What Can a Shop Offer at the Till on Tobacco and Vapes?

A Canadian retailer cannot tie a gift, rebate, bonus or contest entry to a tobacco purchase, and cannot give tobacco away. For vapes the federal ban on purchase incentives applies in places young persons can access, and giving a vape away is barred more widely. The Act does not name a plain price cut, a multi-buy deal or loyalty points, and no official page we could open says how those are treated. This page covers the till and the shelf price. The general advertising bans are in tobacco advertising and promotion and vape advertising rules. Display, ID and signs for vape shops are in vape retailer rules. Everything below was read on 31 October 2026.

What do the federal sales promotion rules say?

Section 29 of the Tobacco and Vaping Products Act applies to manufacturers and retailers. It bars providing or offering any consideration for the purchase of a tobacco product, and its examples are a gift to a purchaser or a third party, a bonus, a premium, a cash rebate and the right to take part in a game, draw, lottery or contest. It also bars furnishing a tobacco product without payment, or in return for buying another product or a service. The Act defines furnish as to sell, lend, assign, give or send, with or without consideration. A free pack with a carton, a sample handed over the counter and a pack offered with a coffee purchase all fit that wording.

For vapes the rules sit in sections 30.5 and 30.6. Section 30.6(1) bars offering consideration for a vape purchase, or offering a vape in return for buying something else, in a place to which young persons have access. Section 30.6(2) bars providing that consideration or product in any place other than a retail establishment where vapes are ordinarily sold, which reaches events and pop-up stands. Section 30.5 bars giving or offering to give a vaping product, subject to the regulations, with no place condition.

Offer at the till	Tobacco	Vapes
Gift, bonus or premium with a purchase	Barred (s. 29)	Barred where young persons have access; barred outside a retail establishment where vapes are ordinarily sold (s. 30.6)
Cash rebate	Named as barred (s. 29)	Consideration for a purchase is barred on the same terms (s. 30.6)
Contest or draw entry tied to a purchase	Named as barred (s. 29)	Same as above
Free product or sample	Barred, free or tied to another purchase (s. 29)	Giving or offering to give a vape is barred, subject to the regulations (s. 30.5)
Price cut, multi-buy deal or loyalty points	Not named; no official answer found	Not named; no official answer found

The Vaping Products Promotion Regulations, which carry the detailed point-of-sale rules, do not mention rebates, coupons or sales promotions in the text we read. Health Canada’s information sheet on them does not address coupons, discounts, contests, giveaways or free samples either.

Where do price cuts, multi-buys and loyalty points fit?

Nowhere in the text we read: section 29 lists specific incentives and leaves out a lower sticker price, a second item at a reduced price and points that earn a reward later. The Act uses the word consideration without defining it in section 2, and Health Canada has published no retailer guidance that we could find on whether a retailer’s own discount counts. We state no answer for any of these, and a shop that runs them should ask Health Canada or a lawyer before it relies on a reading.

Health Canada’s second legislative review says the Act does not prohibit manufacturer-to-retailer promotions that encourage reduced prices and include incentives. It lists price promotion and price segmentation among remaining activities that could be examined, and it records respondents who suggested banning volume and multipack discounts offered by retailers. The report presents those as views and options and states no rule on them.

The trade side has its own wording in the Act. A promotion by a manufacturer aimed at distributors or retailers sits outside the tobacco and vaping promotion divisions when it is not directed, directly or indirectly, at consumers. That exclusion ends where a promotion reaches the customer.

What may a price sign say?

For tobacco, section 30 lets a retailer post signs that indicate the availability of tobacco products and their price, subject to regulations we could not locate. For vapes the Regulations allow a point-of-sale ad or a retail sign only if it indicates only availability and price. On its face that leaves no room on a vape sign for a deal message. Health Canada adds that where provincial or territorial law governs those signs, the provincial requirements apply instead. British Columbia, for example, limits in-store signs to three at most, white with black lettering and no graphics other than a dollar sign.

What about branded merchandise?

A retailer may sell an accessory that carries a tobacco brand element, subject to the regulations, under section 26. The same section limits how such an accessory can be promoted. Section 27 goes further for other items. A tobacco product may not be furnished or promoted if its brand element is shown on a thing associated with young persons, a thing that could appeal to them, or a thing tied to a way of life that includes glamour, recreation, excitement, vitality, risk or daring. Giving away an accessory with a brand element, free or with a purchase, is barred by section 29. A separate set of regulations bars the terms light and mild from the promotion, retail display and branded accessories of cigarettes and related products.

For vapes, Health Canada says the ban on youth-appealing advertising and the ban on lifestyle advertising also cover branded merchandise, so that it does not stand in for promoting the product. Section 30.5 adds a bar on giving away a branded item that is associated with young persons or could appeal to them. Ontario tells specialty vape stores that branded items such as clothing, water bottles and coffee cups fall inside the 15% non-vapour allowance, and points back to the federal Act for further limits. British Columbia bars all-ages stores from advertising inside, and names mugs and hats that promote brands or manufacturers.

Can a shop sponsor or host an event?

Sections 24 and 25 bar linking a tobacco brand element or a manufacturer name with an event, activity or permanent facility, and bar showing either on a facility used for a sports or cultural event. Sections 30.3 and 30.4 do the same for vapes. These sections are written around brand elements and manufacturer names. We found no official page that applies them to a shop’s own event, so we say nothing about a retailer’s team sponsorship that uses no brand element. What does reach an event is section 29 and section 30.6(2). A giveaway, a draw or a purchase incentive for tobacco is barred wherever it happens, and the vape incentive ban applies outside a retail establishment where vapes are ordinarily sold.

What do provinces add?

• Ontario: the province says tobacco products and accessories cannot be promoted in a retail store, vapour products cannot be promoted in a retail store, and both must stay hidden until a customer buys them. Charges can reach the salesperson or the store owner. A specialty vape store may promote vapour products only inside, out of view from outside at any time of day. The page names no discount, rebate, coupon or contest rule. Bill 125 would replace subsection 4.1(2) of the Smoke-Free Ontario Act, 2017 with “No person shall promote vapour products in any manner.” It stood at first reading, carried on 26 May 2026, when we read the page, so it is a proposal.
• Alberta: the Tobacco, Smoking and Vaping Reduction Act defines promote as any commercial act or practice intended or likely to encourage the purchase or use of a tobacco or vaping product, or to create awareness of or association with one. Section 7.2(1) bars advertising or promoting these products where they are sold and in any manner visible from outside. Section 7.2(2) allows signs that list the products and prices if they meet the regulations. The definition is wide enough that a retailer should read any offer against it, though we found no Alberta page that applies it to coupons or points.
• British Columbia: retailers may not advertise or promote tobacco or vapour products where a minor inside the store can see, access or hear it. All-ages stores cannot advertise inside. Age-restricted stores can advertise inside if the ads cannot be seen from outside. The page lists no rule on discounts, coupons or contests.

What are the penalties for a retailer?

Rule broken	Maximum
Federal ss. 29, 30.5, 30.6, retailer	Fine up to $3,000 for a first offence, up to $50,000 for a later one (s. 45)
Same sections, manufacturer	Fine up to $500,000, up to two years in prison, or both (s. 46(2))
Repeat offence under ss. 29, 30.5, 30.6	An order barring the offender from selling tobacco and vaping products for up to one year (s. 59)
Alberta, advertising or promoting	Ticket of $500 to $750; court fine up to $10,000, then up to $100,000 (s. 8(2))
Ontario and British Columbia	The government pages we read list no fine amounts

Alberta’s Minister can also bar a retailer convicted a third or later time under s. 7.1 or 7.2 from selling at that location. Minimum ages and ID checks, which the till rules sit beside, are in selling to minors: ID checks and penalties. Federal excise and provincial tax set the price that any discount starts from; see tobacco tax rates.

What we could not confirm

• Plain price cuts, multi-buys and loyalty points: no official page we read says whether they count as consideration under s. 29 or s. 30.6.
• Tobacco sign regulations: section 30 makes price signs subject to regulations, and we did not find a tobacco regulation that sets their form.
• Other tobacco promotion regulations: the only separate promotion regulation we found for tobacco is the Prohibited Terms set, and our reading of Health Canada’s list of regulations was partial.
• The full wording of s. 30.6: we read the gift wording and did not confirm that the vape section lists rebates and contest entries by name as s. 29 does.
• Quebec and Nova Scotia: the official pages and statute texts could not be opened, so we state nothing about them.
• Ontario statute text: the e-Laws page returned no text, so the Ontario points come from the province’s rules and specialty-store pages.
• Alberta regulation: we did not read it, so we do not know whether it relaxes s. 7.2 for vape retailers.
• Other provinces and territories: we did not read their promotion rules.
• Changes after 31 October 2026, including the fate of Ontario’s Bill 125.