Tobacco

Last published: March 07, 2025

What is tobacco?

Tobacco is a plant with stimulant effects. Nicotine is one of the many naturally occurring chemicals found in tobacco, and speeds up the messages travelling between the brain and body.^{1, 2}

What does tobacco look like?

The dried leaves of the tobacco plant are brown and commonly chopped into small flakes for use in cigarettes.

But, tobacco can come in different forms.

It can be purchased in pouches, where it’s then hand-rolled into a long cylinder inside a thin white paper. Hand-rolled cigarettes (‘rollies’) can be different thicknesses and may contain a filter.
Tobacco cigarettes are also manufactured (‘tailor-mades’). Tobacco gets rolled inside a white paper with a visible white or brown filter, to make a cigarette of a uniform shape and size.
Cigars are a similar shape to cigarettes but larger and brown in colour due to the use of tobacco leaves as the wrapping. They also use full leaves instead of chopped leaves as the filling.
Pipe tobacco gets cut into larger pieces and is not as dry as tobacco for cigarettes and cigars.
Tobacco used in waterpipes or hookahs is mixed with molasses and flavourings, and appears sticky and wet. ^{1, 3}

Other names for tobacco

Cigarettes, ciggies, cigs, darts, durries, rollies, smokes, fags, cancer sticks, tailor-mades, chop-chop, cigars, cigarillos, shisha, snuff, snus.

Other types of stimulants

How is tobacco used?

Tobacco is commonly smoked in cigarettes, cigars, hookahs, and pipes. Inhaling the smoke of dried tobacco leaves allows nicotine to be absorbed through your mouth and lungs. When smoked, the effects are usually felt straight away.¹

Tobacco can also be chewed, snorted, or held between your cheek and gums. Each of these methods allow nicotine to be absorbed through your nose and mouth. These ‘smokeless tobacco’ products include chewing tobacco, dipping tobacco, snuff, and snus.²

Smokeless tobacco products are not legally available in Australia.⁴

Nicotine can be consumed in other forms such as vapes. To find out more about the effects of nicotine through vaping, head to our vaping page for more information.

Effects of tobacco

Use of any drug can have risks. It’s important to be careful when taking any type of drug.

Tobacco affects everyone differently, based on:

size, weight, and health
whether the person is used to taking it
whether other drugs are taken around the same time
the amount taken
the strength of the drug
the environment (where the drug is taken).

The effects of tobacco may include:

increased heart rate
increased blood pressure
headache
dizziness
nausea
stomach cramps
vomiting
diarrhoea
reduced appetite
changed sense of taste
relaxation
improved mood
increased concentration and short-term memory.^5-7

People who smoke tobacco regularly may build up a tolerance to the immediate and short-term effects.

Overdose

Smoking tobacco rarely results in overdose effects.⁸ But, consuming a large amount tobacco in other forms may in result in overdose due to high levels of nicotine.

Call an ambulance straight away by dialling triple zero (000) if you, or someone else, has any of the following symptoms:

difficulty breathing
rapid heartbeat
low blood pressure
weakness
hallucination
seizure.^2,9

Long-term effects

Regularly smoking tobacco can increase your risk of:

sixteen different types of cancers
stroke
aortic aneurism (bulging and weakness in the walls of the aorta)
atherosclerosis (buildup of plaque in the arteries)
coronary heart disease
respiratory symptoms (shortness of breath, coughing fits, wheezing)
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (a group of lung conditions)
lung infections (influenza, pneumonia, tuberculosis)
eye diseases (blindness, cataracts, macular degeneration)
periodontitis (bleeding gums, loose teeth)
diabetes
hip fractures
rheumatoid arthritis
reduced fertility
ectopic pregnancy or pregnancy loss
birth defects if the foetus is exposed to cigarettes
reduced immune function (regular colds and flu)
overall diminished health (ageing, back pain, slower healing wounds, mood swings)
dependence on smoking ^7,10,11

Smoking ‘light’, ‘mild’, or ‘low tar’ cigarettes does not reduce the harmful health effects of tobacco smoke. Filtered cigarettes also do not protect against smoking-related harms.¹²

For more information on the long-term effects, visit the Cancer Council.

Passive smoking

Passive smoking occurs when you breath in the smoke of those smoking around you. This is sometimes called second-hand smoke.

No amount of passive smoking is safe.

Passive smoking can cause many of the health problems listed above, and it can also make them worse. It is important not to smoke near other people, especially babies, children, those who are pregnant or breastfeeding, and people with chronic (long-term) respiratory conditions.¹³

Tobacco and young people

Adolescent brains do not stop developing until the age of 25. During this time, they can be more sensitive to nicotine’s rewarding effects, which can lead to increased tobacco use and dependence. The change in brain development and learning pathways can also increase other reward seeking behaviour and may lead to the use of other drugs or alcohol.^14,15

Tolerance and dependence

People who regularly use tobacco can become dependent on nicotine. They may feel they need nicotine to go about their normal activities like working, studying, and socialising, or just to get through the day.

They may also develop a tolerance to it, which means they need to take larger amounts of nicotine to get the same effect.

Using tobacco with other drugs

Using tobacco with other drugs can have unpredictable effects and increase the risk of harm.

Tobacco + alcohol: can increase cravings for nicotine and might cause people who have stopped smoking to start again. You may also feel less intoxicated due to the simulant effect of nicotine, which can lead to drinking more.^16-18
Tobacco + benzodiazepines: reduced effects of benzodiazepines due to nicotine’s stimulating effects.¹⁹
Tobacco + cannabis: increases heart rate, respiratory problems, withdrawal symptoms. Smoking tobacco and cannabis together can increase your exposure to harmful chemicals.²⁰
Tobacco + opioids (heroin, methadone): may increase the desire and satisfaction of smoking, and lead to smoking more.¹⁹
Tobacco + stimulants (amphetamines, cocaine, ice): increases the stimulant effects and can make smoking feel more rewarding, which can lead to smoking more.¹⁹

The use of more than one drug at the same time, or type of drug consumed at the same time, is called polydrug use.²

More on Polydrug use

Polydrug use is a term for the use of more than one drug or type of drug at the same time or one after another. Polydrug use can involve both illicit drugs and legal substances, such as alcohol and medications.

Reducing harm

There are ways you can reduce the risk of harm when smoking cigarettes:

Do not smoke cigarettes if you are pregnant or breastfeeding.
Avoid smoking near other people, especially babies and children, those who are pregnant or breastfeeding, and people with chronic (long-term) respiratory conditions to reduce the health harms associated with passive smoking.
Speak to your doctor about different options for reducing or stopping smoking, including nicotine replacement therapy such as gum or patches.
Tobacco smoke has the potential to interact with several drugs and medications. Talk with a health professional before starting new medications.

Withdrawal

Giving up smoking after using it for a long time is challenging, because the body must get used to functioning without it.

Withdrawal symptoms usually start within 24 hours after you last use tobacco.²¹ If you have been smoking for a long time, or if you smoke a lot of cigarettes, you may have withdrawal symptoms as soon as 30 minutes after you last use tobacco.²

Cutting back or stopping smoking might also affect the medications you are taking. It’s important to talk to your doctor when you’re reducing the amount of nicotine in your body.

Nicotine withdrawal may last from a few days to a few weeks. These symptoms can include:

cravings
irritability, anxiety, and depression
restlessness and difficultly sleeping
increased appetite
trouble concentrating
headaches
coughing and sore throat
aches and pains
upset stomach and bowels.^2,21

Getting help

Quitting smoking can be challenging but there is help and support available - call Quitline on 13 QUIT (13 78 48).

If your use of alcohol or other drugs is affecting your health, family, relationships, work, school, financial or other life situations, or you’re concerned about someone else, you can find help and support.

Call the National Alcohol and Other Drug Hotline on 1800 250 015 for free and confidential advice, information and counselling about alcohol and other drugs

Help and support services search

Find a service in your local area from our list. Simply add your location or postcode and filter by service type to quickly discover help near you.

If you’re looking for other information or support options, send us an email at druginfo@adf.org.au

Tobacco and the law

Australian Federal and State laws make it an offence to sell or supply tobacco products to people under 18 years of age. It’s also illegal for anyone under 18 years to buy tobacco products.⁴

Laws also control how tobacco products are advertised, promoted, and displayed in retail shops. Similarly, tobacco products must be in ‘plain packaging’, with no branding, logos, or images except for graphic health warnings.⁴

In Australia, smoking tobacco is illegal in enclosed public areas such as shopping centres, schools and workplaces, restaurants, and on public transportation.⁴ Every state and territory has its own set of laws and rules about where you can smoke outdoors. This includes places like beaches, sports venues, playgrounds, and outdoor dining areas.²²

It is against the law to smoke in a vehicle when a minor is inside. People under the age of 16, 17, or 18 may be classed as minors, depending on the state or territory legislation.⁴

National

The 2022-23 AIHW National Drug Strategy Household Survey found:

1 in 3 (35%) people in Australia aged 14 and over have smoked tobacco in their lifetime.
Across people aged 14 and over, men were more likely than women to smoke cigarettes on a daily basis (9.0% compared to 7.7%).²³

The 2022 ABS National Health Survey Found:

One in ten adults currently smoke tobacco on a daily basis (10.6% or 2.1 million adults).
Nearly 30% of adults who previously smoked tobacco have stopped.
People aged 55-64 were more likely to smoke tobacco daily (15% of adults in this age group).
Adults living in outer regional and remote Australia were nearly twice as likely to smoke cigarettes on a daily basis than adults living in major cities (16.7% and 9.4%).^24,25

Young people

The 2022/23 Australian Secondary Students’ Alcohol and Drug survey found:

87% of secondary students (young people age 12-17) in Australia had never smoked.
15% of secondary students who have never smoked tobacco are at risk of smoking in the future.
Half of secondary students that currently smoke tobacco got their cigarettes from a friend.²⁶