Affordable Tobacco Products

Author : Glenn Hickey | Published On : 19 Oct 2026

Victoria Police established Taskforce Lunar in 2023 in response to the first wave of attacks. By early 2025 the taskforce had publicly reported more than 100 arrests; further updates have continued through 2025 and into 2026. The arson campaign has, on Victoria Police’s public account, been driven by a smaller number of senior figures contracting work outwards through layers of intermediaries to the people who actually light the fires. "It will also help fund intelligence gathering activities … to intercept the activity of organised crime gangs." The latest incident involved a suspicious fire at a tobacco store in Melbourne's north this morning.
We’re more than just a tobacco store, we’re dedicated to providing a seamless shopping experience, personalized support, and products you can trust every time. At The Cribb Point Store AU, we source only the finest cigarettes and tobacco products to ensure every experience is smooth, satisfying, and true to quality. Pike said the federal and state government’s reluctance to roll out appropriate legislation and beef-up law enforcement agencies had allowed the black market to flourish. While the illicit tobacco boom is not peculiar to Victoria, retail and health groups and former police say both the trade and the violence are greater melbourne cbd tobacconist here – in part due to this state’s lax regulation. The escalating violence linked to Victoria’s booming illicit tobacco trade has caught the state government off guard and belatedly scrambling for a response two years after it commissioned advice on reform. Victoria is said to be the epicentre of an international tobacco war involving bikie gangs and international crime syndicates, some of whom are running illegal tobacco syndicates and orchestrating arson attacks from overseas.

Alongside a solid selection of tobacco, they also sell American candy and sodas, which is a real treat if you’re into American brands like I am. It feels more like a small community store where you can pick up a cigar and chat with the staff, who are always full of recommendations. Smoke Point has become my go-to b2b whenever I’m in Port Melbourne, especially when I’m craving something a little different other than hookahs.
Last year, on average, there were about two arson attacks a week linked to the illicit tobacco trade in Victoria, according to police. As another tobacco shop burns in Melbourne, the federal government has launched a $188 million crackdown to combat an escalating "turf war" over illegal tobacco, following its January 1 ban of disposable vapes. The illicit tobacco trade includes counterfeit cigarettes as well as legitimate cigarettes from overseas. The most common brands are Marlboro, Manchester and Double Happiness. They mostly come from China and Dubai via sea cargo but also air freight and hidden in the luggage of passengers. OKSO Pulse X 25K at $44, Relx pods from $13, Snowplus from $30 — all available for same-day delivery tonight.
Victoria’s tobacco retail network is heavily concentrated in Melbourne, but strong demand also exists across major regional cities such as Geelong, Ballarat and Bendigo. In a voice message to Four Corners, al-Mahamid says the cigarettes flooding Australia's market are counterfeit. "Part of the problem is that there's nothing wrong with these cigarettes at the point of manufacture. It's difficult to seize them, it's difficult to detain them because they're not illegal." That death came about the same time gangland figure, boxer and tobacco black-market player Sam "The Punisher" Abdulrahim was executed in front of his girlfriend in the underground car park of a Melbourne serviced apartment block. "That's excise that could have gone back into government coffers, which is actually being used by serious organised crime," he says. The man whose company operates from the warehouse owns at least half a dozen tobacconists across Brisbane.

A store that refuses to take a particular network’s product, or insists on stocking a competitor’s, becomes a target. So does a store whose owner has fallen behind on a debt, or whose landlord has refused a particular tenant. The first of the now-familiar early-morning firebombings of tobacco and vape shops landed in March 2023, in Melbourne’s northern suburbs. By the end of that year there had been roughly 50 such attacks. Through 2024 the pace accelerated; by mid-2025 the running tally was past 130; by early 2026 it cleared 200, with several weeks recording multiple incidents.
Each result may appear relevant at first glance, but they do not necessarily satisfy the same search intent. As a leader among online tobacco retailers, Top Smoke delivers premium tobacco brands and accessories to customers across Australia. The platform offers popular cigarettes such as Winfield, Marlboro, and Esse, along with a wide range of lighters, rolling papers, and filters to suit every smoker’s preference. Tobacco industry research shows Manchester is now likely the most popular cigarette brand – legal or illegal – in the country. Covert shop surveys have found Manchesters being sold at more than 1200 speciality tobacco shops, convenience stores, supermarkets and petrol stations in the state.
This is especially important when moving from local discovery to online research. Someone searching from central Melbourne and someone searching from an outer suburb can enter the same “near me” query and receive different local results. For local search, that matters because the same query can represent different expectations depending on where the searcher is located and how specific their intended destination is. Order before 6.40 pm and your vapes arrive that same evening between 7.30 pm and 11.30 pm. Order after 6.40 pm and they arrive the next evening in the same window. 7.30 pm to 11.30 pm is our delivery window, not the window you need to order in.

For readers continuing their online research, the cheap cigarettes online section of the site can serve as a broader ecommerce discovery point. For an ecommerce website, this means the transition point between local discovery and online product research can be an important part of the search journey. Instead, brand and product terms demonstrate how searchers can move from a broad category query toward a more specific discovery query.
MidCity Arcade is a thriving retail hub located in the Melbourne CBD at 200 Bourke Street.

The war on illegal tobacco has seen specialist anti-organised crime and illicit tobacco taskforces created at the state and federal levels, including an injection of more than $188 million to the ABF. Several fires have spread to neighbouring businesses; in at least one widely reported incident, residents above a targeted shop had to be evacuated through smoke. The cost to legitimate businesses caught next door has been substantial, and we cover that perspective in a separate piece. The illicit tobacco trade has traditionally been considered a customs issue that falls under the umbrella of federal law enforcement agencies. But with a record number of illicit cigarette shipments arriving at the nation’s shores, Australian Border Force officers are overrun. At SSG4u, our aim is to make Australia’s favorite range of tobacco products readily available to our customers.
But councils say they are increasingly concerned about the risks to staff who lack the skills, training, and identity protection to investigate offences involving people and businesses with organised crime links. So brazen is the booming illicit trade that some sellers openly advertise the illegal product in shop windows in busy suburban streets. Others are known to letterbox homes with pamphlets promoting their contraband.
The Morning Edition newsletter is our guide to the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. A move to cut the tax has been backed by Dr John Coyne, head of strategic policing and law enforcement at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute and a former officer with the Australian Federal Police. Martin said increased enforcement and hefty penalties instead of a nuanced approach to what is a complex health issue risked further entrenching the violence. The way the problem is being tackled clearly isn’t working, but experts say the solution would require a rethink of Australia’s tax system and changes to our current law enforcement approach. While there have been more than 130 firebombings linked to the tobacco war across the state, the CBD has never seen a single attack.