Smoking hookers
Despite upward trends: SHISHA industry is concerned about
She has just put a crisis halfway away when the dealers of hookah tobacco threatens the next setback: the taxes should come up. Even Brussels is probably not quite comfortable.
After a severe burglary, including bankruptcies, Germany’s shisha industry is recovering something. As the Federal Statistical Office figures result, the manufacturers and dealers sold approximately twice as much as before. The reason for this is the elimination of a packaging regulation on July 2024 – this regulation had braked the legal business and boosted the black market even according to the findings of the customs. After sharp criticism she was canceled.
According to the information, 684 tons of hookah tobacco were sold in Germany in the period July 2023 to June 2024 and taxes of EUR 38.6 million were taken. In the period in July 2024 to June 2025 – after the regulation was lost – it was 1444 tons and tax values of 75.8 million euros. The growth is clear, but the level is still low: 6897 tons in 2021.
In advance against tax fraud backfired
The hustle and bustle tobacco is smoked by private individuals at home and in an estimated up to 5000 shishabars in Germany. Small portions are sold in the bars so that customers can smoke a hustle and bustle on site. For this, bar operators buy large packs from which they make a variety of individual portions. However, this isolation is prohibited because the bar operators then pay less taxes. Nevertheless, it is common in the industry. Customs are repeatedly used with raids, but is ultimately powerless – so many bar operators simply accept the risk of a fine.
In order to stop this practice, the federal government banned larger packs in mid -2022 – only packs with a maximum of 25 grams and thus only a little more than one single dose were sold. The hoped -for positive effect failed to materialize, instead the legal sale dropped. The forecast of the Federal Ministry of Finance that the tax revenue would attract proved to be wrong – in fact it decreased clearly. Since the sale of special shisha coal remained stable, it was obvious that a large part of the sales had migrated to the black market. The legal traders were massively under pressure, some companies threw the towel and hired the company.
The union of the police – District Group Customs – still sees a strong shisha black market in Germany. “Unfortunately, corresponding fears have come true,” says trade unionist Frank Buckenhofer. Customs are much too weak. “If political decisions make incentives for organized crime to earn stupid and dussy at the black market, then politics must also strengthen customs in the fight against this crime.”
Industry representatives show worry lines
With the end of the packaging rule, the situation of the legal industry improved something, but the situation remains tense from the perspective of the Federal Association for Way Pipe tobacco. The reason for this is the rising tax burden. “Because of gradually increasing taxes, prices have increased, which is why many consumers still stay with their black market sources,” says association manager Folke Rega.
In 2021, a kilo of Shisha tobacco was still available for less than a hundred euros, after the introduction of the packaging rule, the price attracted an average of 166 euros, after the abolition of which it fell to 132 euros. “This is still high compared to 2021.” On the black market there is a kilo for 70 to 90 euros, as you know from your own research.
In the future, the legal price could increase significantly. Because the EU Commission wants to increase minimum taxes for tobacco products. At least 107 euros should be due per kilo and thus more than twice as much as the current German tax rate. If it really happens: the approval of the Member States is still pending, the shisha industry fears further heating the black market.
“This is for hair: just a regulation has just been abolished that only promoted organized crime – and now the next measure is to come that dies out legal manufacturers and dealers again.” The average price for a kilo of hookah tobacco could increase from 132 euros to around 200 euros, warns Rega. “It is foreseeable that consumers rely even more on illegal sources than before.”
EU Commission does not seem to be completely convinced
Even the EU Commission is aware of this risk, as can be seen from a consequences of the authority. It states that an estimated 60 percent of shishacons are currently coming from illegal sources in the EU. If water pipe tobacco is classified as a specific category, the Brussels authors write unintentionally.
In addition, they point out that this product actually consists of only 20 percent tobacco and that the rest is molasses – i.e. a moisture medication including flavors. Taxing all the weight as a tobacco product think even the Brussels authors are difficult. Shisha industry representative Rega now hopes that the Federal Government will face the commission project in the circle of EU member states.
According to the association, a low single -digit million number in Germany regularly smokes a hookah. Cancer researchers emphasize the health risks of shisha smoking. The German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) warns, among other things, of strokes and nicotine dependence that can affect brain development, and lung, oral cavity and colon cancer.
dpa
Source: Stern
