If you’ve ever walked around Manchester and seen someone pulling out a distinctive red pack with gold writing, you’ve probably spotted a Manchester cigarette. They’ve been a quiet favourite in the city for years, cheap, strong, and somehow still legal even when everything else seems to be getting banned or priced out of existence. Here’s everything that’s new with Manchester cigs right now.
The Big Price Jump Nobody Saw Coming
At the start of November 2025, the price of a 20-pack of Manchester Red shot up from around £9.80 to £13.50 overnight in most corner shops. People lost their minds. Corner-shop owners say it’s because of the new tobacco tax that kicked in after the Autumn Budget. The government added another £2.20 duty per pack and slapped on extra VAT. Manchester was always the “budget” smoke, so going up nearly 40% in one go hurt. Some lads in Salford told me they’ve switched to rolling their own because even Amber Leaf suddenly feels cheaper.
Counterfeit Manchesters Are Everywhere
Walk down Cheetham Hill or Strangeways market on a Sunday and you’ll see brand-new sealed packs of Manchester Gold for £6. They look perfect until you open them. Half the smokers I know have been caught out this year. The fakes taste like burnt plastic and give you a headache in ten minutes. Greater Manchester Police did a big raid in October and seized 1.8 million fake cigarettes, most of them Manchester brands. They say the gangs moved over from bringing in fake Superdry hoodies to fake cigs because the profit is insane.
The Mystery of the New “Manchester Nano”
In the last two months a new version appeared called Manchester Nano. Smaller pack, ten cigarettes instead of twenty, bright blue design. Officially they don’t exist. British American Tobacco, who actually make real Manchester, say they’ve never heard of it. But every off-licence from Hulme to Harpurhey has them behind the counter for £5.50. Smokers say the taste is smoother than the normal Red, almost like a vape but in cigarette form. Some people swear it’s a legal loophole product made in Eastern Europe and imported quietly. Others think it’s just clever counterfeits again. Nobody really knows.
Vape Shops Starting to Stock Manchester “Heets” Style Sticks
A weird twist this autumn. A load of vape shops in the Northern Quarter and Chorlton started selling heat-not-burn sticks that look exactly like IQOS Heets but in Manchester red packaging. They’re called Manchester Heat. You need the special holder device, which the shops sell for twenty quid. Smokers who made the switch say it’s cheaper than buying pods for the big brands and tastes almost the same as the original cigarette. The government hasn’t decided if these count as tobacco or not, so for now they’re flying under the radar and selling like mad.
Students and Workers Still Swearing By Them
Ask any student in Fallowfield or any builder on a site in town and they’ll tell you Manchester is still king if you don’t want to spend fifteen quid a pack. The price rise annoyed everyone, but most people just grumbled and carried on buying them. There’s something about the harsh hit and the proper tobacco taste that keeps people loyal. One lad in Rusholme told me, “I tried Marlboro Gold for a week and it felt like smoking air. Give me my Manchester Red any day.”
The End of Duty-Free Manchester?
Manchester Airport used to be the best place in Europe to stock up. You could get a sleeve of ten packs for £42. Since Brexit and the new rules that came in this year, duty-free tobacco allowance dropped hard for travellers coming back from outside the EU. Now you’re limited to just one sleeve total, no matter what brand. Airport shops have rows of empty space where Manchester used to sit because people aren’t bothering anymore. Staff say sales of the brand dropped 70% in Terminal 1 since summer.
Rumours of a Takeover or Shutdown
Word on the street for the last three months is that BAT might stop making Manchester altogether. Apparently the profit margins are tiny now after all the tax rises, and they want to focus on vapes and posher brands. Nothing official, but a couple of delivery drivers who drop to the cash-and-carries say they’ve seen orders getting smaller every month. If Manchester does disappear, half the smokers in the north west will be properly gutted. There isn’t really another cigarette that fills the same gap: strong, cheap, and no nonsense.
Whatever happens next, Manchester cigarettes are still part of the city’s fabric in 2025. They might cost more, some might be fake, and the rules keep changing, but you’ll still see the red pack getting sparked up outside pubs from Ancoats to Wythenshawe for a while yet.
