The grocery giant has priced the “home brand style” packs of 25 cigarettes at around $11 almost $4 a pack less than Australian made Winfield and other leading brands.

They are believed to be the cheapest on the market since the federal Government raised cigarette taxes by 25 per cent in April.

The cigarettes are labelled “Made for Australia”. Only in smaller letters on the side of the packs does it reveal “Made in Germany”.

The packs carry unfamiliar names such as Bayside, Deal, Harvest and Tradition and are being promoted by Coles as a cheaper alternative to well known brands.

Coles began selling its discount line in November last year.

It refused to reveal how much money it was making out of the deal with its German manufacturer Von Eiken and Australian tobacco wholesaler Richland Express.

“Coles has introduced a small number of branded cigarette lines sourced from overseas, available exclusively in our stores,” a Coles spokesman said. He said the deal was established to offer more choice for customers, not to undermine the federal Government’s cigarette tax.

But a Coles employee, who did not want to be named, said she had been told to “push the overseas cigarettes” to customers struggling with higher prices after the tax rise.

“When customers come in and complain that their usual cigarettes are too expensive we suggest they try one of the new ones, like Tradition,” she said.

“I have been selling cigarettes for four years now. Lately I have noticed people just want the cheapest ones.”

The move, which positions Coles to profit when mandatory plain packaging of tobacco products is introduced in 2012, has outraged anti tobacco campaigners and health experts.

“It really underlines the need for the Government to introduce a floor price for cigarettes, which is a price you can’t go below,” University of Sydney Professor of Health Simon Chapman said.

Research from the Cancer Council of NSW shows 2.9 million Australians smoke on a daily basis. Cancer Council of NSW program manager Anita Dessaix said Coles was being “sneaky”.

“Smoking has been trending downward we really want to see tobacco control strategies heading in the right direction, and this is sneaky and disappointing,” she said.

Rival supermarket giants Woolworths and Franklins said they would not follow the example of Coles.

Richland Express spokesman Paul Daly said “I think this is the evolution of the industry and I think very soon all tobacco products will be manufactured overseas.”

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Bbc news – cuba to withdraw cheap cigarettes for elderly

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Cuba’s elderly will no longer be entitled to state subsidised cigarettes, the government has said.

All Cubans 55 or older are allocated four packs of cigarettes a month for about 25% the normal price, but this privilege is being ended in September.

The measure is President Raul Castro’s latest attempt to cut the communist state’s spending.

The island has been hit hard by the global economic downturn and the long term US trade embargo.

A statement in the government run Granma newspaper said the move was “part of the steps gradually being applied to eliminate subsidies”. The health benefits were not mentioned.

Cigarettes “are not a primary necessity,” it said.

Some elderly non smokers were taking their cut price cigarettes and re selling them to boost their meagre pensions, says the BBC’s Michael Voss in Havana.

“I’m insulted because it’s another thing they are taking away from us,” said Angela Jimenez, a 64 year old who receives a monthly pension of about $10 ( 6.50).

She said she will now have to quit smoking because she won’t be able to afford the normal price of about $0.33 a pack.

Cigarettes are the latest item to be removed from ration books. Subsidised peas and potatoes were eliminated in November.

Earlier in August Mr Castro said the role of the state would be reduced in some areas, to cut the “overloaded” state budget.

He said more workers would be allowed to be self employed or to set up small businesses.