Do Cigarettes Expire? How to Tell How Old Cigarettes Are and If They’re Stale

Co-authored by Devin McSween

Last Updated: November 20, 2022 References

Have an old pack of cigarettes laying around and wondered if they're okay to smoke? Cigarette packs don’t have expiration dates, but we've got you covered. In this article, we’ll tell you how to determine your cigarettes’ age and answer your questions about whether cigarettes have a shelf life, how to tell if they’ve gone bad, and what you should do with your old pack.

Things You Should Know

Read your pack’s production code to tell how old your cigarettes are.
Cigarettes don't expire, but they do go stale.
Check your cigarettes for a dull smell or bitter taste to see if they’re stale.
Place stale cigarettes in a plastic bag with a piece of bread to rehydrate them.

Section 1 of 4:

Determining Your Cigarettes’ Age

Check your pack’s production code. Most cigarettes have a Julian Date Code printed on the bottom of the pack that details when the pack was manufactured. The code is usually 6 to 7 digits long, where the first 3 numbers indicate the day of the year the pack was produced and the 2 numbers after indicate the year.^{[1]
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- For example, the first 5 digits of the production code may read ‘14422.’ The ‘144’ indicates the day of the year the pack was manufactured on, starting from 001, or January 1st. The 144th day of the year is May 24th. The ‘22’ refers to the last 2 digits of a year in the 2000s, so this means the pack was produced in 2022.^{[2]
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- Unopened cigarette packs will typically stay fresh for up to 2 years.^{[3]
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Section 2 of 4:

Do cigarettes expire?

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Cigarettes do not have an expiration date. While most consumable products have a “best used by” date, cigarettes are banned from having one. According to the World Health Organization, an expiration date may make consumers think that it’s safe to smoke the cigarettes before the printed date, while smoking cigarettes at any time can cause health problems.^{[4]
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World Health Organization
Health information and news provided by the World Health Organization
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Instead of expiring, cigarettes go stale. Cigarettes are filled with tobacco, which is an organic material that has a shelf life like any other product. When a cigarette pack is opened, the tobacco is exposed to air and begins to lose its moisture. The loss of moisture and the passage of time causes cigarettes to drop in quality and grow stale.^{[5]
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- After opening a pack, cigarettes can start to lose their flavor and go stale after 2 days.^{[6]
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Section 3 of 4:

Determining If Your Cigarettes Are Stale

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Smell your cigarettes for a dull or papery aroma. Place a cigarette under your nose and inhale. Fresh cigarettes should have a sweet, earthy scent, or a fresh, minty smell if they are menthol. If your cigarette smells plain, it’s stale.^{[7]
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Taste your cigarette for a harsh or sharp flavor. You don't have to light and smoke the cigarette to check its taste, just simply place the end in your mouth. A stale cigarette loses its normal tobacco flavor and becomes bitter and unpleasant tasting.^{[8]
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Pinch your cigarette to see if it’s dry. Cigarettes go stale when the tobacco loses its moisture and dries out. Hold the cigarette between your fingers and lightly press down. A fresh cigarette should have a slight bounce when you pinch it. If the cigarette feels brittle, hard, or any tobacco comes out the end, it’s gone stale.^{[9]
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Look for brown or yellow spots on your cigarette. When cigarettes are exposed to air, the tobacco inside begins to lose its moisture. Brown and yellow spots may appear as the oils and other chemicals in the tobacco leak through the cigarette paper, showing you that the cigarette has gone stale.^{[10]
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Section 4 of 4:

What to Do With Stale Cigarettes

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Rehydrate stale cigarettes to return them to freshness. Bring back moisture to your stale cigarettes by placing them in a plastic bag with a slice of bread. After a few hours, check on the cigarettes to see if they are moist. They should no longer be hard and instead, have a slight bounce when you pinch them.^{[11]
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- Avoid keeping your cigarettes in the bag for too long. The cigarettes can become too moist and develop an unpleasant flavor.^{[12]
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Smoke them or throw them out. There is no real difference between smoking a fresh or stale cigarette. Mainly, stale cigarettes are just unpleasant to smoke.^{[13]
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American Cancer Society
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Warnings

Smoke outdoors and away from non-smokers to stay courteous and safe. Always put out your cigarettes. Stay away from flammable materials like gasoline and never smoke in bed.^{[15]
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