Smoking Age and Vaping Laws: Canada vs the US

Minimum age

	Canada	United States
National rule	It is an offence to furnish a tobacco or vaping product to anyone under 18.	The minimum age of sale for tobacco products, including e-cigarettes, is 21.
Who can raise it	Provinces and territories. Health Canada reports that six provinces and three territories use 19 and one province uses 21 for tobacco.	The federal law does not limit states from enforcing their own additional youth access laws.
Confirmed examples	18 in Alberta and Manitoba; 19 in British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Ontario, Newfoundland and Labrador, Yukon, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut.	21 everywhere. No exemptions.
ID checks	Set provincially. For example, the Northwest Territories asks for ID from anyone who looks under 25.	Retailers must check photo ID of anyone under 30 buying cigarettes, smokeless tobacco and covered tobacco products (since 30 September 2024).

The US rule, known as Tobacco 21, was signed on 20 December 2019 and took effect immediately. FDA says it provides no exemptions, including for military personnel. For a Canadian-province breakdown, see the legal smoking age guide.

Where you can smoke and vape

Neither country has a single national rulebook for public places. In both, the rule that applies to you depends mostly on the state, province or city you are standing in.

In Canada, the federal Non-smokers’ Health Act covers federal workplaces and certain Canadian-operated aircraft, trains, vehicles and vessels; provinces, territories and cities regulate the rest. See federal smoking laws and laws by province.

In the US, CDC describes smoke-free policy as something states set and local governments can tighten. As of 30 June 2024, CDC counted 12 states with laws or court decisions that explicitly preempt local smoking restrictions in certain settings, and 27 states that explicitly allow communities to adopt stricter rules. The one federal law the CDC fact sheet mentions in this area is the 2019 age law, which covers sales, not where you may smoke.

Vaping products

• Canada: nicotine in a vaping product must not exceed 20 mg/mL under SOR/2021-123, which came into force on 8 July 2021. Provinces add their own flavour rules; our flavour ban page lists them.
• United States: the minimum age of 21 applies to e-cigarettes. We did not verify other federal product standards on this page, so check FDA’s own pages if you are bringing a device across.

Our vaping laws guide covers the Canadian rules in full.

Federal tobacco tax

	Canada	United States
Cigarettes	$0.97299 per 5 cigarettes from 1 April 2026, about $38.92 per 200 (CAD)	$1.01 per pack of 20 for small cigarettes, $2.11 for large cigarettes (USD)
Federal vaping tax	$1.12 per 2 mL for the first 10 mL, then $1.12 per 10 mL (CAD)	TTB’s rate page lists no rate for e-liquid

Both countries’ states or provinces add their own tax, so the shelf price differs from the federal figure. Our tobacco tax rates page covers the Canadian provinces. The figures are in two currencies, so convert before comparing them.

If you are crossing the border

The limits on bringing tobacco and vapes into Canada are on a separate page: bringing cigarettes and vapes across the border. On the ground, smoking and vaping rules for visitors explains what to expect.