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Tobacco Pays 350%, Disposable Vapes Pay 5%: Chapter 24 Contains Exactly Four Ad-Valorem Rates

Computed live from our HTS extract (23,193 lines, USITC REST vintage 2026-10-09T17:43Z): every rate, count and ratio on this page was recomputed from the dataset at build time rather than quoted from a lookup page.

Ask any search box “what’s the duty on tobacco?” and you get one number back: 350%. It is the correct answer for 43 of the 246 lines in HTS chapter 24 — and it is the single highest general rate in the entire US schedule, as our complete census of every rate above 25% confirmed line by line. But the census view hides what makes this chapter genuinely strange to work with. Strip out the per-kilogram specific duties and the compound cells, and the clean ad-valorem rates that remain take exactly four distinct values: 5%, 6.4%, 6.5% and 350%. Nothing sits between 6.5% and 350% — not 10%, not 50%, not 150%. A chapter built around one commodity runs a 70× gap between its cheapest taxable lane (disposable vapes at 5%) and its most expensive one (any manufactured tobacco at 350%), and both lanes share the same customs office and the same chapter notes.

The four-value ladder

Here is the entire ad-valorem structure of chapter 24, ranked. Fifty-nine of its 246 lines carry a clean percentage; these are the only values they use:

Source: data/hts.json records prefixed 24 (246 records); clean ad-valorem = general cell matching a bare percentage pattern. Counts 8+1+7+43 = 59; the remaining 141 lines are cents-per-kilogram or compound cells, and 46 further lines enter Free outright.

Because 43 of the 59 rated lines sit at the top of the ladder, the median ad-valorem line in chapter 24 pays 350%. The average importer experience, though, is bimodal: you are either in the low-single-digit vaping and nicotine lane or against the wall, and the classification call decides which.

Inside the 350% wall

The 43 wall lines collapse into just seven eight-digit provisions — four in leaf tobacco, three in manufactured tobacco:

Within each provision every statistical suffix repeats the same rate — the suffix identifies the leaf variety or pack size, never a discount.

Two structural details make the wall harsher than most high-rate corners of the schedule. First, Column 2 agrees with the general rate on all 43 of 43 lines, so an importer shipping from a country without normal trade relations gets no surprise relief here — unlike chapters where the non-NTR rate quietly diverges. Second, within the wall itself the statistical continuations inherit the parent rate untouched: flue-cured, burley, Maryland and fire-cured leaf all pay identically, so the suffix choice changes your paperwork, never your duty.

But the Special column tells the opposite story. Every one of the 43 wall lines carries the identical sentence:

Twelve preference-program codes reduce the whole 350% to zero — Australia, Bahrain, Chile, Israel, Korea, Morocco, Oman, Panama, Peru and Singapore among them, with certification routed through Chapter 99 headings 9918.24.10–.9918.24.11. A statutory wall of 350% versus a genuine $0 for qualifying origins is the widest nominal-to-effective swing anywhere in the schedule, and it is decided by origin paperwork, not by negotiation skill. Our FTA eligibility check across all 14 US agreements walks through the documentation chain those codes demand.

The free pocket: cigar wrapper leaf

Ad-valorem isn’t even the cheapest outcome in the chapter — 46 lines enter entirely Free, and every one of them is leaf tobacco under heading 2401: wrapper, binder and filler categories such as Connecticut shade wrapper, cigarette leaf and oriental-type leaf. Read the value-chain irony in one breath: the raw wrapper a premium cigar needs ships free, while the cut tobacco destined for a factory blend pays 350% per kilo. Anyone blending purchased leaf with their own harvest should price the two outcomes separately — the schedule does.

Where vapes dodge the wall

Heading 2404, created for the novel nicotine category, is where the 5–6.5% lane lives. Its ten provisions break down like this:

Four statistical lines print the words “Disposable electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) and similar devices” directly in the tariff schedule: 2404.12.05.10 and 2404.19.05.10 at 6.5%, and 2404.12.10.10 and 2404.19.10.10 at 5%. Note the Column 2 asymmetry inside the same family — the 6.5% lines carry a compound 3.7¢/kg plus 60% for non-NTR origins while the 5% lines face a flat 25%, a reminder that the cheap lane narrows sharply outside normal-trade-relations status. Whether a flavored disposable belongs in the aromatic-mixture provision or the residual one is exactly the kind of classification judgment our ruling-reversals analysis shows CBP reversing in both directions.

Three checks before you ship into chapter 24

1. Classify the delivery mechanism first, the product second. The distance between 5% and 350% in the same chapter is wider than the distance between most unrelated products’ rates. Nicotine pouch (oral, 6.4%), transdermal patch (5%) and tobacco-containing vape (24.7¢/kg specific) sit within one heading family — the intended use and tobacco-content tests in the statistical descriptions decide the lane.
2. Treat the Special column as a load-bearing document, not a footnote. On the 350% wall the twelve-code waiver is absolute and uniform; on the per-kilogram lines elsewhere in the chapter the preference roster differs cell by cell. Before quoting a landed cost, resolve the exact code string for your origin — and remember the certification points at Chapter 99 headings 9918.24.10–.9918.24.11.
3. Distrust any chapter-level “average duty.” With 141 of 246 lines priced in cents per kilogram or compounds like 57¢/kg + 1.4%, a mean rate for “tobacco imports” is arithmetic theater. Model your own SKU’s stack instead — our landed-cost calculator takes the ten-digit code and origin and layers every applicable Chapter 99 measure on top of the base rate, and the compound-duty worked examples show the math behind mixed quotes.

If you monitor several SKUs across both lanes — say, vape hardware and cut tobacco in one catalog — provision-level rate changes and new Chapter 99 measures are exactly what the watchlist alerts cover. Create an account to get notified, or compare the plan tiers if you need batch lookups across a full catalog.

FAQ

Why does chapter 24 contain only four ad-valorem rates?

Of the chapter’s 246 lines, only 59 carry a clean percentage in the general column — and those percentages take exactly four distinct values: 5%, 6.4%, 6.5% and 350%. Another 141 lines are specific duties quoted in cents per kilogram or compound cells such as 57¢/kg + 1.4%, and 46 more enter Free outright, which is why averages of chapter 24 duty rates describe almost no real shipment.

Which tobacco lines pay the 350% rate?

Exactly 43 ten-digit statistical lines over seven eight-digit provisions: 2401.10.65, 2401.20.35, 2401.20.87 and 2401.30.70 in leaf tobacco, plus 2403.19.90, 2403.91.47 and 2403.99.90 in manufactured tobacco. On all 43 lines the Column 2 rate for non-NTR countries is also 350%.

Can any country avoid the 350% tobacco wall?

Yes. The Special column carries one identical sentence on all 43 wall lines — Free (AU,BH,CL,IL,KR,MA,OM,P,PA,PE,S,SG), certified through Chapter 99 headings 9918.24.10–.9918.24.11 — so twelve preference-program codes waive the whole amount to zero. Origin documentation decides whether the wall applies to you.

What duty do disposable e-cigarettes actually pay?

Four statistical lines naming disposable electronic cigarettes sit at 5% or 6.5% general: 2404.12.05.10 and 2404.19.05.10 at 6.5%, 2404.12.10.10 and 2404.19.10.10 at 5%. Oral nicotine pouches run 6.4% and transdermal products 5%. Column 2 exposure differs sharply — 60% + 3.7¢/kg on the 6.5% lines versus a flat 25% on the 5% lines.

Method note: counts group the October 2026 schedule extract by exact general-column cell. “Clean ad-valorem” means the cell is a bare percentage; cents-per-kilogram, dollar-per-kilogram and compound cells are excluded from the four-value tally but reported alongside it. The 43-line/350% tally is invariant to grouping granularity: whether you group at the eight-digit provision level (seven provisions) or the six-digit subheading level (2401.10, 2401.20, 2401.30, 2403.19, 2403.91, 2403.99), all 43 qualifying lines fall inside the same groups.

Last dataset refresh: October 9, 2026 (USITC HTS REST). Rates shown are general (MFN) base rates and exclude fees, antidumping/countervailing duties and Chapter 99 surcharges.