That's a reasonable line of thought, but NZ already has a fairly robust black market for tobacco products: https://www.economist.com/leaders/2021/12/17/new-zeal

That's a reasonable line of thought, but NZ already has a fairly robust black market for tobacco products: https://www.economist.com/leaders/2021/12/17/new-zealands-plan-to-outlaw-smoking-for-the-next-generation-is-misguided https://www.economist.com/leaders/2021/12/17/new-zealands-pl... > a tenth of the tobacco consumed in 2019 in New Zealand was illicit. which is broadly similar to the US market, if admittedly on the low end: https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/19016/understanding-the-us-illicit-tobacco-market-characteristics-policy-context-and https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/19016/understandin... > the portion of the total U.S. tobacco market represented by illicit sales has grown in recent years and is now between 8.5 percent and 21 percent I think a lot of people underestimate how difficult combating smuggling is, even with a tiny landmass and no land borders. Nobody's checking every container, much less package.