US Customs Holding Up Pipes

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craig61a

Lifer
Apr 29, 2017
5,808
48,208
Minnesota USA
Got this from an Email I received today...

The Briar Blues / Radice 2019 Pipes of the Year .... have been held by US Customs and our friends at the FDA. Now, it appears the shipment requires a Toxic Substance Certificate.

Pretty crazy if you ask me. Bureaucracy at its finest.
 

mngslvs

Starting to Get Obsessed
Jan 24, 2019
258
544
Yarmouth, Maine
The origin and destination of said shipment(s) ??

I was looking at the website LePipe.it yesterday. Lots of drooling. But can't bring myself to place an order because of some horror stories I've heard on the forums, about problems with customs....fees, surcharges, whatever, on pipes coming from Italy.
 
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Got this from an Email I received today...

The Briar Blues / Radice 2019 Pipes of the Year .... have been held by US Customs and our friends at the FDA. Now, it appears the shipment requires a Toxic Substance Certificate.

Pretty crazy if you ask me. Bureaucracy at its finest.

I see it now:

RADICE Pipe of the Year 2019 err, 2020 pipes! Hurry while supplies last! puffy
 
Oct 7, 2016
2,451
5,195
Got this from an Email I received today...

The Briar Blues / Radice 2019 Pipes of the Year .... have been held by US Customs and our friends at the FDA. Now, it appears the shipment requires a Toxic Substance Certificate.

Pretty crazy if you ask me. Bureaucracy at its finest.

The balance of Mike’s email:
“That I have filled in and sent, so hopefully ....... the 13 pipes will arrive in a few days.”
But I guess you went to the trouble to selectively edit it for a reason?
Maybe the sky isn’t falling. It used to take forever to get pipes from Italy, dealing with currency conversions, wire transfers and not very convenient or inexpensive shipping options. Customs was sometimes an issue, sometimes not. Never ran into any problem that couldn’t be solved with patience, going back over 25 years.
 
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craig61a

Lifer
Apr 29, 2017
5,808
48,208
Minnesota USA
Selectively edited to illustrate that a Toxic Substance Certificate was required... For bits of wood, acrylic, charcoal, etc.

No conspiracy, quid pro quo, what have you...

Figured that was obvious to even the most casual observer.
 

brian64

Lifer
Jan 31, 2011
9,625
14,727
If a pipe requires a Toxic Substance Certificate, then I'd say at least half of the FDA approved substances sold as food and drink at grocery stores every day should require one.
 

craig61a

Lifer
Apr 29, 2017
5,808
48,208
Minnesota USA
Well if I’m looking at the right document, it would appear that somebody at Customs or the FDA is blowing smoke...


TSCA Section 3 states that the term chemical substance does not include the following, which are regulated by other federal laws:


• “tobacco or any tobacco product,”
 
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