You want nicotine, you get…bread?
Thinking he was the victim of a very elaborate joke, Cardiff-based Ryan Thomas was left scratching his head after opening a newly purchased pouch of tobacco to discover that instead it was replaced with a slice of bread.
The strange mix-up happened when the man nipped to Tesco on his lunch break. He went to roll a cig – using the new packet that was sealed in a separate plastic wrapper – and quickly noticed that instead of tobacco, there was a piece of white bread folded in half.
Sharing the strange news with Wales Online, Ryan said:
I had my lunch, opened my bag of tobacco on autopilot – and it was just a slice of bread in it I was so confused at first – I thought it was one of the boys in work pranking me.
I thought ‘I’m not going mad am I? This is actually bread. I went back and asked for the manager. I said I’d just bought the packet and it had bread in it and she took it off me and said how weird it was.
And this is where it gets weirder. Ryan claims he returned to the Tesco Express store to find out why the packet contained the slice of bread – with shop workers giving him another pouch in replacement.
This is when Ryan opened the new packet of tobacco – which was also sealed – to yet again discover that there wasn’t a strand of tobacco to be seen, instead replaced with another slice of bread – and this time it was a crust.
He said:
I went to the till and bought another bag. I said ‘Do you mind if I open it here?’ So I opened the second packet and it was the crust. I was quite glad it had happened there because it showed I was not playing about. All the staff came over and had a look too.
Joined by his work mate Jon Williams during his second visit to the shop, Jon filmed the moment his mate opened the packet and discovered the bread inside.
Sharing how hilarious the pair found it, Jon said:
After he started to roll up a cigarette, got the paper and the filter etc, and then took the pouch out of the sealed packet all we heard was ‘What the f***?’. I asked him what was wrong to which he took the slice of bread out of the pouch, which had us on the floor laughing.
A spokesperson for JTI, the company that makes Amber Leaf tobacco, confirmed that this isn’t a new issue – and the reason for the mix up is actually down to criminals.
UK head of communications Mark Yexley confirmed:
Unfortunately this is not a new issue and is one that occurs from time to time where tobacco brands are targeted by criminals due to the relative high value.
The scam involves people swapping out actually tobacco stock for packets with other items inside instead.
They could have at least slipped a miniature packet of Lurpak inside – no one wants a dry piece of bread!
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