Any Tips for Canadians buying tobacco from the US online?

[ontariopiper]

Hey all,

I'm wondering if any of my fellow Canuck Bros have had any luck with buying their baccy online from the States?

After comparing local prices on a 100g tin of MacBaren's Mixture ($60CAD) to the online price on 4noggins ($9.36USD), I'm thinking there has to be a better way! :affraid: :affraid:

I'm all for supporting my local tobacconist but at these prices, I can't afford to buy anything better than a drug store brand (even Capt Black is $27CAD here), and there's no way I can buy something new on a whim - if I don't like it, I've blown the budget on garbage. Already have one of those "experiments" taking up space in my cellar, and don't want more.

There are several online tobacconists that will ship to Canada for a reasonable fee, but I fear border charges, duty, taxes etc will blow the whole deal.

I'd love to hear from other Canadian pipers on this one!

 

[Timbo]

Well I'm Australian not Canadian, however our excise and customs officials are almost as ridiculous as yours.

I've been ordering online from smoking pipes and 4 noggins for about six months now and regularly get about seven out of ten orders in. Just keep them a pound or under and if you can, ask the sender to use as small a box as possible.

As you can see, I'm still well ahead even with three shipments from ten caught as over here 50 g of tobacco goes for fifty Aussie plus.

Cheers,

Tim

 

[ontariopiper]

Thanks, Tim. Glad to hear it's working for you. The price differential is more than a bit extreme for both of us!

 

[DoverPipes]

Maybe get a US Postal Mail Box in North Tonawanda, NY ?
Have all you baccy sent there and pick it up at your leisure! :cheers:

 

[DrumsAndBeer]

Maybe get a US Postal Mail Box in North Tonawanda, NY ?
Have all you baccy sent there and pick it up at your leisure! :cheers:

Brilliant!

Or just find a vendor that will mark the form as "Hobby Supplies"

 

[ontariopiper]

Thanks, gents, for all the good ideas, I'm about an hour +/- from the border crossing at Niagara/Buffalo. I don't smoke enough to make a regular trip worthwhile (time, gas, etc), but we have gotten in the habit of a State-side road trip at least once a year. Haven't been for a while with the dollar in the crapper the way it is, but I'll definitely be stocking up the next time I'm spedning greenbacks instead of loonies.

 

[tslots]

Another idea might be to try and join up with a cigar smoker in the US.    Since you can easily obtain Havana's finest up north, perhaps you can swing a trade.    

You can offer some nice incense sticks for some loose or tinned tea.  

 

[ontariopiper]

By way of follow-up on this somewhat older post, I bit the bullet and ordered 2 x 100g tins of MacBarens from 4noggins. Threw in a cheap pipe tool for good measure. Total after shipping came to just about $39USD/$45CAD. That may seem quite steep for you US bros, but with Scottish Mixture running $60CAD/100g tin, it's a darn sight cheaper for me!

My delivery was waiting for me when I got home today! Parcel was marked "pipe supplies/accessories", and it got through without a customs duty hit. :cheers: :cheers:

Now the decision: which do I open first - Scottish Mixture or Vanilla Cream???

 

[huffelpuff]

Glad to hear it worked out well for you! If it's a vote I'd say the Scottish mixture. Been smoking quite a lot of my local tobacconists version lately, really scratches that itch.

Jim

 

[Timbo]

Woohoo that's great news. I've been keeping my orders down to five or less fifty gm tins or a pound of bulk and having more success lately too.

You may want to be wary of ordering pipes and tobacco in the one shipment. The one lot of excise fees I did pay was to have a package of pipes and tobacco released as I had a couple of hundred worth of pipes in there that I didn't want to lose.


Cheers

Tim

 

[ftrplt]

Just a note...Great thing about that word "pipe!" Has different meanings to differing people. I'll bet your Canadian border guys thought you bought plumbing supplies/parts!! :lol: :cheers: FTRPLT

 

[Psmith]

Just a note but should we be cautious about posting explicitly about this? The only reason I say so is because I am paranoid about Customs doing internet searches on this kind of info and then knowing from hereafter to watch for parcels labelled "pipe supplies" or worse that some of our favorite on-line vendors get in trouble. Other eyes may be reading this kind of thread.
Would hate to see a good thing go.
Am I being paranoid? Or do others think we should be a bit quiet about places that reliably ship to us overseas?

Glad to hear you got your stuff Ontariopiper

 

[puros_bran]

You are being paranoid...

But just because your paranoid doesn't mean they aren't watching.

 

[eklektos44]

Just a note but should we be cautious about posting explicitly about this?  The only reason I say so is because I am paranoid about Customs doing internet searches on this kind of info and then knowing from hereafter to watch for parcels labelled "pipe supplies" or worse that some of our favorite on-line vendors get in trouble.  Other eyes may be reading this kind of thread.
Would hate to see a good thing go.
Am I being paranoid? Or do others think we should be a bit quiet about places that reliably ship to us overseas?

Glad to hear you got your stuff Ontariopiper

Even paranoids have customs agents.. :joker:

 

[tslots]

While I'm sure most governments have many eager IT people who regularly scan content from the internet, I doubt tobacco is high on their list of concerned items.    

Unless of course you are getting regular packages of "tobacco" directly from someone in Syria.   :suspect: