At the same time prior to 1932, in order to compete with cigarettes imported from the United States, Philippine manufacturers were authorized to put up cigarettes in original packages containing 10, 20 and 50 cigarettes each of the P1.20 class, and in original packages containing 20 and 50 cigarettes each of the P1.60 class. Stamps for affixture to such packages were provided by the Bureau of Internal Revenue, but it has not been possible to determine the exact date of issue of these stamps.

A CAUTION was printed both in English and Spanish on the first tobacco tax stamps issued. It has not been possible to determine exactly how log the practice of printing this CAUTION  was continued. The Circulars of the Bureau of Internal Revenue, however, continued to be issued in both English and Spanish until May, 1925. It seems probable, therefore, that the practice of issuing tobacco tax stamps with the CAUTION printed in English only was began in 1925, or as soon thereafter as the supply of any of the stamps currently in 1925 became exhausted.

Act No. 4004, which became effective December 5, 1932, increased the specific tax on each of the three classes of both cigars and cigarettes. In order to provide provisional stamps of the denominations required by Act No. 4004, surcharge were printed in red upon all of the cigar and cigarette stamps which were current on December 4, 1932. As rapidly as the supply of surcharged stamps became exhausted, new stamps of the required denominations were issued. The supply of surcharged stamps was so great, however, that stamps surcharged in 1932 of fourteen denominations for cigars and six of denominations for cigarettes, are still current in July 1941.

The Government of the Commonwealth of the Philippines was inaugurated on November 15, 1935. With the exception of three surcharged cigarette stamps issued in 1939, the Coat of Arms of the Commonwealth of the Philippines appears on all tobacco tax stamps which have been printed since November 15, 1935.

Commonwealth Act No. 466, known as the Internal Revenue Code, which became effective on July 1, 1939, provided that specific tax should be P1.30, P3.00 and P4.00 per thousand, respectively, on the three classes of cigarettes. As a result, the stamps for cigarettes which had been taxed at P1.80 per thousand and at P2.30 per thousand, were withdrawn from circulation on July 1, 1939. Stamps of the denominations required or cigarettes taxed by Commonwealth Act No. 466 at P3.00 and P4.00 per thousand were not issued, however, until several months later. In the meantime, the specific tax on these two classes  of cigarettes was paid in cash and, as evidence of payment, there was issued a Miscellaneous Tax Receipt to which “split” INTERNAL REVENUE stamps were affixed in the manner which had already been described in the chapter devoted to Internal Revenue Stamps.

The new series of cigarette stamps issued late in 1939, to meet the requirements of Commonwealth Act No. 466, included three stamps of the preceding issue surcharged in red with new rates and new prices. All other cigarette stamps of the issue of 1939 are of the type showing the Coat of Arms of the Commonwealth of the Philippines.

Section 13 of Circular Letter No. 460, dated August 1, 1914, already quoted, required that the tobacco tax stamps should be completely destroyed as soon as the containers bearing the stamps had been emptied. Section 16 of Act No. 2835, approved march 8, 1919, and similar provisions of other Acts which have succeeded it in effect, have prescribed that “any person who gives away or accepts from another, or who sells, buys, or uses any container on which the stamps are not utterly destroyed shall for each offense” be subject to a fine or imprisonment, or both. While this provision of law does not specifically prohibit the preservation for philatelic purposes of used tobacco tax stamps which have been removed from the container, it has nevertheless operated as a deterrent to the collection of used specimens of these stamps. There is no penalty, however, attached to the collection of unused specimens of tobacco tax stamps. But because of the almost total lack of interest, until recently, on the part of the collectors, it is probable that not even one specimens of most of the tobacco tax stamps issued prior to 1932 have been preserved.

The regulations of the Bureau of Internal Revenue governing the sale of tobacco tax stamps require that they shall be sold only in entire sheets and in quantities such that the total price of the stamps of each denomination sold will not involve a fraction of a centavo. In the case of one cigar stamp, this requires the sale of a minimum of 100 stamps at a time. The collector of these stamps may, however, obtain from the Collector of Internal Revenue a letter authorizing the purchase of one or more specimens of each denomination of the current stamps from any municipal treasurer who has these stamps for sale. The current tobacco tax stamps may also be purchased in small quantities from the tobacco factories which have purchased such stamps for their own use.

Because no specimens of many of the tobacco tax stamps have been seen, the list of these stamps given in the catalogue which follows have been compiled, in part from such specimens as have been seen, in part from the regulations creating tobacco tax stamps, and in part from the rate of the specific taxes on tobacco products which have been in force at various times since the use of tobacco tax stamps was begun in 1914. It is possible, therefore, that this list, in so far as the stamps which have not been seen are concerned, is not entirely complete or accurate. The list will, however, provide a basis for the search for, and collection of, these stamps.