According to recent research, a third of smokers among kids have been offered illegal tobacco.
The study by Action on Smoking and Health Wales (Ash) comes as the nonprofit organization ramps up a campaign to combat the sale of illicit tobacco to children.
The largest survey of its kind in the UK included more than 1,000 11 to 16-year-olds in Wales.
According to Suzanne Cass of Ash, about 80% of smokers light up for the first time before turning 18 years old.
We must take all reasonable measures to prevent these products from falling into the hands of children because Ms. Cass described this addiction as a childhood one.
The 32% of young smokers who admitted to receiving illegal tobacco from friends, family, teachers, or stores said they received it from these sources.
A quarter of people claimed to have purchased them.
To encourage people to anonymously report illegal tobacco sales, Ash Wales, Trading Standards, and the Welsh government have launched the NoIfs-NoButts website.
The sale of tobacco that is illegal can take many different forms, such as "cheap whites," which are mass-produced cigarettes that are smuggled from one nation to another, imitations that are made to look like well-known brands, or genuine goods that have not been taxed.
To determine if tobacco is illegal, there are a few indicators to look out for, according to Roger Mapleson, Trading Standards' lead on illegal tobacco in Wales.
It's against the law, he said, if someone offers you cigarettes for 4, 5, or 6 pounds per packet of 20. .
"A review of the packaging revealed the other indicators. It doesn't take a professional to recognize it. Now that it's legal, tobacco is simply packaged, he continued.
"It's unlawful if it resembles a pack of cigarettes from a few years ago. It is prohibited to include health warnings on packaging that are written in another language. ".
Wales has already seen raids as a result of information gathered from the NoIfs-NoButts website.
In raids in north Wales last month, a quarter of a million cigarettes and 20 kg of rolling tobacco were seized.
