Canada’s Excise Stamp Journey – From Tobacco to Cannabis to Vapes

This article describes the journey of excise stamps in Canada, including how they have evolved and why they matter.

Prior to April 2011, tobacco packaging in Canada featured an easy opening device, commonly known as tear tape, with specific colors for each province. These were commercially available, affixed to the package by manufacturers, and contained minimal security features or verifiable reporting mechanism.

However, with the rise of illicit tobacco products on the Canadian market – especially in the form of locally made product on which taxes hadn’t been paid – the need for more secure stamps became apparent.

It was for this reason that high-security stamps were introduced in 2011, manufactured by the Canadian Bank Note Company, (CBN).

The stamps are made with special technical paper and feature a layered security design comprising visible and covert security elements, as well as a unique serial number. The visible elements include anti-copy linework in the image of a red maple leaf, color-shifting ink, an intaglio latent image in the form of the letter ‘C’, and UV-visible ink.