Purchasing Pipes Online

[cwpiperman]

Does anyone have an authoritative source that answers the question: Is it legal to buy PIPES, not tobacco, online for delivery to Michigan, given the FDA's classification of pipes and parts as tobacco products? Or are all Michigan pipe enthusiasts permanently forbidden to buy estate pipes and factory new pipes online, and so depend only on what is available at a B&M?
Google hasn't been helpful, since apparently "pipe" means, almost exclusively, mj pipe to Google these days.

 

[jpmcwjr]

I'd take it as legal until the dipshits in the MI gov't definitively show otherwise. But I ain't no lawyer or expert on ICC or MI state laws and practices.

 

[mso489]

Tobacco pipes are legal to buy online in most states, but I don't know Michigan law. One time at the post office, in N.C., I innocently told the clerk I was sending tobacco, and he had to check with the boss, who told him it was entirely okay, but it did raise a warning light in his mind. I don't really see how a pipe could be forbidden, but I didn't go to law school. Actually, my paternal grandfather went to law school at University of Michigan, but back then, tobacco was not an issue, and I didn't inherit his degree. I did however inherit his pipe stand with amber tobacco jar, through my father.

 

[cwpiperman]

An update, just to give a bit more information to MI pipe enthusiasts: A careful reading of the MI law regarding the laws against purchasing "tobacco products" online reveals the following, from Tobacco Products Tax Act 327 of 1993. Section 205.422 Definitions Sec 2(w):
(w) "Tobacco product" means cigarettes, cigars, noncigarette smoking tobacco, or smokeless tobacco.
This clearly does not include pipes. In this, it differs from the FDA regs which classify pipes as an FDA "tobacco product". Hence, the confusion. However, this information would seem to clarify that it is legal to purchase pipes (but not tobacco) online in MI.

 

[mso489]

I'd take that as definitive. If someone came up with a second statute, your showing that you had looked at this quoted citation would at least be good faith to try to stay within the law. It's a moving target so bears tracking.

 

[cwpiperman]

Agreed!

 

[jpmcwjr]

Interesting. But I still think it's in restraint of trade. I bet the ACLU won't want to get involved, though.