Some international travellers arriving at Melbourne Airport this morning were angry to discover the duty-free allowance for tobacco had been cut to 50 cigarettes from the previous limit of 250.
Many smokers who spoke to Fairfax were aware of the changes, which came in at midnight, but others were not.
Those caught unawares had two choices: throw out their excess cigarettes or pay extra duty.
Col Holmes and Susan Adams, both from Wagga Wagga and travelling from Vietnam, decided to do the latter.
"We had to pay $157 for cigarettes we bought off the street in Vietnam," said Mr Holmes. "The first we heard of it was today when we were told we were allowed only two packets. It's getting ridiculous. There should be a grace period to let everyone get acclimatised to it."
Ms Adams said that when they left for Vietnam six weeks ago they hadn't seen any publicity about the change.
"We were not notified, we knew nothing about it," she said. "When we flew out we didn't see or hear anything. We assumed we could bring in a litre of grog each and a carton of cigarettes each.
"Why wasn't it advertised on TV or in the paper ... we read the paper every day. We're not happy."
Chris Astilean, of Dandenong North, decided to throw his excess cigarettes out after flying in from Europe from Singapore.
He said he was especially unhappy as he had boarded his flights before the changes took effect.
"That change happened while we were flying. I said, 'how is that fair? How am I supposed to know?'
"They said to pay $158 if I wanted to keep them. I said it's not worth it — throw them out."
Euan Williams, of Kent in Britain, bought a carton of cigarettes in Indonesia en route from Europe and had to pay $78.
"It was a bit annoying. I haven't got much money. I'm on a travel budget," he said. "[But] it's still cheaper than buying them here."
Did he think the reduction in the duty-free limit was fair? "I don't know really. I don't think you should have to pay it."