Cigarettes weighing more than 2 kg per 1,000 are banned outright, and anything over the allowance is charged full duty and VAT.
Failing to declare is an offence. SARS: it "results in the detention and forfeiture of the goods not declared and accompanying goods, imposition of an administrative penalty and/or criminal prosecutions depending on the seriousness of the offence." Cigarettes over 2 kg per 1,000 are prohibited outright and cannot be brought in at any duty.
§ South African Revenue Service (SARS) — SC-PA-01-03 Duty Free Allowances for Travellers, Rev 8, effective 01 July 2026; read with SARS Arrival in SA (19/08/2026)