Tobacconist Michael Davies, who owns the Frederick Tranter cigar shop in Oxford's High Street, was not surprised by the 6p extra tax levied on a packet of 20 cigarettes.

He said: "My view is that the Government would do better to have spent money sorting out the smuggling and bootlegging that now accounts for so many of the cigarettes sold in Britain.

"They would make more money from recovering the duty they are losing on this illegally imported tobacco than they will make from increasing tax on legally sold tobacco."

He said smuggled rolled tobacco now accounted for the majority of rolled cigarettes smoked in Britain. Mr Davies added that this had been established by a study of tobacco packets left behind in football stadiums after matches. Most did not bear the duty-paid mark.

He added: "If they want to discourage youngsters from smoking they should do something about this because cigarettes are now available at a cheaper price than ever before."

Frederick Tranter sells top quality cigars, and Mr Davies said prices would typically rise by about 30p each in order to take account of last year's rise too. This had not been passed on to the customer.

He said that despite the high duty there was a market for top cigars in Britain, as traditionally the British sold the greatest variety of Havana cigars.